Asbestos delays Cedar Rapids library work

CEDAR RAPIDS - The opening of the city's new downtown library is apt to be pushed back as much as four weeks and into July 2013 because of a $1.3 million surprise found during the demolition of the former building on the library site across from Greene Square Park.

Bob Pasicznyuk, the city's library director, on Monday said excavation at the building site, which was once home to an American Legion post and bowling alley and then to TrueNorth Companies Inc., uncovered a large amount of asbestos-tainted debris from the Washington School of 1855 and the Washington High School of 1890 that once sat on the site. In the school demolition in 1946, much of the building ended up in the school's basement and boiler rooms over which the Legion Post building subsequently was built.

The library's initial contract to remove asbestos from the site was in the amount of $42,916. However, removing material led to the need to remove more and more. In the end, more than 6,000 tons of material needed to be removed.

Pasicznyuk put the total extra project cost to remove and landfill debris, provide new fill to the site and pay the building contractor for project delays at $1.3 million.

“It's one of those things that there's nothing we can do but legally take care of the matter,” the library director said. “And wish that asbestos was never invented.”

He emphasized that the increased site-preparation cost does not affect the overall cost of the library project. He said $3.2 million is provided for in the project budget for contingencies like the site-preparation surprise.

“We prudently put aside money because we knew something would go wrong,” the library director said. “I foolishly thought that we would never have to tap it. But now I'm being educated why you put aside a contingency.”

The overall cost of the project, Pasicznyuk said, is actually moving in a positive direction. The $49.5 million library project - which was the total project estimate including pre-construction expenses and contents - actually has become a $46 million one because bids on the project have come in lower than had been expected in the project planning, the library director said.

The library project is being financed with disaster funds from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state I-JOBS program as well as from private donations.

No local property-tax revenue is being used on the project. The city is using $4 million in revenue from the city's local-option sales tax on the library project. The sales tax is in place for 63 months to provide money for flood-recovery projects including as matching funds for projects receiving federal funds, which the library project is.

On the plus side, the debris removal at the library site also has produced “some nice pieces of granite” that the library may try to use, said Pasicznyuk.