American Renal Associates is converting the former furniture store at Southfield Road and Lafayette into a dialysis center.
By SUE SUCHYTA
Sunday Times Newspapers
LINCOLN PARK – A future dialysis center will get a new water main at Lafayette and Cleophus based on what Department of Public Services Director John Kozuh told city officials were “unusual circumstances.”
Kozuh reported to the council at the Sept. 18 meeting that the water main at Lafayette and Cleophus is in need of additional water volume to serve that area of the city, and American Renal Center Associates has agreed to pay for a portion of the water main replacement.
Of the approximately $84,000 cost, about $12,000 will be paid by ARA.
Kozuh said RJ&J Enterprise was selected to do the work instead of city workers because of the difficulty of the job.
“There has to be a live tap connecting into the 24-inch water main running down Lafayette,” Kozuh said. “We don’t have that ability, nor with the younger crew that I have do I want to try to take that endeavor on. It’s a lot of intricate pieces.”
He said the contractor would be removing a portion of a 6-inch water main and putting in a 12-inch water main, then also doing taps back into the buildings. He said it is not something his crew has experience doing, nor is it something they are likely to encounter again.
“This is a hybrid, really unusual circumstances,” Kozuh said. “Basically what it came down to is we had another live cap that the valve broke in a closed position, so we had to create an added volume for this area of the city. This is the only way that I know to do it.”
Kozuh said further down Cleophus the city has a 6-inch water main, and the businesses on the south side of Southfield Road are being fed from that 6-inch water main, which he said is not big enough for the businesses.
He said they had to create a larger incoming water volume for the dialysis center because they current water flow volume could not supply enough water for its fire suppression system, which initiated the water main project.
The city’s engineering firm, Henessy, will oversee the work.
(Sue Suchyta can be reached at [email protected].)