Work on Lakefront project to resume this week

Talk about it

The Hudson City Council on Monday night agreed on a plan that should lead to a resumption of work on the Lakefront Park improvement project.

The decision was to install a set of concrete steps as the midway connection between the two new pathways running along the riverfront south of the dike road.

The upper floodwall also will be extended to fill the current gap where the stairway will be built.

And the upper pathway at the northern connection between the two pathways will be raised to create a consistent barrier of 684 feet above sea level along the entire project area.

The work will be done at an additional cost of around $32,000, based on the discussion at the City Council meeting.

Council members appeared eager to get the stalled project back on track, and to varying degrees, dissatisfied about the delay.

Alderperson Randy Morrissette II laid the blame for the delay at the feet of Bonestroo, the city’s consulting engineering company.

Morrissette moved to end the city’s contractual relationship with Bonestroo, and when he learned that the council couldn’t act on the motion because it wasn’t on the meeting agenda, asked that it be on the agenda of the council’s Aug. 18 meeting.

“I’ve had enough of Bonestroo. I’d like to terminate their engineering services with the city of Hudson,” Morrissette said.

“I’m not going to get into any more spending on these guys,” he added later.

The latest delay in the project to control floodwater and increase the use of the southern portion of Lakefront Park occurred because city officials were unhappy with how the floodwalls designed by Bonestroo engineers performed during high-water periods last spring.

What they observed was floodwater coming through gaps in the floodwalls at intersections of the upper and lower pathways.

Members of the Park Board suggested eliminating the gaps, where possible, and raising the upper pathway to serve as a levee where needed.

Park Board Chair Pat Casanova told council members that he believes the modifications to the project they selected Monday night would accomplish the board’s original objective of lessening flooding of the park.

Engineer Chuck Schwartz of Bonestroo said Pember Companies, the contractor that installed the new floodwalls, had promised to resume work on the project this week if the city decided how it wanted to proceed.

Schwartz said the paving of the pathways, tree-planting and the installation of picnic tables, benches and an irrigation system will follow completion of the floodwall and pathway modifications.

Tags: news, hudson, city_council, lakefront_park