I’m not sure what they were doing, but a group of people took turns at various activities in the parking lot that is to become the new parking garage at Locust/Summerplace/Walnut. They also strayed out of the area I understood to be included in the plans and dug some holes in the upper lot.
The back hoe dug what looked to be four feet or so deep at various spots while people dressed a little too well to be workers, so I guessed them to be engineers, stood about with clipboards and cameras. Photographs were taken and fists-full of soil examined. At one point the back-hoe driver got down in the hole with a shovel for a few extra scoops.
Another person stood away from the main group and held a pole up at the various filled-in holes. I couldn’t see that anyone used his pole as a marker like a surveyor might. I couldn’t tell that he did anything more than stand most of the time he held the pole.
In the end, they all gathered to look at the most recent upturned dirt, photograph it, make notes about it and then disengage from each other. The holes filled, everyone returned to their vehicles and drove away. I think they were on-site several hours on Saturday, but Sunday morning they remained only an hour or so, which was enough given that a back hoe busting up concrete is not the sound you might hope for on a great morning to sleep in.
So, engineer friends, what were they doing? Looking for soil contamination? Looking for Cherokee burial grounds? Does this signal eminent construction or could we still be months away? And what happened to our comments about design? Will there be meetings or simply construction?