DANA POINT : Median Landscaping Project Is Delayed

The controversial $900,000 Street of the Golden Lantern median project at the north entrance to the city could be delayed several months because the major contractor has told city park officials it cannot finish the work.

Representatives of the contractor, La Mirada-based Artistic Landscaping & Engineering, told the Capistrano Bay Park and Recreation District officials last month that it could not comply with its contract, said Rick Still, a district official.

The job will be completed at no extra cost to city taxpayers, but the company’s bonding agent, Contintental Insurance, will be forced to step in to put up the financing for Artistic Landscaping to finish the job, Still said.

The project, which includes a new water line and new landscaping including more than 400 palm trees along a 1.5-mile median strip, was 80% complete--perhaps only “three to four weeks” from being done, he said. The nearly yearlong project was supposed to be completed by Feb. 15.

“It was a surprise to us,” Still said, adding that the project had been delayed six to eight weeks because of the rains, but when the weather cleared, Artistic’s workers did not return.

“After three or four days went by and they did not come back to work, we sent them a letter. They faxed us a reply on Feb. 18 saying they would not be able to comply with the project,” Still said.

Dennis Aldridge, a principal with Artistic, did not return phone calls from The Times.

Lynn Muir, a director of the park district, said the problems with the contractor and the weather will probably extend the work on the project through the summer.

Artistic Landscaping & Engineering submitted the lowest bid last year to win the contract among 12 companies that had sought the job, Still said. Artistic was responsible for most of the labor and installation of the pipeline and plants in the median, he added.

The new median design was attacked by some city officials as too expensive when the contract was awarded last year.