New Black Butte Ranch facility project going smoothly

Black Butte Ranch (BBR) is moving and improving its housekeeping and maintenance facilities as part of a major renovation of the Ranch. The renovation includes a new Glaze Meadow recreation facility and a new Welcome Center.

The maintenance facilities project on Section 5, located just outside of BBR proper, is proceeding with much fewer difficulties than the controversial Welcome Center project (see related article, page 1). Loy Helmly, General Manager of BBR, is pleased that the Section 5 project is now underway and believes that all will go well on this part of the capital improvement project.

Frank Buehler, BBR Project Manager, said that the project has had only one small setback so far, which was minor in nature. The building is being built on a minor slope with approximately a three -foot elevation change between one end of the building and the other. Three options were possible: to dig into the slope; to dig partially into the slope and use fill for the other portion; or to build a pad to raise the whole foundation area to make it level. After taking drainage and other considerations into account, the decision was made to build a full pad and raise the whole structure to the higher level.

Buehler said, "We built up the pad using on site material, and then one day we got a little downpour before we were able to make the foundation pour, and the whole pad turned unstable."

It wasn't a serious problem according to Buehler, more of an inconvenience than anything.

"We had a D9 (a large bulldozer manufactured by Caterpillar) sitting around, and so we just scraped it off and rebuilt the pad using crushed rock," said Buehler. "It was a little more expensive but a better engineered solution."

The only other minor surprise that was encountered so far was the county requirement to install an additional waterline to the location. The waterline has yet to be installed, however.

"We got a proposal at a very good price from CTL construction. They are site work contractors who are working for us at the Glaze Meadow project and are also doing some work at the Section 5 project," Buehler said. "They will be able to do the work as soon as weather permits next spring."

He also said that BBR has been quite satisfied with all the work that CTL has done for them, so it was a natural choice to ask CTL for the bid on the waterline project.

Buehler explained that the decision to use CTL Construction is good for CTL since they now have a scheduled project in advance and good for BBR as the price was very competitive. Also important is that CTL will be able to start and finish the project before the high tourist season so that there should be little if any disruption to BBR guests.

Of concern to some BBR residents was the cost overruns experienced on the earlier part of its major renovation project (see "BBR projects running over budget," The Nugget, September 20, 2006). It has been hoped that as the housing market slows, costs will decline for both materials and labor.

Buehler was asked if he had noticed any decline in bid prices and he replied, "We really haven't gotten any bids that I have information on, but some of the people involved in the construction have said that they have seen a couple of promising signs."

And Buehler is hoping that there will soon be some evidence of lowering prices, as BBR continues to get bids to finish the capital improvement projects.

Buehler reported that with the decline in the housing market, bids are coming down, but, more importantly, construction workers are looking for jobs.

"When people are looking for work, you no longer have to scrape the bottom of the barrel when looking for workers to use on a project," he said.

He noted that this situation has not affected BBR projects and that he is satisfied with the quality that BBR has received on the Glaze Meadow project.

"It is just that Glaze Meadow was quite a bit more expensive than had been anticipated," he said.

"I will say this, it (Glaze Meadow Recreation Center) is at least twice as impressive as the concept on paper," Buehler said.