City Questioned on Boardwalk Rebuild Schedule

The City of Long Beach will continue to make public two-week work schedules for the boardwalk reconstruction project, City Manager Jack Schnirman announced at Tuesday’s City Council meeting at City Hall.

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Schnirman said the reconstruction work is “on time” and he encouraged residents to check the city’s website and Facebook page for updates.

“We posted and we will continue to post work schedules every two weeks so residents can be aware of where construction will take place,” he said.

The latest schedule shows that composite and timber piles will be installed at the boardwalk areas at Lincoln, Monroe, Long Beach, Riverside, Edwards, National, Laurelton, Lafayette, Lindell and Grand boulevards from June 3 to June 16.

During that time the retaining or wave break wall, which is designed to mitigate the type of damage the city sustained during Hurricane Sandy, will continue to rise, from Edwards to Magnolia boulevards, at the south side of the boardwalk stanchions. Other upcoming work includes electrical ground systems to be installed from Long Beach to Magnolia boulevards.

Grace Industries, the Plainview-based firm hired to rebuild the 2.2-mile tropical hardwood structure, has a 210-day timeline to complete the boardwalk rebuild, starting from April 16, the date the firm signed a $44.2 million contract with the city. The contract stipulates that sections of the boardwalk, from Long Beach to Laurelton boulevards, must be completed in 100 days.

At Tuesday’s meeting resident Eileen Hession expressed concerned that she still hasn’t heard who is paying for the boardwalk reconstruction.

“I wish that if you have heard anything, yeah or nay, from FEMA or anybody else that you would share that information with us,” Hession said.

Last month, U.S. Senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the White House agreed to their call to increase the share the federal government would pay to repair Sandy-damaged public properties from 75 percent to 90 percent. City officials maintain that they will continue to pursue funding from all available sources to cover storm-related costs. 

Hession also said that when she visits the boardwalk site, she sees only about 10 workers there at a time, when originally the projected called for more than 100 workers at any given time and a 12-hours-a-day, six-days week work schedule.

Jim LaCarrubba, the city’s commissioner of public works, who wasn’t present at Tuesday’s meeting, told Patch on Wednesday that the specific manpower and work hours are optional and not contractual. “It’s not required; we gave them flexibility,” said LaCarrubba.

He and Schnirman emphasized that the measuring stick is whether the boardwalk is built within its milestones, the first of which is the Laurelton-Long Beach section that is slated for completion on or before July 23.

“If they fail to meet that milestone there is a $15,000 penalty a day for each day until it is met,” Schnriman told Patch. "The penalties will be deducted from the invoices submitted by Grace Industries."

What is essentially the foundational or sub-boardwalk work, such as the pilings and retaining wall, must be built first, before the decking is installed, LaCarrubba said. The delivery of some materials, such as concrete for the middle section of the boardwalk, is expected to arrive soon.

“All of those things are happening now,” LaCarrubba said. “And then the decking, which everyone is waiting for, will be constructed. And there will be a point where there will probably be as many as a 100 workers on site.”  

Said Schnirman about the many people like Hession who are eager for the construction and opening of the boardwalk’s initial section: “People are understandably very engaged and that’s a healthy thing.”

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