Published: June 24, 2008 12:11 am            

NORTH TONAWANDA: Refund coming to city

As one riverfront project draws to a close over budget, another ends with a more than $100,000 “deposit” now returned.

Cleanup of Gratwick-Riverside Park in North Tonawanda, now the proposed site of work that could model the state’s Greenway beautification initiative, has been done for six years and the state Department of Environmental Conservation has returned $100,520 they have held since construction was completed.

The money was required as a “retainage fee” to ensure work was properly completed according to state standards before a stipulation calling for ownership of the land to go to the city was enacted.

Work to remediate about 53 acres along the mile-long park began in the 1960’s, when the old city dump and former steel mill slag pit was capped with dirt.

Beginning in 1990, the DEC determined three separate parties — the city of North Tonawanda, National Grid and Occidental Chemical Corp. — were responsible for the contaminated site’s final remediation.

“So basically, the release of that money says we’re done with that project as far as construction is concerned,” City Engineer Dale Marshall said.

Beginning in 1990, the city of North Tonawanda and the two other parties reached an agreement that, once work was completed, the city would be named owner of what is now Gratwick-Riverside Park.

“That was the linchpin,” Marshall said. “The consent order that we signed said the city had to have ownership of that property, it was all legal at that point.”

City Attorney Shawn Nickerson said he got the check last week, and the money will be useful as officials begin work on next year’s budget.

“Having to deal with state government is never easy,” he said.

In order for the funds to be released, the city had to prove that all contractors involved in the work were paid, an agreement had to be signed by the parties involved in the cleanup resolving their role in the state mandate to do so and documents had to be confirmed by the DEC.

“Anytime that there’s money coming into the city of this magnitude, it’s a good thing,” Nickerson said.

Marshall said about 7,500 trees were planted as part of the construction phase, and a drainage system to collect and divert contaminated groundwater was installed.

Also, the North Tonawanda Common Council voted last Tuesday to accept an additional $22,561 in changes to the second phase of work to construct the Niagara Riverwalk, a city project funded in part by money from the New York State Office of Parks and Recreation, but mostly through tax dollars, and amounting to roughly $440,000

Marshall said the Riverwalk project, running along both the canal and Niagara River from Gateway Harbor Park to Gratwick-Riverside Park, was funded partly by city bonds and also included two separate state grants.

The total bill for the project is now about $359,388, including increases to the second phase.

The roughly $80,000 difference between the project’s total cost and the bill sent to the city by contractor New Frontier Excavating & Paving, Inc., Marshall said, can be attributed to surveying and design work executed by the city itself.

The additional money was used to fund three aspects of a section of the Riverwalk including building a new entrance road, moving state Department of Transportation signs pulled up during construction and landscaping of about 1,000 feet between the curb and the path built for pedestrians.

Contact reporter Neale Gulleyat 693-1000, ext. 114.

        

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