Emmaus Council Awards $468,562 Contract for Broad Street Project

Emmaus Borough Council awarded the contract for the Broad Street Improvement Project to Imperial Excavating and Paving of Allentown for $468,562.

In similar action Monday night, council decided to replace the permit fees for curbing that would normally be charged homeowners with one flat fee.

The project is to reconstruct the roadway and streetscape in the 500 block of Broad Street.

The Borough received eight bids for the project and all were higher than expected. Imperial had the lowest bid of $468,562.

The project had been budgeted at $450,000, and Borough Manager Craig Neely said it was thought the bids would come in at around $375,000.

In a letter to council, Public Works Director Jeff Clapper speculated that the higher cost is probably due to the “phasing of the construction.”

Neely explained that the project will be completed in eight phases rather than in one massive reconstruction that could burden residents continually for a long time. 

In any case, Clapper wrote that the final cost of the project would still come in under the $450,000 budget once the cost of curbs and sidewalks charged to homeowners is deducted from the bid.

The bid includes the replacement of all curbs and sidewalks, but a Borough ordinance makes homeowners responsible for maintaining and replacing sidewalks and curbs.

Normally, homeowners would pay $50 for the first 10 feet of new curbing and then $10 for each additional foot as a permit fee. And if the homeowner decided to have the Borough’s contractor do the work, there would be a 10 percent administrative fee of the total cost of the project.

For the Broad Street Project, Council replaced all those charges with a flat permit fee of $50 for curbing. The permit fees for sidewalks remain unchanged.

Neely said the Borough was able to reduce the fees for the curbing because the reconstruction of the street eliminates some of the Borough's cost.

When curbing is normally replaced on a street, some of the street itself is damaged and the Borough has to fix that. But because the entre section of Broad Street is being replaced anyway, there will be nothing to repair. The Borough is passing that savings to the homeowners.

Council Member Brent Labenberg, who originally opposed the proposal to reduce or eliminate the fees, voted in favor of it March 7.

“We are able to reduce fees for residents, and the $50 covers the Borough’s expenses, so I was in favor of it,” he said.

The permit fees for sidewalks include $.50 per linear foot plus a 10 percent administrative fee if the work is done using the Borough’s contractor.

But Neely said most residents will probably hire their own contractor.

Construction could begin by April 1 and be completed by mid-July.