Above: Metal siding on the exterior of Bovina's highway garage has buckled from the force of the building’s descent approximately four inches into the ground. Photos by Robert Cairns.
One end of the highway garage in the town of Bovina, which was built just six years ago, is sinking into the earth. Last week, the town council took action to stop it.
At the town's Tuesday, Aug. 11 council meeting, Bovina Supervisor Tina Molé said that the garage began sinking “almost immediately” after its construction in 2009.
“It's concentrated in the area of the office,” she said. “The rest of the building is fine.”
Above: Bovina's highway garage, seen here, has been slowly sinking since its construction in 2009.
Bovina Highway Superintendent Ed Weber said that the northwestern corner of the building has sunk four inches. A sloping floor is evident in his office.
“Some of the doors, you can't open,” he said. “We can still sort of open one window.”
The windows also don't close properly and let cold drafts in during the winter. “We seal them up with tape,” Weber said.
One entrance door has been declared off-limits because it won't stay shut unless it is locked.
Above: Cracks can be seen in a wall of an office, showing a stress point where the building has settled.
Weber pointed out cracks in an interior wall and buckling metal siding on the exterior. His bigger worry is that the entire structure could be in danger without intervention.
“It's a pole barn, so it's starting to pull things out of shape,” he said.
Unexpected groundwater changes
Molé said that the town engaged the services of Delta Engineers of Endwell to examine the problem.
According to a resolution adopted by the council at its Tuesday, Aug. 11 meeting, subcontractor Empire Geo Services Inc. performed subsurface investigations and issued a report on the settling of the ground beneath the building.
Delta used high-definition laser scanning to determine if the building was experiencing any vertical movement and investigated whether the storm sewer system in the hamlet of Bovina Center contributed to the settlement and movement of the garage.
The cause of the problem, according to the report, is the flow of groundwater, which unexpectedly changed after the building was finished, destabilizing the ground beneath it.
“The groundwater movement did not pre-exist the construction of the town highway garage and represents an unexpected change in site conditions,” the report states.
The garage itself was constructed properly and soil conditions at the property are suitable for construction, the report states. That means the problem can be fixed, Molé said.
“They came up with a couple solutions,” she said.
Jet grouting to begin immediately
At first, it was feared that it would cost up to $250,000 to correct the problem, but a cheaper solution was found.
The report from Empire Geo Services recommended a number of remedies, including “compaction grouting” or” jet grouting”--a process that involves pumping a concrete-like substance under the building, where it will harden and stop groundwater from flowing.
A search for potential vendors to complete the remediation found only one such vendor, GroutTech Inc., which gave a cost estimate of $9,280 to do the work.
Last week, Bovina board members agreed to move ahead with the process immediately, fearing that the building could collapse during the coming winter.
State law does not require the town to secure competitive bids for projects of less than $20,000, so the board authorized Molé to accept the company's proposal.
The approval of the authorizing resolution came after a lengthy closed executive session with Kevin Young, the town's attorney.
Weber said that he's glad the work is being done--the building has been a problem throughout his four years in office.
He said, however, that the town council has been trying to fix it.
“It's taken a while, but that's typical of any municipality,” he said.
