The Betsy Adams and Coral Gables Garden Club Park located at 4650 Alhambra Circle has been closed since March 1st, 2019 for the construction of a much-needed fence to keep children safe. School is out and summer is officially here, yet the park remains closed due to safety concerns regarding the recently installed fence not meeting the contract standards with the city and the Florida Building Code.
Eduardo “Ed” Santamaria, Assistant City Manager for Operations and Infrastructure, told Gables Insider “the fencing installed did not comply with the requirements in terms of finish, height and most importantly – the spacing between pickets, which presents a potential head entrapment hazard for children.”
The total contract price for the improvement project was $53,236.75. The scope of work included permitting, oolite columns, engineering and installation, aluminum fence engineering and installation, concrete footings, landscaping, irrigation and site restoration.
“The City is working steadfastly on having the fence completed and the park reopened.” said Santamaria adding that “The City Attorney’s Office was involved early to ensure timely correction of the default by the contractor and to preserve the City’s claims under the contract.”
New shop drawings have been submitted by the contractor but have been rejected twice by the city’s structural plan review as of 7/1/2019. Once the new plans are approved there is a four to six-week lead time for fabrication in addition to installation, inspection and final approval. It may very well be towards the end of summer before the treasured park re-opens.
I’m way behind on this, but I had been wondering why it was closed for so long and looking like an eyesore. I agree this is another “white elephant”. These so-called “passive parks” are a waste of city resources; they are used by, and benefit only a few nearby residents, while there are much better uses of taxpayer dollars. For instance, we still don’t have even one dog park! Although I believe one is being built, its located underneath the metro rail, a terrible location. This location would have been lovely for a dog park, and would have been used by, and benefited many more residents. But, of course, the neighbors no doubt would have objected in the usual NIMB way!
I would like to see a traffic circle in the intersection of Turin Street and Mariposa Ave. especially now that the new Paseo de la Riviera is almost complete. This new traffic circle should help manage traffic and calm speeders.
I agree with Dorothy Parker. Who approved the fence? They should pay! Not the taxpayers.
How/why did the fence get approved and built if it was not up to code? Sorry to hear that taxpayers will have to cover the wasted expense.
Another million dollar white elephant while our sidewalks and other infrastructure remains in poor shape and unattended.