By FRANCISCO E. JIMENEZ
Staff Writer
reporter@sbnewspaper.com
Citing safety precautions, the City of San Benito is preparing to demolish three deteriorating buildings.
At a regular meeting of the San Benito City Commission on Tuesday, June 21, commissioners approved the demolition of the old police department, the old wastewater treatment cells, and the old airport hangar.
“The first item that we will probably look at is going to be the old police station, but prior to doing any demolition we have to do an assessment to see if we have anything of concern there, whether it’s asbestos or if it’s got any mold,” said City Manager Manuel Lara. “We just want to make sure that we get it approved to be demolished and that it’s properly disposed. We’re going to do that first.”
The city hopes to seek a base bid for the police station and include the other two projects as additives in order to save the city some money.
“We have a little bit of money in our budget to do a demolition. If we can do one, and maybe an additive, we’ll see how much we can do the first year. If not, then we’ll place it on the list for the upcoming fiscal year to do another demolition,” said Lara. “I think it’s important to take care of some of the facilities that are an eyesore, substandard, and make a decision if we’re going to rehab them or if we’re going to take them down. We’re not exempt from enforcing the ordinances that exist within the city upon ourselves.”
When asked about the estimated cost of the projects, both Lara and Mayor Joe H. Hernandez were uncertain due to the fluctuation of the present market.
“We’ve got some exceptional low bids on some facilities that we’ve demolished. That’s why we need to see what the market is doing,” said Lara. “Right now it’s unpredictable. What I can share with you is that some of the prices have been exceptional, very good to be able to do a demolition right now.”
“I think part of it is going to be done in house, and the other part is going to be contracted,” said Hernandez. “We don’t have a price tag as to the cost of the work. We’re going to do one at a time. The building that is in worst shape, the police station, needs to be taken care of. It’s a real liability to the City of San Benito because it has mold and the roof is collapsing. It’s in real bad shape.”
Indeed, the reasons behind the demolitions, according to Lara, are for safety reasons as well as salvaging some of the steel for use on other projects.
“We’ll go in and see if we can salvage that, sandblast it, recoat it with primer and paint it, and maybe it will help us to build some more houses, if we do it in-house. If we go outside, then we’ll see how the bids come in. Sometimes the bids fluctuate on price because they want to keep the material,” Lara said.
To see this story in print, pick up a copy of the June 29 edition of the San Benito News. Or view our E-Edition by clicking here.
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