MANSFIELD — Apparent water main breaks and at least three resulting leaks have halted most demolition work at the former Westinghouse site on the city’s east side.
The problem for the City of Mansfield now is trying to locate the previously unknown underground line(s) and the valve(s) that are needed to stop the water flow.
(Below is a gallery of photos taken Wednesday afternoon showing standing water at the former Westinghouse site on the city’s east side.)
Richland County Land Bank manager Amy Hamrick told board members Wednesday afternoon that R&D Excavation of Crestline has basically halted most of its work on the 13-acre site until the issue is resolved.
She showed members a video from the site recorded this week showing water flowing into one of the many pits that has been uncovered below the concrete slab that once covered the manufacturing site between Fourth and Fifth streets.
“They’re just fighting it constantly,” Hamrick said.
“They had two pumps trying to pump it out. And the pumps totaled 11,000 gallons an hour and they couldn’t keep up with the water coming into this,” Hamrick said.
“You can just see where there’s water everywhere on the site, which is of course, you know, just slowing it down,” she said.
City of Mansfield Community Development & Housing Director Adrian Ackerman told the board a meeting with Public Works Director Dave Remy is scheduled Friday morning to discuss the issue.
“We’re not showing any (water mains) on the maps. So obviously it’s probably gonna take some investigation and that’s part of (what) Friday’s meeting will determine. Where should we start? Maybe R&D could provide some direction for figuring it out,” Ackerman said.
Richland Source left voice mail for Remy on Wednesday afternoon but the message was not returned at the time of publication.
City workers were seen along the Fourth Street border on Wednesday afternoon, apparently trying to trouble-shoot the issue.
The $4 million demolition project on the former industrial site began in December with the start of the demolition of the former “A” building, a hulking five-story, decaying structure that sat largely vacant for three decades.
The building was completely down in early February. But the work on the adjoining pad, found to be 30 inches thick, is proving more difficult.
Hamrick said in May the contractor has found several deep concrete pits, some of which look to be 12-feet deep, which filled then with water during recent rains. They are also finding tunnels.
None of these were known when the work began, she said.
Hamrick said Wednesday R&D is also finding numerous large chunks of concrete beneath the pad. In fact, she said, the contractor is finding twice as much concrete in the chunks as there was concrete in the pad itself.
All of that concrete has to be crushed on the site and then hauled away.
The rising water and the massive amount of concrete means the project will likely not be finished in 2023, she said.
“While they’re waiting for things to dry out and (water) to stop running, they’ve decided to go ahead and take all their equipment in and do routine maintenance so that when the site does get dried out again, they can get back to full force,” Hamrick said.
“I’ve asked them (for an) estimated timeline, expecting to find as much concrete buried under everything else that they haven’t dug up. They’re thinking 20 weeks now. If we get lucky and quit finding these huge chunks of concrete, it could go much quicker,” she said.
That timeline would mean the site, owned by the Land Bank, could be covered in seed and straw next spring, according to Hamrick.
Given the discoveries, Hamrick said it’s likely R&D Demolition will request a change order to provide additional funds for the work.
“I am going to sit down with them next week and we’re gonna start putting numbers together,” Hamrick said.
