Panel backs settlement of Pike Plan lawsuit
Common Council to vote Wednesday on whether to resolve litigation against engineering firm
KINGSTON, N.Y. » Finance Committee members have endorsed a proposed $315,000 settlement of the lawsuit the city filed against the engineering firm responsible for the design and renovation of the Uptown sidewalk canopies known as the Pike Plan.
Unanimous approval was given during a meeting Monday and will go to the Common Council on Wednesday for a vote.
“Lochner (Engineering of Newburgh) was the
engineer that was suppose to ensure that the foreman (of) the construction company did the work according to the designs of the architect,” said city Corporation Counsel Kevin Bryant.
The lawsuit — filed on Dec. 31, 2015 — was one of the last administrative acts of former Mayor Shayne Gallo on his final day in office before current Mayor Steve Noble took over.
Named as defendants in the case were the RBA Group, Lochner Engineering of Newburgh and Fourmen Construction Inc. of Peekskill. At the time, Gallo said each of the companies was being sued for $1 million, mostly for breach of contract.
Bryant said he cannot comment on the settlement until after it is approved by council members.
“At this point, I don’t want to go into a whole lot of detail because we’re still pending,” he said. “We can discuss the settlement and I’ll go into detail once it’s concluded.”
In the lawsuit, the city accused Lochner Engineering of failing “to perform its services in conformance with applicable professional standards and carelessly and negligently performed the services required under the contract.”
The canopies over sidewalks on Wall and Front streets were constructed during the early 1970s and renovated over a two-year period beginning in 2011. However, some building owners in the business district complained of property damage resulting from the project.
The Common Council only weeks before the lawsuits agreed to pay the engineering firm C.T. Male up to $48,000 to determine the source of water leaks in the new canopies. That was in addition to $42,000 approved for the firm to conduct a visual inspection and review the project’s construction documents.
Council members in April 2016 agreed to pay C.T. Male another $50,000 on testing to determine locations of the water leaks.
This past February, lawmakers approves spending $23,500 for the firm to develop engineering designs for repair of the 43-45 N. Front St. section of the canopy, which is considered to be dangerous.