Contaminated soil found at City Hall, parking site

The contingency fund for the City Hall and parking structure project in Whitefish will likely take a hit after contaminated soil was found at the construction site.

“We don’t think it’s exceedingly extensive, but I won’t say it’s minimal,” said Mike Cronquist, the city’s representative for the project. “We’re not entirely sure what the extent of it is.”

Cronquist told council that about 50 to 60 yards of contaminated soil had been found in the basement area at the site.

City Manager Chuck Stearns said the contamination likely came from underground fuel storage tanks that were located across the street years ago when a gas station operated there.

“There likely will be increased cost to dispose of the contaminated soil,” he said.

Roger Noble of Applied Water Consulting has been retained to monitor the situation.

Another concern at the site is water that has been seeping into the excavation site.

Stearns said it’s unclear where the water is coming from, but that could add to costs, as well.

An underground tank that once stored heating oil for the former City Hall also was found. The cost to remove that was $20,000.

“The contingency continues to diminish,” Stearns said. “Hopefully, once we get out of the ground, those sorts of unknowns go away.”

Council on Jan. 19 approved a new budget for the project at just over $16 million. Of that budget about $150,000 was set aside in the contingency fund.

Concrete work will continue at the site over the next three to five weeks.

In an attempt to save the city some money, a portion of the project that includes some of the rebar and concrete was rebid.

However, Cronquist said, several major concrete firms in the area declined to submit bids.