A routine site check by a field engineer caused Bartlett officials to stop L.E. Zannini Construction Co. of Elgin from working on one phase of the new Westridge Elementary School.
Bartlett Community Development Director Jim Plonczynski said the necessary permit for connecting to the sewer system had not been secured from the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District for the new District U-46 school.
Some village trustees appeared irritated during a recent Village Board meeting after Mayor Catherine Melchert asked village engineer Dale Marting about the discovery made last week.
Trustee Steve Miller said he could not understand how the work could have started without a permit.
“I wouldn’t want to see the plans to erect this building stopped, but this seems inexcusable,” Miller said.
Plonczynski said the contractor might have assumed that all permits were in place because others, including one for electric service for a mobile office on the site, were already approved.
Trustees agreed that they did not want to hold the children of Bartlett hostage by overly delaying the project, which began construction during the middle of last month. The school is expected to open in fall 1999 and is said to be on a tight construction schedule.
Attorney Bryan Mraz said all other phases of construction except the sewer could continue because schools in Illinois are not issued regular building permits but instead must follow the state school building codes.
