Cars should be able to use the Geneva commuter parking deck by Feb. 1, the construction company working on the project assured the city.
That promise came after work halted at the site last week because of the extreme cold. Iron workers were on the construction schedule, but couldn’t work because once temperatures go below zero, it’s unsafe for them to work with the metal, Public Works Director Rich Babica said. The hitch shouldn’t derail the timetable, he said, as long as the weather cooperates.
“We still have some wiggle room,” Babica said.
City administrator Mary McKittrick said she received an email from Matt Walsh of Walsh Construction Co., the company in charge of the $4.6 million project to add a third tier to the commuter parking deck, that promised cars could return by Feb. 1.
The project, which will add about 180 spaces, began last summer. While construction is ongoing, the hundreds of commuters who use Metra trains must park at lots a few miles from the station. PACE is offering shuttle buses from the lots to the station during key times.
More Top Picks Best Ball Pits
Also on Monday, the council meeting as a committee of the whole approved spending another $5,000 on two additional security cameras. The project requires that Walsh Construction install six new cameras on the second level to mirror the six on the new third level. But during construction, city staff decided that the new ramp to the third level created a blind spot on the second level and that two more cameras were needed.
In other news, retiring Community Development Director Dick Untch announced a timeline for the council to take up revising its historic preservation ordinance, a stated goal for the city for the upcoming year. Some aspects of the current ordinance — especially a provision that owner consent is not required to designate a property as historic — are controversial.
Untch said staff will update the council at its Tuesday meeting, and the Historic Preservation Commission will take public comment about the issue at its Feb. 24 meeting.