North Fork’s $20.32 million ask includes reviving a contract that lapsed in 2023

Atlanta’s watershed department is seeking up to $20.32 million more for the North Fork storage tank and pump station—including a proposal to revive a consultant agreement retroactively from September 2023.⁠[1]

The new measures appeared for first reading in the City Utilities Committee’s Nov. 10 records. They remain proposals, not approved contract changes.⁠[2]

The project near Sidney Marcus Boulevard and Buford Highway is designed to capture excess wastewater during major storms and reduce sanitary sewer overflows. Plans call for a 15-million-gallon storage tank and a pump station capable of moving 75 million gallons a day on Georgia Department of Transportation property.⁠[1]

The largest addition, $17,469,027 for construction contractor Ruby-Collins, would increase the originally authorized $145.21 million agreement by about 12%. The department’s explanation describes an approximately two-year delay tied to the GDOT lease, with the construction notice to proceed issued Feb. 5, 2024. It cites nearly 14,000 contractor labor hours spent reviewing constructability and resolving issues before construction, plus higher material and subcontract costs and permitting fees.⁠[1]

Another $2,851,870 would go to Benchmark Barge Design Solutions, the project’s design and construction-management consultant. The department says the delay consumed design-team labor originally planned for the construction period. The addition would cover preconstruction professional services and further design of the Cheshire Farm Trail extension, including widening, stabilization, an overlook, a permeable surface and retaining walls.⁠[1]

The consultant proposal also reaches backward: it would reactivate the agreement from Sept. 7, 2023, extend it through Dec. 31, 2027, and ratify services and outstanding invoices during the lapse in its term. The ordinance identifies Sept. 6, 2023, as the agreement’s expiration date. Both contract proposals seek waivers of the city’s procurement source-selection provisions.⁠[1]

We previously reported the $17.47 million reserve-transfer proposal while it was on the committee’s held docket. That measure, 26-O-1530, was still held Nov. 10. A new budget measure, 26-O-1638, would move $2.85 million from completed-project balances and reserves into North Fork. Those transfers would supply project funding; the matching change orders would authorize contract increases. They are not separate costs to count twice.⁠[1][2]

The funding hold does not establish that work has stopped. The construction proposal expressly describes Ruby-Collins as actively building the project.⁠[1]