Stormwater upgrades and Roseland Park project round out the last of the major proposals in the next fiscal year’s budget.
The City of Plant City will make its final decisions regarding the upcoming fiscal year’s budget on Monday.
Once commissioners nail down their preferences and approve the budget, it will go into effect Oct. 1 and set a variety of projects into motion.
While many projects that are proposed — like the park upgrades and pending demolition of the former post office — have garnered heavy community interest, a few other changes that are tucked away in the budget are sure to have widespread impact.
The city proposed to dedicate $1,650,000 toward repairing lift stations, replacing waterlines, gravity sewer lines, generators, pumps, water storage tanks, meters and force mains. Those upgrades will improve water quality throughout the city and will help provide a more efficient system.
The city then proposed to invest an additional $4.35 million to construct Water Treatment Plant 5. Back in April 2019, the city approved a contract with Hydro Solutions Consulting, LLC. for its engineering services for said water treatment plant. It is planned to be along Paul Buchman Highway near where a large portion of upcoming expansion is estimated to occur.
Currently, there are four water treatment plants in the city that range from water towers to ground tanks. The fifth plant will be a ground tank. Hydro Solutions was paid $1,379,200 to bring the plant to life and City Manager Bill McDaniel said it was the perfect timing to get this operational.
Back in April, he told the Plant City Observer it would help the city “meet the capacity needs” and added the location on Paul Buchman Highway just below Sam Allen will soon be a hotbed of activity as the north and northeast corridor are home to a variety of upcoming projects.
The city is also investing $200,000 toward the rehabilitation and repair of stormwater drainage pipes and inlets.
Of course, McIntosh Park will be a massive part of the budget for years to come. Water quality is something the city hopes to be able to enhance using the massive park.
In the upcoming budget, the city is setting aside $100,000 toward the pilot program for the McIntosh Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR) project and $287,175 to design the McIntosh Park Wetland Expansion.
Though all of the projects proposed for the next fiscal year are crucial steps for the city to take, McDaniel said one in particular will answer a long-awaited call for change.
The next fiscal year will finally be the grand finale of the flooding saga at Roseland Park. The design for the project was completed and ready to go to bid in Aug. 2020 and construction is set to begin next month.
For years, residents of Roseland Park have had to adjust their lives for every heavy rainfall — as well as any forecast of rain if it had been a particularly wet season — and have lived with unacceptable flooding throughout the community.
Roseland Park is one of the oldest subdivisions in the city. Yards and adjoining roadways fill with water during heavy rain. Several inches will pool in the roadways and yards in a normal rain shower, especially on Azalea Street. During heavier rains, those inches quickly build up and that can result in giant pools of rainwater that are several feet deep.
In countless instances, residents said, they haven’t been able to safely drive their vehicles to and from their homes.
“Roseland Park is a longstanding problem and we are solving a longstanding problem that has probably existed since the subdivision was built, quite frankly,” McDaniel said. “We’re going in and rectifying it and putting in a new stormwater drainage system, and they’ll end up with completely resurfaced roads on top of that. It’s going to be a major improvement for that neighborhood. There are times during heavy rainfall that you go to the back of Roseland Park and there is water at least two feet deep completely submerging the road back there. They’re impassible. They’re dangerous. So to be able to correct that is very important.”
It’s an issue the city has been aware of for years, as residents have frequently voiced their complaints during the summers when they tend to get bombarded with heavy rain. McDaniel said he remembers sitting in a city commission meeting many years ago and listening to the residents talk about the problems they faced.
The process of fixing it is a massive undertaking, however, so it was something that has taken years to get all of the pieces lined up to finally be able to get underground and make sure it doesn’t happen again.
“I’ve seen the problem firsthand,” McDaniel said. “So I’m very excited to be able to be in a position to address that.”
