Discussion:
On June 20, 2023, City Council approved a contract with Minnesota Roadways, Co. for the 12th Avenue Driveway Consolidation Project, CIF-20-014. The contractor was prepared to begin construction in 2023, however private utility conflicts prevented them from starting work due to repeated delays in private utility relocations. Despite numerous requests from the City, the utility providers did not relocate their infrastructure until it was too late into the season to begin construction.
The City entered into an Access Modification Agreement with United Properties (UP), allowing the city to complete the driveway consolidation outside of the existing right-of-way. As part of the agreement, UP would coordinate the repaving of their parking lot to occur concurrently with the city's relocation of their driveway. To avoid additional costs for delaying their private improvements, UP proceeded with repaving their entire parking lot in the fall of 2023.
In order to complete the driveway consolidation project in 2024, significant additional costs would be incurred by the City, both due to the increased costs from the contractor for the delay, and the costs to avoid and repair impacts to UP's newly repaved parking lot.
City staff has determined that the overall project costs for the improvements now exceeds the benefit it will bring to the public for consolidating the driveways. Therefore, staff recommends terminating the contract and issuing final payment to the contractor. The contractor has agreed to terminate the contract with no additional monies owed outside of the final retainage.