COUNTY— Though less than four years have passed since the Union County Board of County Commissioners cut the ribbon at theAsh Brook Golf Course Clubhouse, the facility, which cost upwards of $11 million to complete, is already falling into major disrepair according to county officials.
Now, the county is filing suit in state Superior Court against the project managers and contractors who were initially tasked with building the clubhouse, citing “construction deficits, faulty installation and deficient workmanship” throughout the project site.
According to an official complaint filed earlier this month, the defendants (listed as Cumming Construction Management, Inc., Mar-Bridge Enterprises, Inc., Netta Architects, Nicholas Netta and the Philadelphia Indemnity Insurance Company), “individually and collectively failed to properly install, design and inspect the materials” used to complete the clubhouse’s exterior foundation walls, outdoor terrace, lobby floors, patios and walkways. These deficiencies, the county states in its complaint, have led to “safety concerns for all guests on the property,” which include falling rocks, tripping hazards, structural steel corrosion and flooding challenges.
“After completion of the project, the stone façade started falling off a large swath of the exterior foundation,” the complaint states by way of example. “Upon inspection by a county engineer who was called to the site, it was determined that the lower quality stone veneer chosen by the defendants was inappropriately selected and improperly installed.”
The complaint also lists failures in the deck paving system, drainage and waterproofing concerns and significant “visible cracking” of the poured concrete in the main lobby and event space.
Discussions surrounding the project began in 2016 when the county put out a request for proposal asking for construction management companies to oversee the construction of the clubhouse, which contains a golf shop, office space and a restaurant. A contract, which rose from its initial allocation of $600,000 to a not-to-exceed amount of $1,513,131.90 via subsequent resolutions by the commissioner board, was awarded to Cumming Construction Management later that year. Shortly thereafter, the county awarded a second contract in an amount not to exceed $10,087,542 to Mar-Bridge Enterprises, a Matawan based construction company that was tasked with supplying contractors for the project.
According to the county’s complaint, the project, which experienced significant construction delays, ran into trouble fairly early on.
“Mar-Bridge repeatedly missed project deadlines and consistently failed to devote sufficient resources or workers to ensure proper construction and delivery,” the complaint alleges, adding that the contractors utilized “corner-cutting methods” to try to compensate for failing to adhere to the county’s timeline..
The complaint also alleges that Cumming Construction Management did not properly “inspect, monitor or supervise the measures utilized by Mar-Bridge to remediate delays.”
Allegations of neglect and malpractice are also being levied against the project’s architect, Nicholas Netta, who, according to the complaint, failed to supervise and inspect the construction work.
In order to get the clubhouse, which is still open and operational, back into proper condition, the county will, according to its engineers, need to remove and replace the stone façade, replace loose paver stones, improve drainage systems, install roofing systems, repair damaged steel and electrical features and replace part of the ceiling.
Repairs are estimated to cost over $9 million, plus whatever other expenses could be incurred through the legal process.
“It is impossible to estimate the cost of a lawsuit, but negotiations with the defendants were unsuccessful in reaching a reasonable settlement so we were left with no choice but to proceed to file a lawsuit,” County Manager Edward Oatman said.
The clubhouse, however, is not the only challenge at Ash Brook.
Over the course of the past several months, golfers who frequent the county-owned club have been appealing to the commissioner board to address fairway hazards like flooding, tripping hazards and other environmental challenges.
“To address the drainage issues, the county has engaged Remington Vernick Engineers (RVE), a multi-disciplined engineering firm, to conduct a comprehensive review of the drainage issues and propose viable solutions,” Mr. Oatman said. “The anticipated work goes beyond clearing blockages and removing sediment, aiming to enhance the flow capabilities of existing water bodies and culverts. Additionally, measures such as re-grading certain areas to elevate them out of the floodplain are being explored.”
