Lawrence Township officials expect to go out for bids this month to make repairs and finish some of the uncompleted work at the Carriage Park age-restricted housing development, located off Allen Lane, ac
By Lea Kahn, Staff Writer
Lawrence Township officials expect to go out for bids this month to make repairs and finish some of the uncompleted work at the Carriage Park age-restricted housing development, located off Allen Lane, according to Municipal Manager Richard Krawczun.
Lawrence Township successfully sued developer Kalian at Lawrence LLC and Bond Safeguard Insurance Co. to collect $618,209 — the amount of the performance bonds posted by the developer to ensure that the work is completed — in Mercer County state Superior Court.
The lawsuit, which was filed in July 2012, sought to call in the performance bonds to pay for the incomplete work at the site. Those items range from soil erosion control measures to site work, such as applying the final coat of asphalt on the parking lot and also painting the stripes to create parking spaces.
Kalian at Lawrence LLC was granted approval by the township Planning Board in 2002 to build a pair of four-story buildings, containing a total of 210 apartments, on the property that is bordered by Allen Lane and Brunswick Pike.
As a condition of the Planning Board’s approval, the developer was required to provide performance bonds to cover the cost of on-site improvements in case the work was never completed. It provided those bonds, and that is what Lawrence Township sued to collect.
Since the Carriage Park development was approved, only one of the two buildings has been built and occupied. The residents of that building complained to the township about the uncompleted work in the development. The parking lot has uneven areas where rainwater collects after a storm, and the parking spaces have not been striped.
Township officials contacted Kalian regarding the project and were assured it would be completed. But in September 2011, the developer indicated that it would not complete the Carriage Park development or the remainder of the on-site improvements and soil erosion control measures because of a lack of funding.
That’s when township officials contacted Bond Safeguard Insurance Co., requesting that it use the performance bond money to hire contractors to finish the on-site improvements. The company did not follow through, so the township sued it for the money.
Mr. Krawczun said that with the money in hand, Municipal Engineer James Parvesse is developing bid specifications. Once the bids come back, a contract will be awarded and the improvements will be completed. He said he expected the work would begin in late summer or early fall.
The work will be divided into two phases. The first phase addresses safety issues, such as applying the final layer of asphalt and parking lot striping, some limited curb and sidewalk work and installation of handicapped ramps. The second phase is mostly aesthetic issues, such as landscaping, installing a gazebo, and lighting.
The lighting, landscaping and other items in phase two will be prioritized against the money that is left over after the work in the first phase has been completed, Mr. Krawczun said. Township officials would work with the homeowners association on that issue.
”Our efforts have been to protect and help the homeowners association to see their project — as best we can — move forward toward completion,” he said. “That’s the reason for having the mandatory (maintenance) bond in place. This was an unfortunate situation.”
Mr. Krawczun said the township has been fortunate in that it has been “extremely limited” that Lawrence Township has had to call in a developer’s bond. He pointed to some minor landscaping issues in one housing development and a few issues in another one.