It’s back to the drawing board for the Hetzler Road Trail project.
The construction project that was slated to begin in the spring has been postponed after the City Council officially withdrew a bid bond from ARC Construction on July 11. City officials had secured a bid from the construction firm to build a pedestrian trail along Hetzler Road near the Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook.
The cost of the contract would not have exceeded $1, 614, 033, according to a city staff report.
Public Works Director Charles Herbertson said the project was initially delayed after it was approved on Oct. 26 last year out of concerns over the anticipated El Niño rain storms.
The city also asked ARC not to build some of the original items that were included in the bid due to a lack of funding and ARC apparently decided not to continue with the project.
No contracts had been signed, Herbertson said.
In a March 28 letter from Derek Jarvis, an attorney representing ARC, the company states the scope of work changed since ARC was awarded the bid last year and the two parties were unable to reach an agreement over a new starting time for a new scope of work. The letter states “it is ARC’s position that one change from one project to another and the inability to agree on a new start date for the project has put ARC in a position where ARC must request not only the return its bid bond regarding the original project but also must request to be removed from further consideration of the new project.
“Thus, we respectfully request a written confirmation from City Hall that ARC’s bond bid is being released and that the city will look for a new contractor for the new scope of work,” Jarvis wrote.
Herbertson said ARC never gave actual specifics why they decided to back out of the project. “They didn’t return any of our repeated calls,” he said.
The News was also unable to reach ARC representatives at press time.
Herbertson said it was “a little unusual” for a contractor to back out of a construction deal in this fashion but the city plans to seek another contractor to build the trail. “We hope to open new bids in early September and have a contractor by late September. If all goes well, construction could begin as early as November,” he said. “We don’t want to postpone this project again.”
Construction is estimated to take approximately six months.
Gary Walker contributed to this story.