Leaks at the Peak

Record-breaking rainfall from Monday, June 6 to Wednesday, June 8 caused damage to the new Peak Innovation Center where high-tech equipment is housed.

Martin Mahan, Fort Smith Public School deputy superintendent and Shawn Shaffer, supervisor of facilities, gave a presentation to school board members on the damage the center endured.

Mahan told school board members in a Monday, June 27 meeting that the parking lot flooded June 7 and a custodian's car went under the rising floodwater.

Water leaked into the building from the northside, eastside and southside main entrances.

Turn Key Construction Management arrived onsite to assess the issue.

Once Shaffer arrived, students who didn't drive were quickly relocated to Barling Elementary and notifications were sent out to parents. Within 30 minutes all of the students got out safely.

On the northside of the facility the water got into uncompleted classrooms and other rooms. 

While looking at a north wall, the Turn Key team members noticed that the roof's downspout which had a repair on the existing pipe had failed, allowing tremendous amounts of roof water to enter the computer-integrated lab area along the firewall.

Shaffer contacted Halff Engineering for possible solutions.

Halff Engineering stated that the drainage system, as constructed, should have been able to handle the event with some flooding expected in the east parking lot.

Once the rain stopped, the parking lot began to drain.

Facility staff worked after-hours to start removing the water.

On June 8, Shaffer was notified that the plywood forms were left inside the junction box covering one of the 42-inch drain pipes.

One other sheet of plywood was also in the junction box, which Shaffer assumed was also left in place and gave way under the pressure.

Turn Key was notified of the plywood and immediately called their subcontractor, Silco Construction, who built the storm drainage collection box.

Silco Construction removed the obstruction, which took several hours trying to remove the plywood. They utilized a truck with a strap and chainsaw to remove the plywood due to the amount of water pressure holding it in place.

Shaffer contacted SERVPRO of Fort Smith to start the remediation process.

SERVPRO reported  possible groundwater contaminants.

"We continue to work with Halff Engineering firm on possible future solutions," Shaffer said.

One solution the district is looking at is a 100-year flood plan for the center, which could include a detention pond, a bypass system, re-routing of roof drains to minimize the contributing drainage basin and emergency overflow.

Board member Sandy Dixon asked Shaffer what the difference is between a category two and a category three water intrusion.

Shaffer asked a construction worker from SERVPRO to join him at the podium to explain the difference in categories.

He explained that a category three water intrusion, as opposed to the roof leak at the center a few months ago, is classified by the Institute of Inspection Cleaning and Restoration Certification and is considered grossly contaminated.

"Any time you have water levels that rise and intrude the building from the exterior, we have no way to know what's in it," he said. "It could be pesticides, herbicides, it could be contaminants from three miles away, there could be fecal matter or other bacteria that entered in from other storm drains or other sanitary sewers, and so we have no idea what is involved in that."

The SERVPRO employee went on to say that when the IICRC designates a category three loss, the company has to remove all porous items, such as drywall or insulation.

Board member Dalton Person indicated his frustration at the fact that Dixon, Turn Key president and owner was present in this conversation.

Person moved on to ask about details in the report.

"My questions, the report from Mr. Shaffer that we've received, talked about that the plan should withstand some flooding," he said. "That 'some flooding' isn't really helpful to me. Can we get some clarification as to what degree of risk we knew at the time of the completion of this project that the degree of flooding we were susceptible to in this particular area." 

A representative from Halff Engineering firm answered that the portion of the parking lot that started to flood was previously a truck dump.

"When we originally started this project, we noticed through historical aerial photography, staining on the concrete at the low point of that truck dock, which is an indication that that area has always flooded," he said. "And another indication of that is that the channel that flows in that area is very similar elevation, it's not much lower than the bottom of the truck. We always expected by historical evidence and by basic elevations and hydraulics that that had the potential to backup."

The Halff Engineering representative described the site as a large bathtub with no overflow drain.  

Talicia Richardson asked who provided the data related to the 25-year flood plan versus the 100-year plan.

She also noted that the softball fields for Northside High School is the site of what used to be a housing project project known as Elm Grove.

Richardson said she grew up there and it was a known flood area before the apartments that are present there now were built.

Shaffer said to pinpoint exactly what happened that he'd have to do more research.

Phil Whiteaker asked whether the custodian's car will be replaced with help from the school district.

Superintendent Terry Morawski said that the custodian will have to go through their own insurance to make a claim but the staff and a few of their "other vendors" put together money to assist in getting them in another vehicle.

"It seems like for every two positive things we hear about Peak we hear one negative thing," Whiteaker said. "So my only vocalization this is yes, it's going to cost money, but we have to fix this thing. And we have to fix this thing correctly, we do not need to cut corners. We do not need to have any more conversation or negative publicity about such a beautiful asset to our school district."

Board president Dee Blackwell encouraged other board members to take a tour of the center.

"You can see the streams that were clogged you see the scope of the damage, and it just kind of helps cement maybe a little bit better," she said.

The board members await the answer to the anticipated cost associated with the development of a 100-year flood plan and other remediation that needs to take place at Peak Innovation.