After months of delay due to earthquake concerns, the Salt Palace expansion project is back on track.
A geotechnical consulting firm gave the go-ahead Tuesday.Salt Lake County applied for a building permit last month, but Salt Lake City officials said they wouldn't issue it until the county hired an independent geotechnical firm. The firm would resolve conflicting opinions as to whether a fault existed beneath the proposed expansion.
Cotton, Shires & Associates concluded there was no fault.
"Obviously we're pleased it came back the way it did," County Commissioner Mark Shurtleff said. "Now we can build it and know it's safe."
As soon as Cotton, Shires faxed its conclusions to Commissioner Brent Overson Tuesday night, the project kicked into high gear after having lain moribund for six months.
Overson, whose direct responsibilities include the Salt Palace, called Shurtleff and Commission Chairwoman Mary Callaghan that night and persuaded them to put the awarding of the Salt Palace expansion construction contract on Wednesday's commission meeting agenda as an emergency "walk-on" item. They did, awarding the contract to Bodell Construction for $39.7 million, the low bid.
The bids were opened back in April, but the county had held off awarding the contract until the fault question was resolved.
That same day, Wednesday, Salt Lake City issued a building permit allowing construction to go forward. The permit is conditional until some additional tests are completed, but officials anticipate no problems.
After some additional excavation, Bodell will immediately begin building the structure's foundation concurrent with the additional testing.
The county is very keen to get going. Completion of the $47.5 million project was originally scheduled for July 2000, in time for the huge Outdoor Retailers national convention scheduled for August, but the fault-related delays have made that deadline very much touch and go.
"We haven't altered the construction contracts from the original bids, but we're well aware that we'll have to relook at things as they get going," said commission chief of staff David Marshall. "We're going to do everything we can to keep things going."
Expansion project manager Ken Ament and Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau President Rick Davis were both in California Thursday talking to Outdoor Retailers representatives about how construction might be worked around the convention.
The county's original geologic consultant, David Simon, of Simon/Bymaster, found a geologic anomaly during excavation of the site last December. Upon his discovery, the county brought in another geotechnical firm, Kleinfelder, to assist Simon in finding out what, exactly, the anomaly was.
If it was an underlying fault, it would halt construction forever, since an earthquake could level the building. If it was liquefaction -- ground displacement caused by earthquakes from remote faults -- it could be dealt with by shoring up the foundation.
Kleinfelder concluded it was liquefaction. Simon concluded it was a fault. Despite the disagreement the county decided to apply for a building permit anyway, but Salt Lake City refused to issue one until a third opinion was received from Cotton, Shires. That firm ultimately sided with Kleinfelder.
Shurtleff, for one, said bringing in the third consultant was wise.
"I said all along I was glad there was another party coming into this thing," he said.
What with paying the three consultants, expediting construction and installing foundation modifications, the earthquake/fault/liquefaction headache will likely require Salt Lake County to fork out several hundred thousand dollars in additional costs.
"I don't think anybody in Salt Lake has looked at a site harder," Marshall said. "We know more about that little plot of ground than anyone in Salt Lake knows about the ground under their structures."