Hollister
– Construction on the city’s long-awaited wastewater treatment
plant may be moving along smoothly, but it doesn’t feel that way at
the plant’s construction site, where the ground frequently shakes
under the workers’ feet.
Hollister – Construction on the city’s long-awaited wastewater treatment plant may be moving along smoothly, but it doesn’t feel that way at the plant’s construction site, where the ground frequently shakes under the workers’ feet.
The vibrations come from two spindly, yellow pieces of equipment that tower over the site’s other machinery. The equipment drives stone columns 50 feet into the ground, working with such force that the holes, which are already two feet wide, expand by another foot as the rocks go in. The columns, according to city engineering manager Steve Wittry, will be placed under the foundations of the major buildings, where they will reduce the impact from earthquakes.
“It’s a standard feature on this size of building on this type of soil,” Wittry said.
Although Wittry said the city currently possesses the only two devices of this kind in North America, he wasn’t sure about their official names.
“I guess you could call it a stone column installer,” he said.
The city plans to install some 1,300 columns at the site; more than 1,000 have been placed already.
All of the columns should be in the ground in a few weeks. At that point, the “stone column installers” will be shipped to another construction site, and workers will start building the foundations that will sit atop the columns.
Wittry said workers will be pouring concrete in early February, and that contractor Overaa Construction is on track to complete the plant by the Dec. 7, 2008, deadline, if not earlier.
“The biggest surprise is how fast everything is going,” Wittry said. “I wouldn’t have expected to pour concrete this early in the job.”
The completion of the treatment plant should bring an end to the city’s sewer hook-up moratorium, which has been in place since 15 million gallons of treated wastewater spilled into the San Benito River in 2002. The moratorium has brought new development in Hollister to a virtual standstill.
Wittry said the city plans to start advance talks with the Regional Water Control Board – the agency that imposed the moratorium – to facilitate ending the moratorium as soon as possible.
Overall, the project will likely involve around 10 different subcontractors for the numerous tasks required, all managed by Richmond-based company Overaa Construction. The company is a fourth-generation, family-owned business, and has previously completed treatment plants throughout the Bay Area, as well as renovations to buildings in the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories and seismic retrofitting of Oakland’s city hall.
Wittry said Overaa’s contract with the city requires it to complete the project by Dec. 7, 2008, and includes financial incentives to finish even earlier.
“I’m glad that they’re taking care of multiple things at the same time,” City Councilwoman Monica Johnson said. “I was worried that they might be the kind of company that only sends two people out there when four are needed.”
Hollister residents needn’t take the city government’s word that things are moving forward. Footage from the construction site is broadcast 24 hours a day at www.hollister.ca.gov, and Wittry said the engineering department plans to start offering site tours in a month or so. He added that Overaa’s staff realizes they may soon have an audience curious Hollisterites.
“They understand that this is a huge thing for the community,” Wittry said.
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
