Middletown board approves $225,416 change order for DPW salt‑barn project after unexpected subsurface finds

The Middletown Township Board of Supervisors on Jan. 8 approved a $225,416 change order for Phase 1 of the Department of Public Works winter‑operations project after construction crews uncovered unsuitable subsurface conditions at the site of a new salt barn.

Township engineer Mr. Kessler told the board that excavation exposed large buried tree trunks and other material dating to the early 1970s that made the original foundation design unsafe. He said his team, the contractor (Scott Contractors) and a geotechnical firm evaluated options and recommended installing extended footings with a two‑foot perimeter down to firm ground and using a crushed‑concrete stabilizing fill rather than removing all the existing soil.

"The total change order, requested is $225,416," Mr. Kessler said, listing three primary cost components: soil remediation work (about $352,000 in the remediation scope), a switch from a concrete slab to a thick asphalt floor (about $112,000), and an allowance for geotechnical oversight. He said removing and hauling all unsuitable soil would have been substantially more expensive, and that switching to asphalt reduces some contract costs (a removal option would have reduced the contract by roughly $265,280).

Kessler also noted a separate, small item added at the direction of the Lower Bucks County Municipal Authority: installation of piping for an exterior meter pit near the new brine building, an addition billed at $11,700 within the change order.

Board members asked whether the change order would delay completion; Kessler said crews expect to have the soil area reestablished within weeks and that, while the contract end date will move, crews aim to have the yard substantially ready by April with only a few weeks’ delay to the overall schedule. The board expressed support for the recommended remediation as necessary to ensure a stable, long‑term structure for winter operations.

Miss Payne moved to approve change order number 1 for the DPW Phase 1 winter‑operations project; the motion was seconded and passed unanimously, 5‑0. The board did not identify a separate funding source during the public discussion; the change order amount was presented as the net cost associated with the revised construction approach.