Design error forces changes to new Duluth East track
August 14, 2012 at 7:00 pm in Duluth News Tribune
Those who observed the installation of the new running track at Ordean Stadium this summer may have wondered in amazement this week why a skidsteer has been digging up the rubberized surface.
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If we could only get the school district to admit that the red plan was built too big and to the wrong dimensions.
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The Red Plan is a little like what Sir Winston Churchill said about democracy…
“It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried.”
The Red Plan is the worst plan, except all the other plans that could have been tried. In other words, the Red Plan sucks, but the other plans suck at least as bad. There was no other plan that was all roses.
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How about at least sticking to the red plan? Instead of spending the savings they realized due to a favorable construction market. They spent all the savings plus another 30 million. And on top of it they are giving away surplus buildings for pennies on the dollar due to the real estate market. And you wonder why people are upset? Let them have a town hall meeting.
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Sounds a bit like what happened with the soccer fields that were installed just over a decade ago behind Ordean.
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Get this one. The school Johnson Controls and Architectual Resources built in a hayfield northwest of Cook has a new state of the art football field. Problem is…they can’t get grass to grow on it. Now this is a hayfield that produced alfalfa and timothy grasses for dairy herds for 70-80 years, two crops per year. And now after millions of dollars, JCI can’t grow grass?
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The district needs to use a LANDSCAPE architect more often.
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Perhaps a good point Steve. But I don’t think those farmers employed the services of a landscape architect to grow timothy and alfalfa for 80 years.
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This makes the school district 3 for 3 on the outdoor tracks. PSS had issues with a sinkhole on the homestretch, which delayed the project more than once. The track at Duluth Central, when it was open, actually wasn’t big enough at first, as lane one actually disappeared on the first turn. OOPS!!!! So, the contractors had to come and fix that mess too. Now another screw up at the Duluth East track. Big Surprise!!!
The interesting part of the story is I don’t remember the stadium at Duluth East being part of the original Red Plan, yet is was somehow added to the project after the fact. I, along with many others, would love to hear from Kerry Leiter how this project came about?
Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that the track at PSS no longer has an area for the discus throwers to practice, or to be able to compete at during meets, because the former discus area is now a parking lot, due to the Red Plan. Poor Planning!
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I am impressed that Architectural Resources accepted responsibility for the error… that speaks well for the firm.
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No way we are getting the whole story. I suspect that they took responsibility because they were unable to avoid it. Someone worked hard to pass the buck. Successfully.
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Duluthvoice…..when the job is done, and 1 year has passed WITHOUT further incidents…..OR an invoice to the School District….for “non-warrantable” repairs…..then, we can breathe a sigh of relief! The ONLY reason I say that, is because the School District has a terrible reputation for paying TOP DOLLAR for a project to be performed by a vendor…….then the project goes wrong or fails “supposedly under warranty”……then has to pay the bill……too many times…..and guess who pays that bill???? 1 guess!
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JCI doesn’t mind ripping things up. The ball fields that were there weren’t even paid for but they just designed right over them, money be damned.
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If the school board had any balls, they would make JCI pay for this, since they designed it and implemented it.
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Um. Nessopotamian… Did you even read the article? The Sub-contractor that JCI hired and their professional liability insurance will be paying for the error. Not the school board, not JCI.
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Some may feel this is a “little” mistake, but taken in perspective are you kidding me? How do you have this kind of mis-measurement occur? I suppose it would take far too long and is unrealistic, but ISD 709 should sue the contractor for the entire track project total then hire an entirely new contractor to complete the needed repairs. We deserve better service – we’re paying a p r e m i u m price for that place.
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Have the lines and overall dimensions of the football field and the baseball field been checked yet? With the pattern of “where there’s smoke there’s fire” occurances demonstrated by everything the LRFP touches, it wouldn’t surprise me if other measurements were off as well.
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