A $92,000 change order approved by Boerne City Council Tuesday for the River Road Park bank stabilization project had nothing to do with heavy weekend rains that filled Cibolo Creek and left construction equipment submerged.
Heavy rain that fell in a short period of time on Feb. 10 resulted in rapidly rising water levels in Cibolo Creek, which has been drained since September to allow for the bank restabilization project, a $2.3 million undertaking.
Photos and videos on social media showed construction equipment owned or leased by Agave Design Studio, the project contractor, nearly submerged in the rapidly flowing creek.
By Sunday, however, water levels had returned to working levels and crews anticipated returning to work after several inspections of the creek water were conducted.
“While the weather forecast did call for rain, the intensity was especially heavy during the 9 a.m. hour,” city officials said in a Monday press release.
“As a result, water rose quickly within the creek, even with the dam gate being open as it has been since the fall,” the city stated. “The contractor did not anticipate such intense rain within such a short time frame and had left the equipment in the creek, as had been the practice throughout the project, in anticipation of upcoming earth work on the creek bank.”
Lissette Jimenez, Boerne Parks and Recreation Department director, told City Council during its Feb. 13 meeting that three inspections were conducted in the creek within a 24-hour period, and no environmental issues or damage was reported.
The three site visits were conducted by a water resource engineer, Westward Inspections, and the city’s own environmental planner-designer.
“All three inspections came out well. There was no evidence of any sheen shown in the water, so we’re in a good place,” Jimenez said. “I know that was a big concern, and it should be a big concern.”
Councilwoman Sharon Wright said she received “pushback concerning taxpayers being on the hook for cleanup, for any damage to construction vehicles.”
“It’s been made clear by the city that these vehicles belong to the contractor; this is on them,” Wright said. “This ($92,000) change order has been on the agenda prior to the rain event of the weekend. This has nothing to do with the rain.”
The $2.3 million riverbed project included a contingency fund of $109,786 for last-minute adjustments or project updates. Four previous change orders consumed $105,075, leaving just $4,711 for any further developments the contractor needs to deal with outside the scope of the original contract.
The $92,000 was needed to meet requirements specified by Texas Parks and Wildlife Department for the additional sediment removal.
“Some of those requirements included the removal of the disturbed sediment, which ended up being over 7,250 tons,” Jimenez said.
In addition, the city is working with TPWD to establish some fish habitat along the creek.
“This is going to be a big feature to the park, because we have so many visitors who come just to fish,” Jimenez said. “This is one way of meeting our requirements with Texas Parks and Wildlife.”
“We are dealing with change orders that have nothing to do with this issue, which has gotten a lot of hyperbole in social media,” Councilman Joseph Macaluso said. “It is an unfortunate thing, no question. But the decision to leave equipment (in the riverbed) was not the city’s, that was the contractor’s decision.”
Despite the rain, Jimenez said the city still holds to a late March completion date.
“We’re still on track, we didn’t skip a beat. We’re moving forward,” she added.
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