West Canfield Street Repair - Granite Pavers

[JStone]

Hello Fellow DetroitYes members -

I thought I would reach out to the community here to see if by chance someone might have information to help us.

As most of you probably know, the West Canfield Historic District is a small, one street Historic District mostly consisting of Victorian homes from the late 1870's to the 1890's. The street was returned to it's former historical look back around 1980. More information about this can be found on the website - westcanfield.org.

I believe around the mid-2000's time frame, a developer who built the Nine on Third Condo's at the end of the block, tore up the west section of the cobblestone street looking for [[I believe a water hook up) a utility connection. I don't know the exact specifics. I was told there was an escrow amount set aside by the developer to cover any problems that might occur with such work. Unfortunately, that money disappeared when the city declared bankruptcy and the developer went bust. The developer was not skilled in cobblestone street repair and subsequently installed the granite pavers incorrectly when putting them back. Over the years, that section of street has deteriorated and paver stones have been coming loose. [[see photos) Residents have been collecting the loose stones over the years in hope of using them for a future repair.

Thankfully, DWSD and DPW have funded a knowledgeable firm to repair the failing sections of the street near third.

I have 2 asks.

Does anyone know where the Historic Org might find more of these pavers [[see photo)? Proper work has commenced on fixing this section and it's believed that the street contractor will not have enough saved pavers to complete the job.

And, I am told that there is not enough funding left to complete the job properly After the stones are set in a layer of concrete, the gaps between must be filled with hot tar. This method was used previously in 1980 and again a couple years ago when the water main broke. The contractor claims it's $1200 a day to rent this tar machine [[see photo). Without perhaps finding a cheaper rental solution, the gaps will be filled with sand which will not work long term.

Does anyone out there know where to find one of these machines?

Thank you.