BY MARK J. CRAWFORD
Progress is slow but steady on projects to improve Starke’s water and sewer infrastructure.
The largest ongoing project is reconstruction at the city’s wastewater plant. Justin deMello with Woodward and Curran recently told city commissioners the plant is 60% complete. The goal is completion by the end of the year, but a long lead time for ordering certain components may push completion into next year. Otherwise, things are going well.
“Everything is going swimmingly from an operational standpoint,” deMello said. The engineer, contractor and city are working seamlessly together, he said, and staff project manager Chris Russell is handling all the moving parts of operations and construction.
Moving on to the wastewater collection system, phase one construction is underway. The contractor was slow to start, deMello said, so the project is slightly behind schedule. Financing the project also proved more challenging because the construction bid was over budget. Multiple funding sources were required, so the project was split into multiple phases.
Next up for the project is the relocation of the Call Street lift station funded by a $2 million grant.
The first phase of the collection system work should be complete by the middle of next year at the earliest, deMello said, but perhaps not until the end of the year.
The second phase of the collection system will repair lines in Saratoga Heights, the Andrews Street area and downtown. Currently in the design phase, deMello said they are looking for construction dollars so the work can begin this fall.
DeMello moved on to drinking water, saying Woodward and Curran is excited to be a part of the project to extend utility lines to serve future development at the Starke bypass as well as upgrade the city’s water plants and storage. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection has reviewed facility planning for these projects and approved. Engineers are now ready to move into design. As well as improved water plants and new service lines, deMello said there will be a new water tower.
The commission will be hearing more about these projects in the coming months, he said.
Related to the replacement or rehabilitation of utility lines in the city, Commissioner Danny Nugent asked deMello if this could include the repair of historic Walnut and Cherry streets, which are constructed of brick but continue to deteriorate.
DeMello said they could look at acquiring dollars to repair aging infrastructure, with the understanding that the final project will have to be an improvement over the existing conditions.
This could be worked into a five-year community improvement plan that Woodward and Curran is currently drafting for the commission’s consideration and approval. Once the plan is completed, the company’s funding team will put together a fiscal solutions plan that could include grants and other funding opportunities.
“That way, you guys have a pathway towards achieving the goals. But the first step is, let’s get the problems on paper, and we’ll work on funding,” he said.
Commissioner Janice Mortimer asked about appealing for funds with plans to convert residents and businesses with access to new lines from septic to sewer. DeMello said that would be built into the third phase of the collection system project, potentially helping to cover the costs for connecting new customers to the system.
The community improvement plan covers five years, so many of the improvements will be years in the making. Just how long depends on how much the city takes on.
“We started with priorities with you guys, right? It was sewer plant, major components of your collection system,” deMello said. “We’re getting to that point on the sewer side where we’ve got so many trains rolling down the track from an emergency standpoint, now it’s time to get to some of those nice-to-have projects. And that’s the point we’re getting to with this five-year planning, really starting to lay out those projects and when they’re going to happen.”
