Repair projects start at Middletown City Building
Work on 50-year-old building expected to take about a month.
Drainage, concrete and paver repair projects are underway on both sides of the Middletown City Building.
Contractors began work Tuesday morning on the plaza side of the building, tearing up the pavement and making way for replacement of the 300-footlong slotted drains, then pouring fresh concrete over them, according to Middletown Public Works Director Scott Tadych.
The $286,000 project will take about a month to complete and was necessary because the storm water drains were collapsing, Tadych said. They are original to the building, which is almost 50 years old.
On the north side of the building, maintenance staff is resetting individual pavers, many of which are loose. Some of the area has been blocked of with caution tape, awaiting repairs for more than a year.
Tadych said it is a “temporary fix” and the city is working on a longer-term project to replace them all with concrete. But there are challenges, and the solution could be costly. “It is overtop the lower level, and that creates some complexities,” he said.
Part of that lower level is the city jail. “It is a technical issue,” Tadych said. “The jail is climate-controlled, and we want to put concrete on top, but there are some engineering challenges with pouring a concrete slab over section that is climate-controlled.”
He said the building was “uniquely designed, and there have always been challenges with maintaining.”
Parking on the north side near the building entrance has been suspended for now, but it will open back up when the paver repair is completed.