Sammamish City Hall replaces green driveway with standard asphalt
April 22, 2009
By J.B. Wogan
New: April 22 3:15 p.m.
An incorrectly built green building technique used at City Hall has proven more trouble than it’s worth, according to Pete Butkus, deputy city manager.
Butkus recommended to the City Council April 14 that the council approve a $16,057 construction contract with Sutter Paving to remove a portion of driveway beside City Hall and replace it with concrete curbs and standard asphalt.
The City Council voted 6-0 in favor of the driveway replacement.
The city’s 2009-2010 budget had set aside $75,000 for a City Hall parking lot repair project, including the driveway portion.
The city built the driveway using grasscrete, a mixed-use surface that combines bumps of concrete with pockets of grass and soil.
The concrete pockets were designed to have holes at the bottom to drain water. They did not have the holes and could not drain, Butkus said in a later interview. As a result, the water pools on the surface.
“When it rains, it turns to mud,” Butkus said, adding that the mud trickles into the storm drainage system.
Bayley Construction poured the concrete in 2006, and under Washington construction law, the company is not responsible for fixing the problem, Butkus said.
Butkus also pointed out that Bayley Construction poured grasscrete at another location on the City Hall site, which does function properly.
With the council’s approval, construction on the driveway would begin in about a month, Butkus said.
Reporter J.B. Wogan can be reached at 392-6434, ext. 247, or jbwogan@isspress.com.
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So why are we paying to have this done. Shouldn’t the original contractor replace or repair the defective section?