Lifetime Citizen Portal Access — AI Briefings, Alerts & Unlimited Follows
City Utilities touts $540,000 in savings on Stellhorn detention‑basin work through developer partnership
Loading...
Summary
City Utilities asked the committee to approve an agreement to have a neighboring developer move about 20,000 cubic yards of spoil onto its site, pay $150,000 to perform the work and donate roughly 0.7 acres to the city; staff said the arrangement yields about $540,000 in net savings and the committee approved it unanimously.
City Utilities representatives told the Fort Wayne Common Council's committee Dec. 2 that a proposed partnership with a neighboring developer will significantly reduce the cost of constructing a detention basin for the Bollerman Drain.
Seth Weinglass said the project requires excavation and removal of more than 50,690 cubic yards of fill. Rather than paying contractors to haul spoil offsite — which staff estimated could cost in excess of $1.3 million — the city negotiated a plan with Schmucker Building Services, LLC to move roughly 20,000 cubic yards of fill onto the developer's adjacent parcel. "The agreement before you now represents over $500,000 in savings through a partnership that we reached with a neighboring developer," Weinglass said, explaining that the developer will perform the work for $150,000 and will donate about seven‑tenths of an acre to City Utilities to use for staging and temporary stockpiling.
Weinglass provided a breakdown of the savings: about $540,000 in avoided excavation, hauling and disposal costs, plus an additional $115,000 in hauling avoided by using the donated staging area. City staff estimated the donated land's value at roughly $35,000 based on recent purchases. Council members asked clarifying questions about how the $150,000 payment and the $540,000 savings figures were calculated; staff walked through the components of the estimate and said the numbers are based on prevailing hauling and disposal rates and on the developer's agreed scope of work.
Council approved the agreement by voice vote with unanimous committee support. Staff said funding for the related stormwater work will come from City Utilities stormwater revenue and that project engineers are available for follow‑up questions during implementation.
Next steps: the agreement was approved in committee and will be recorded and implemented by City Utilities; staff noted coordination with the developer and project engineers will follow.
