Jack Duncan has lived in the Roseland Park subdivision in south Plant City for 42 years and over that time he said he’s seen some its infrastructure show its age.
Among the problems Duncan said he’s seen is “bad” flooding on McDonald Street, north of his wood frame house at the southern dead end of that road.
“You have to drive a loop around it to get past it,” said Duncan, sitting on his front porch with friends just before noon Tuesday. “I heard about the improvements. This has been needed for a while; something has needed to be done for a long time now.”
Following Monday’s Regular Meeting of the Plant City City Commission, the Roseland Park community of 40 to 50 homes should be seeing improvements in drainage and roadways in the neighborhood.
The city commission voted 4-0, Commissioner Michael Sparkman was absent, to authorize City Manager Bill McDaniel contract with Kamminga & Roodvoets, Inc., Tampa, for $3,219,986 for the Roseland Park subdivision drainage and roadway improvements project.
Primarily, the bid includes replacing existing drainage inlets and culverts and regrading and reconstructing roadways within the Roseland Park subdivision.
During a presentation, Frank Coughenour, city engineer, said most of the homes in Roseland Park were built in the 1960s and is one of the older neighborhoods in the city. That area is bordered by forested areas to the north, east and south. The 100-year floodplain encroaches on the eastern third of the subdivision “and that’s what really initiated a lot of this project is the flooding in the area,” said Coughenour.
To minimize flooding and to make roads more passable, the project is expected to “drastically improve the situation,” he said.
Work will include replacing about 1,800 feet of culvert, replacing inlets and junction boxes for collecting storm water and rebuilding road asphalt and base. About 3,000 feet of sidewalk, driveway aprons and curb ramps and replacing south Court Street with a paved walking trail leading to Roseland Park.
Commissioner Jason Jones said he visited the neighborhood about three weeks ago and said “I kind of bounced around in my Jeep quite a bit.” He asked if all the roads in Roseland Park would be redone and was told they would be.
“I’m very glad to hear that. It’s going to be a good project, especially for that community,” he said.
Commissioner Bill Dodson said for more than 10 years, he’s been hearing concerns from residents regarding drainage and roadways.
“I’m glad to see now that it’s on the doorstep and we’ll finally be able to get it done even though it’s going to cost us an arm and a leg,” he said. “But the folks that live there, they’ve earned all of the effort by the city to get if fixed.”
According to the city, other work includes “minor water and wastewater utility relocations, sidewalk and curb ramp replacement to meet ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) requirements.”
The project also includes eliminating south Court Street between east Roseland Avenue and Carolina Avenue. That part of the roadway doesn’t include any driveway access to adjacent properties and the road “will be replaced with greenspace and sidewalk.”
“If they put in new streets, I think that’s definitely a good thing,” said Duncan, 64.
Bids went out for the drainage and roadway improvements Nov. 1, 2023. The city stated two bids were offered by the Feb. 29 deadline based on the city engineer’s estimate for the project of $2,668,997. Inflation increased that cost 20 percent over a year, primarily regarding labor and heavy equipment.
According to Coughenour, the city has $1,871,673 available in its Capital Improvements Program (CIP) for the project. Additional funding of $1,348,314, plus project contingency will be transferred.
Work on the Roseland Park improvements should begin by early October with an estimated completion date of April 2025.
In other city commission action:
The commission voted 4-0 to provide written findings and denying the Periwinkle Planned Development Rezoning application. That application was for district rezoning for a telecommunication tower near the corner of Sydney and Turkey Creek roads.
The commission voted 4-0 to conduct annual reviews and to establish fees and charges for basic and advanced life support services by Plant City Fire Rescue.
The commission voted 4-0 to adopt an ordinance amending Plant City Code regarding townhouses. Current regulations regarding townhouses can be found in the R-2 Zoning District Standards. That had caused confusion as to whether or not these standards only apply to townhouses in the R-2 District or if they also apply in other zoning districts. To clear any confusion, the city is moving these regulations to a different section of the Code called “supplemental regulations.” These regulations apply to all related development throughout the City and are above and beyond what the zoning district requires.