GILROY
– The City of Gilroy will not pay the contractor of the Monterey
Street streetscape project in full until the cracks in newly laid
decorative sidewalk between Seventh and Sixth streets are
repaired.
GILROY – The City of Gilroy will not pay the contractor of the Monterey Street streetscape project in full until the cracks in newly laid decorative sidewalk between Seventh and Sixth streets are repaired.
After cracks appeared along the sidewalks at Monterey and Sixth streets, City Council told city staff to adopt a get-tough policy with the Bay Area company that is in the midst of turning Gilroy’s main street into a refurbished pedestrian friendly zone. The city has yet to accept the work and has told the contractor, Golden Bay Construction, the concrete laying must be redone if they want to get paid.
“It usually doesn’t get to that point because contractors like to make good on their work,” City Administrator Jay Baksa said.
The city is also getting estimates on how much it will cost to repair the cracks in the sidewalk between Seventh and Eighth streets that Golden Bay Construction laid a year ago.
The city says the concrete cracked along that section of the road after staff signed off on the work. Vehicles driving over the sidewalk were the likely cause of the cracks, City Engineer Richard Smelser said.
The city designed the second phase of the streetscape (from Seventh Street to Sixth Street) to withstand more punishment, according to Smelser, by laying thicker concrete and using more base rock beneath the cement.
“We really beefed it up for the second phase to where you could probably drive a truck over the cement and not cause any damage,” Smelser said.
The cracks in the cement this time around were due to workmanship errors, not design problems, Smelser said.
“I think they just let the concrete get away from them,” Smelser said.
The city will let Golden Bay Construction finish the second phase of work along the west side of Monterey Street before repairing the east side. Repairs will be done after the first of the year, so Monterey Street will be more user friendly and aesthetically pleasing over the holidays.
For at least one downtown business owner the cracks in the sidewalks are of little concern. Al Tamayo, owner of Baha Ranch Burgers at the corner of Seventh and Monterey, says he would rather see loiterers go away.
“Sometimes there are 20 people standing around drinking and smoking. I have to call the police all the time,” Tamayo said. “I’ve seen women cross the street and walk all the way around because they are scared of the people in front of my restaurant.”
