Port receives more good news about lighthouse

FRAMED BY THE gazebo in Rotary Park on a cold December morning, the Port Washington lighthouse will be refurbished next year. The city learned this week that the work will cost $2.4 million. Photo by Bill Schanen IV
Port Washington’s Board of Public Works on Tuesday hired TMI Coatings Inc, of Sheboygan to paint and refurbish the city’s aging lighthouse for $2.4 million — less than the estimated cost of $2.8 million — next summer.
The company, which submitted the lower of two bids for the project, will be paid $2.4 million for the work.
“I’m relieved and happy,” Public Works Director Rob Vanden Noven said. “This is not a typical construction project. While it’s a lot of money and everyone wishes it were cheaper, I’m happy our estimate was right on.”
City Engineer Roger Strohm told the board that TMI Coatings has “done several lighthouses similar to this in Lake Superior ... and in Florida. They’re well qualified.”
Earth Services and Abatement submitted a bid of $2.9 million for the work.
TMI’s bid was approved by the board with the caveat that it still needs approval from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. That’s because the city has received a $2.23 million grant from the DOT to cover 80% of the project cost.
Strohm noted that the city will have to justify the bid since it received fewer than three bids.
He noted that three companies attended a mandatory prebid meeting in October, but only two bids were received. He has reached out to the company that didn’t bid to find out why but hasn’t received a response yet, Strohm said.
Vanden Noven said that both city staff members and Legacy Architects, the project architect, reached out to companies to try to get bids for the work.
The lighthouse project is tricky, officials said, in part because the 63-foot-tall structure is covered in lead paint. Paint chips can’t be allowed to fall in the water, and the structure can’t be tented because the lighthouse is a navigational aid and the light needs to be exposed all the time.
Another complicating factor is the fact the lighthouse is at the end of a half-mile-long breakwater, making it difficult to access with equipment.
In addition to painting, the lighthouse requires structural work, the porthole windows need to be replaced or refurbished, asbestos that is likely contained in the plaster walls and ceilings must be dealt with and the city needs to ensure there’s adequate ventilation inside the lighthouse to prevent deterioration.
Board member Cam Pauli asked how long the paint job should last, and Strohm noted that although there is a one-year warranty, the paint should last “a solid 20 years, and likely longer.”
Ald. Mike Gasper noted that the structure was last painted in the 1980s, and the paint wasn’t stripped off before it was painted.
The work crews will access the lighthouse from a barge, not the breakwater, so most of the breakwater will remain open while the work is being done, Strohm said.
Although no schedule has been set for the work, he and Vanden Noven said they expect it may begin in mid to late spring and be completed by early September.
“By late September, the lake starts getting rough,” Vanden Noven said.
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