Cautiously optimistic that they’ll finally be able to finish—and close out—their $34 million Streambank Project, supervisors have hired Lamont Engineers to file the paperwork needed to free up millions of dollars for work already completed, maybe as soon as this fall.
Supervisors agreed to hire Lamont at a cost of $194,000 following an executive session on the long-delayed project at their August meeting.
Flood Committee chair Don Airey of Blenheim inherited the Streambank Project after Administrator Steve Wilson left for Otsego County in July.
It’s time to get it done.
“It’s time to move beyond this project,” Mr. Airey said Saturday.
“I want to expedite the process. Time is money and we need to get back in the creeks to get this done. The longer we stretch this out, the more it will add to the cost.”
The Streambank Project came in the wake of August 2011’s catastrophic Hurricane Irene in an effort to clean out and repair five streams to prevent future flood damage.
Some of that work has been completed.
But since May 2012, the project’s cost has grown substantially from the original $21 million, with state and federal permits and funding pulled--and then reinstated--because of cost overruns, charges of poor oversight, and other concerns.
In May, Mr. Wilson said he was waiting on nearly $6 million in state and federal grants and reimbursements to be released, money that would allow the county to significantly reduce its $15 million bond for the pro4ect.
Two million of that, though, was dependent on actually getting back to work.
That didn’t happen.
“We missed the whole season,” Mr. Airey said, in part because of supply chain issues and in part because of the delay in permitting—something Lamont is moving on.
The goal now is to have the work closed out by late 2023 or early 2024 with the immediate focus on permitting, ordering supplies, and scheduling contractors.
It’s easy to forget—and understandable—Mr. Airey said, that work on two of the creeks—Platter Kill and Dave Brown—is essentially complete; work on the Little Schoharie is also mostly done, he said, leaving Line Creek on Middle Valley Road.
“It was an extremely aggressive project with every intention of enhancing safety after Irene and Lee,” Mr. Airey said.
“To me, this project is the last part of that disaster, that flood. It needs to be put behind us. Will it have been worth it? That’s a question that will have to be answered over years. Right now? I want this done.”
The county has been paying the Wladis Law Firm to handle much of the work Lamont Engineers will be picking up.