Tennis court leak costs $400,000

Rosette Gonzales

The school district will spend nearly $400,000 to fit Burbank High

School’s new tennis courts with a waterproofing system after the

heavy rains leaked water onto vehicles parked in the lower parking

lot, causing just nearly $5,000 in damage.

The waterproofing membrane was omitted during the school’s

renovation and construction for budgetary reasons. But lime deposit

damage to the vehicles and water leaking into the stairwells prompted

the Burbank Unified School Board to take action.

“It’s a real disappointment but we just have to do what we can to

get things to where they should be,” said board clerk Debbie Kukta,

whose son’s car was minimally damaged by the water, which contained

lime deposits from cement.

Damage to the vehicles was minimal and the district paid the

claims filed. But news of water leaking into the stairwells during

the rain is a slip hazard, which concerned board members who approved

the bid with a vote of 5-0 on July 21.

When the school was under construction, the facilities management

team decided to remove the waterproofing membrane from the project

but the action was not approved by the school board, Craig Jellison,

chief facilities officer said.

“When the budget was put together it was more expensive than it

was thought,” he said.

The facilities team, which is no longer with the district, did

what Jellison referred to as “value engineering” and left out the

membrane, gaining a $465,000 credit. The cost now of putting an

elastic-meric, oil-based waterproofing system directly onto the

concrete of the tennis courts is still below what the previous

waterproofing membrane would have cost.

Funds for the project will come from the district’s $5-million

reserve contingency fund. District officials said the project will be

completed by September.