Costly construction mistake irks Scarborough residents

By Shauna Hunt

A costly construction mistake is inconveniencing a Scarborough neighbourhood, just three months after the sidewalks were first installed in July.

A long stretch of new concrete on Pharmacy Avenue just south Ellesmere Road is being ripped up and redone after the sidewalks and curbs installed over the summer were two to six inches lower than the road. A redo, CityNews has learned, will cost about $250,000.

“When they first finished the job I said to the contractor, ‘Your street is higher than my sidewalks,’” Ramon Smith told CityNews.

“Look I’m going to be 85 pretty soon. I don’t need this aggravation.”

 

According to residents who live along the busy avenue, the grading error was so bad they couldn’t back their cars out of their driveways without tearing off their mufflers.

“One of our cars would bottom out,” said frustrated resident John Gergesha. He says the city had to provide wooden planks to bridge the gap.

CityNews has confirmed contractors have been trying to figure out how to solve the problem since the beginning of August and during that time construction in the area ground to a halt. Residents had to live with the error until the fix recently began.

“Someone just goofed up I guess and now we are all paying for it,” said Gergesha.

Numerous residents claim they were told by construction workers that this was the City of Toronto’s fault.

“I talked to some more contractors the other day and they says the city made a mistake when they did the surveying,” Smith said.

 

Area councillor Michael Thompson told CityNews he doesn’t yet know who’s at fault but an investigation is underway.

“I have asked for that information because my job of course is to safeguard the taxpayers,” he said.

Mayor John Tory’s office is aware of the issue and said in a statement to our newsroom that “it is unacceptable to rip up roads twice for construction work. Appropriate action will be taken when the investigation is complete.”

Residents still cannot use their driveways because of the wide ditch that separates their property from the road. Many residents have to park their cars blocks away. They also have to walk a wooden plank to cross over to their homes. This second round of construction is expected to last until Nov. 30.

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