Source: http://www.watertowndailytimes.com, October 28, 2016
By: Craig Fox
The manufacturer of the roof on the city’s ice arena warned that it needed some kind of system to prevent large chunks of snow and ice from falling off the renovated facility.
Lawrence J. Coburn, who oversaw the arena project as its construction manager, recalled that the manufacturer, Firestone Building Products, expressed concern about snow and ice falling off the Watertown Municipal Arena, so it recommended installing snow guards on the roof.
A series of exhaust stack vents, a gas pipe and other equipment were damaged by sliding snow and ice a short time before the renovated $10.7 million facility opened last March.
City officials and council members are blaming Stantec Consulting Services, the Rochester engineering firm that was paid nearly $700,000 to design the renovation. They believe it was a design flaw and the firm should pay for the repairs.
Mr. Coburn strongly recommends fixing the problem or the equipment could be damaged again this winter. He also blames Stantec.
“It’s a problem that needs to be remedied,” Mr. Coburn said.
The Thermoplastic polyolefin roof — also known as a TPO roof in the construction industry — is designed for snow and ice “not to stick” and slip off, Mr. Coburn said.
Snow guards are installed specifically on sloped metal roofs to prevent snowslides by allowing snow and ice to stay in place until it melts or small amounts to fall from roofs.
City Engineer Justin L. Wood confirmed that Firestone warned of the sliding snow in the manufacturer’s inspection report approving the roof’s warranty before the facility could open, but it singled out an area of the roof underneath a pedestrian walkway.
With the north country’s snow-filled winters, Stantec Consulting Services should have known that snow guards were needed, Mr. Coburn said.
Council members are hesitant to install snow guards, expressing concern about jeopardizing the roof’s warranty because the work would include putting holes in the roof. But Mr. Wood also recommends installing snow guards to correct the problem.
The roof problem is the latest in a series of construction and design problems — both large and small — that city officials have faced since they moved forward with redoing the 43-year-old ice rink in 2015.
Since then, council members have approved $375,252 in change orders on the arena project. That doesn’t include a recent $88,077 change order to pay for the roof repairs.
Just a few weeks after the roof controversy surfaced, the city now has to figure out what to do about a drainage problem in the facility’s four locker rooms. Puddles form where people dry off after taking their showers.
Mr. Wood said Stantec did not figure out a way for water to drain, causing inch-deep puddles. Blaming Stantec for the problem, Mr. Wood said it would take another change order to correct the shower problem.
“There’s some things that they should have caught but didn’t,” Mr. Wood said. “I think that’s where council’s frustration is.”
The drainage problem was not discovered until after the showers started being used this fall, Mr. Wood explained.
To fix the puddle problem, the tile in the locker rooms will have to be torn up, the floors lifted up and then slanted toward shower drains, Mr. Wood said. His office has not determined how much it will cost to fix the problem or when the work would be done.
Councilwoman Teresa R. Macaluso and Mayor Joseph M. Butler said they were unaware of the problem.
“I sure did not know about this,” Ms. Macaluso said. “It looks like one thing after another. It’s very frustrating.”
So where does fault lie?
Former Councilman Jeffrey M. Smith, who’s been involved with the youth hockey organization for years, blames the construction management company for not paying enough attention to the project.
“Why was the city paying all that money to oversee it?” Mr. Smith said. “What were they doing?”
Mr. Coburn, who works for BCA & Associated, defended the job he did on the arena, saying that when he saw something wrong with the plans, he pointed it out to Stantec.
It was then up to Stantec, as the engineer, to approve the change. Multiple calls to Stantec employees, who worked on the ice rink design, were not returned on Thursday.
Mayor Butler believes Mr. Coburn did a good job, stressing that the clerk of the works caught a lot of issues during construction.
“I think he uncovered a lot for us,” he said.
Asked whether things were missed, Mr. Wood said the city, Mr. Coburn and the contractors working on the project did what they were supposed to do when they saw a problem.
It’s also come up that there’s some concern about installing bollards around an area to protect the rink’s dehumidification ice-making equipment at the back of the building. The city may consider putting up the barriers, Mr. Wood said, adding it could prevent a potential accident there.
Since it opened, the arena was marred by some potential problems with the concrete floor under the ice rink. Initially, the ice rink project came back $1.85 million over budget.
The ice rink is the home of the Watertown Wolves minor league hockey team, high school and youth hockey games, figure skating shows, concerts and other events.