The Arcadia City Council plans to seek more than $1 million in damages against its original contractor for cost overruns in the City's Downtown 2000 revitalization project.
City Council approved lending the city redevelopment agency $1.2 million Tuesday to cover additional cost overruns with Downtown 2000 and other projects.
Arcadia City Council voted 4-0 in favor of searching for a temporary contractor for the Downtown 2000 project. Striking workers have caused delays and fears of future health problems.
One year has passed since the Sully-Miller Contracting Co. filed a $2 million breach-of-contract suit against Arcadia, claiming the City illegally terminated it from the Downtown 2000 project.
Arcadia City Council may declare the Downtown 2000 construction project a potential health emergency in order to suspend it's contract with striking workers and hire another firm to do the work until the strike is over.
The urban design team of Freedman, Tung, and Bottomley made its first recommendations to develop the city's Downtown Revitalization Plan. Ideas included removing parallel street parking along Huntington Drive and adding eight pedestrian crosswalks, as well as creating themes based on Santa Anita Park.
About 100 people, mostly members of the Arcadia Business Association, came to support the City Council's downtown design plan by displaying balloons and banners at a City Council meeting.
The City Council and the company originally hired for downtown street improvements are on collision course with a lawsuit. Each side says the other may be in breach of contract.
To spur downtown business and help merchants fix up storefronts, the City Council has approved a $326,000 package of marketing programs, business incentives and no-interest loans.
The City will pay $1.25 million to the Sully Miller Contracting Co. to settle a breach-of-contract lawsuit the company filed after it was fired from the Downtown 2000 project.
The revamped downtown debuts today with new streets, sidewalks, benches, palm trees and an all-day street fair. This marks the completion of the Downtown 2000 construction project.
City Council members voted 4-0 to change lighting plans and add a new storm drain system to the Huntington Drive streetscape project, changing the cost from $4.1 to $5.6 million.
After two weeks of delays, construction work has resumed along the downtown stretch of Huntington Drive and First Ave. City officials have hired a new contractor.