Issue date: February 24, 1999

Menlo Civic Center: City Hall renovations fall way behind schedule Menlo Civic Center: City Hall renovations fall way behind schedule (February 24, 1999)

By RENEE MOILANEN

Menlo Park residents looking forward to a restored Civic Center -- free of construction barricades, power tools and scaffolding -- may have to wait a little longer.
With unexpected construction delays, the $9 million remodeling project -- which involves moving the police department to a seismically retrofitted City Hall -- has fallen about a year behind schedule, pushing the completion date to this fall, said City Manager Jan Dolan.
The project was originally scheduled to be completed this past September.
Several problems contributed to the delay, Ms. Dolan said, including unforeseen construction difficulities. "A remodeling always takes longer than you expect," she said. "This building is over 20 years old, and we encountered some things that were unexpected."
For example, the type of brick used in City Hall took "extensively longer to remove than the contractor thought," said Director of Engineering Ruben Nino. Delays also occurred when several utilities connections were found in unexpected locations.
"With any kind of remodeling, the unknown is always an issue," Mr. Nino said.
Ms. Dolan added that coordinating subcontractors has also slowed work: if one subcontractor falls behind because of unforeseen construction problems, others will be delayed.
These delays, coupled with a construction boom in Silicon Valley that provides ample work for subcontractors, makes it harder to get workers back on the job once their schedules have been thrown off, Mr. Nino added.
But -- Ms. Dolan said -- "there hasn't been a significant down time when a contractor is not on the job."
Cost overruns could potentially crop up, Mr. Nino said, but exact figures will not be known until the project's completion. "We will most likely go over budget, but at the present time, we're still under budget," he said.
The project's price tag carried a contingency of roughly $1 million.
The finished product

The project, however, is proceeding without changes, Mr. Nino said.

When renovations are complete, the police dispatch and records services will occupy part of the first floor with the rest of the department in the seismically upgraded and renovated basement.

Administrative services, such as the city clerk and city manager's offices, will be moved from the first floor to the second floor. The Development Services Department, where applications for building permits are obtained, will continue to occupy the first floor.

The city has not yet decided what to do with the unused police station. It will be included in the recreational facilities study for possible use as a recreation or child care center.

The second phase of construction -- which includes adding a new conference room and offices for Development Services -- will begin in March, Mr. Nino said.

At that time, the Development Services counter -- the first counter people see when walking through City Hall's main entrance -- will temporarily move to the north end of the building, nearest the Council Chambers.

The construction fencing and barricades around City Hall will be removed, giving access to the Development Services counter through a separate entrance.

This move, however, will not be permanent, Mr. Nino said. When renovations are complete, police dispatch and records will take over the counter space temporarily used by Development Services.