Monday’s city commission meeting led to the green light being given for several road resurfacing projects around the city and for City Manager Bill McDaniel to start negotiations for the Wheeler Street lot development.
As the fiscal year comes to a close, a variety of projects were approved and updated Monday evening during the city commission meeting.
More roads will be resurfaced soon thanks to the commissioners’ approval of another contract with C.W. Roberts Contracting, Inc. for $69,000.95 to mill/resurface some of the remaining 2019 CDBG Streets.
The 2019 Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Streets Resurfacing Project was approved via an Interlocal Agreement effective January 28, 2020. It covers the milling and resurfacing of a roadway along West Merrick Street, West Bates Street and West Strickland Street.
The project was advertised for bid on July 15 and five bids came in on Aug. 15. C.W. Roberts Contracting, Inc. was the lowest responsive and responsible bid. They came it at $69,000.95. The highest bid was from Mondragon Paving, LLC for $94,151.04.
The Wheeler Street development also drew some interest during Monday’s meeting.
The City of Plant City purchased the property at the corner of Wheeler Street and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in the past fiscal year after watching it sit, unused and empty, for years.
“It needed help to get it going and spark something,” City Manager Bill McDaniel said. “What happens is, we run into situations where we look at these properties and we pretty well determine what their impact on the community is going to be. Ideally we would love to see someone come in and transform that space, but after a lot sits for 20 years and nothing happens we realize that we need to be the ones to step up and get this ball rolling.”
Those who are familiar with the property’s history know there were a undoubtedly a few bumps along the way. Most remember that intersection as being a car lot. A dealership sat on the spot and for years cars would drive on and off the pavement. When it closed, a marine shop/boat dealership arrived on the scene and used the same buildings for similar services. When that closed, the owner demolished the buildings and a concrete slab has sat in its place ever since.
When the city purchased the property it began environmental testing to take the project into phase two. The city found some areas where there were hydraulic issues thanks to the vehicles and boats sitting on the property for years. That was taken care of and the property was then set with a Request for Proposals.
Two bids came in and they were originally ranked with the intention of the city entering negotiations with the highest-ranking company first. If there were issues or problems that caused the partnership to fail, the city could quickly go to the second bid without having to go back to the drawing board. McDaniel announced that toward the end of last week, during the “due process,” it was discovered the company in the second bid had not filed for its corporation license and thus the bid was disqualified, leaving Solution Source as the sole candidate.
Solution Source, in its bid, proposed building “Wheeler Street Station” on the property and the plan was to have a 13,450-square foot first floor with six different retail units. Above the retail would be the second and third floors, which would have 16 residential units per floor ranging from 500 to 1,350 square feet.
Commissioners approved McDaniel’s request to begin negotiations.
