Though Monday evening had one of the shortest commission meetings on record, several key items were silently voted on during the unanimous approval of the consent agenda.
Mayor Rick Lott was away so Vice-Mayor Nate Kilton presided over the meeting. There were no public hearings and nothing from the consent agenda was pulled to be discussed separately. The entire ordeal wrapped up in just over 10 minutes.
Two agenda items, however, have kicked off the next stage of heavily impactful projects in Plant City.
The first rose to the city’s attention after Lift Station 2 and its contributing sewer network reached its maximum pumping capacities. This lift station is the oldest in Plant City and serves a massive section of the city. The existing lift station is a wetwell/drywell configuration and has three pumps.
Because it is at capacity, the city was forced to come up with a game plan going forward to increase the capacity within the basin. Using the information provided within the Wastewater Collection System Master Plan, the consultant will need to develop and evaluate alternatives to address the problem as well as the projected growth for the surrounding area.
It was narrowed down to four alternatives. First, the city could simply increase the capacity of Lift Station 2. Another option is to split the basin and build a second lift station to help bear the load of all expected growth. The city could also incorporate some type of hybrid of the first two options or reroute a portion of the flow to a different basin, which would be conveyed by a different and already existing pump station.
“I believe it’s the oldest lift station that we have still in service without us having to rebuild or upgrade it,” City Manager Bill McDaniel said. “It’s also the most critical for our community. It is absolutely critical to the northeast section of the city. It basically handles all of that wastewater transfer by itself. We simply cannot go forward without doing something about this. This is just the study part, you’re still talking a couple of years of working on everything. There’s 120 calendar days from notice to do the studies. I would say we have some time, but we don’t want to wait any longer to act on this.”
City commissioners agreed to authorize McDaniel to execute the CWO with Black & Veatch for $71,557 to evaluate the Lift Station 2 Basin. The funds are viable in the already established Lift Station 2 Basin Project CIP.
Another vote set the next phase in motion for the long awaited Roseland Park project. The Roseland Park subdivision has faced multiple drainage issues for years. It’s a problem residents have long sought a remedy for and the city has been hard at work making sure its response fully corrects the issue. The subdivision was built in 1925 and the issue has occurred for as long as many of the residents can remember.
It was announced Monday evening that the Roseland Park Subdivision Drainage and Roadway Improvements Project’s design is now 100 percent complete. The design was done by Singhofen and Associates, Inc. and has an estimated construction cost of $1.8 million.
It’s more than just getting some pooled water flowing again. The project is going to construct new streets, curbs and gutters, sidewalks, driveways and drainage systems. Because of the intricacy of the plan, the city said project management and construction inspection services are required to assist the City Engineering staff. The Project Management and Construction Inspection Services Consultant Work Order includes the following:
Review the project construction drawings and specifications for constructibility
Review contractor schedules and submittals
Inspect contractor construction in accordance with the drawings and specifications
Assist the City with questions/conflicts presented by the contractor
Review subgrade and base course density testing reports, asphalt temperatures,asphalt/concrete mix tickets, and concrete strength testing reports, etc.
Commissioners gave McDaniel the go-ahead to “execute a consultant work order in accordance with the Agreement for Transportation Engineering Services with Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc., dated March 10, 2017, to perform project management and construction inspection services for the Roseland Park Subdivision Drainage and Roadway Improvements Project for $184,065.”
The next step for the project includes getting bids out beginning the process of bringing the complex design plan to life.