Geraldine Street reconstruction gets OK – at a price
KONK LIFE STAFF WRITER
Follow the money. That’s what Key West City Commissioners voted to do at their Aug. 19 meeting.
In this case – although with some reservations – commissioners voted to spend almost $39,000 in order to qualify for a state grant totaling $351,444. The grant would pay for new sidewalks and curbing, storm water system improvements, landscaping and other upgrades along Geraldine Street in the Bahama Village neighborhood.
But getting the state money required some convoluted maneuvering and the need to spend $39,000 of taxpayers’ money to update a study done back in 2011. The 2011 study produced a design plan called the Bahama Village Connectivity Project, where 10 streets in that area were slated for improvements and other changes that would more fully integrate Bahama Village into the surrounding neighborhoods. State grant money paid for the 2011 design plan but there were no additional funds at that time to pay for the actual construction called for in the plan.
Fast forward to 2014, when $351,444 in Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) funds became available for improvements to Geraldine Street. But in order to qualify for those state monies, the city has to break the original 2011 plan into separate construction chunks.
“However, FDOT requires a current design to be completed prior to executing a [construction] agreement. This requires the original design for Geraldine Street to be revised as a separate project and to comply with Federal and State Codes that have changed from 2011,” said Key West Special Projects Designer Karen Olson in a memo to City Manager Jim Scholl.
As a result, commissioners voted to award a $38,982 contract to Stantec Consulting Services to separate the Geraldine Street portion of the 2011 plan into a stand-alone construction project. That drew some questions from City Commissioner Billy Wardlow.
“My thing is, I was wondering if we could do that in-house instead of going out on bids. We have engineers and we have the technical support and everything that can handle that,” he said.
City Engineer Jim Bouquet said the work by Stantec Consulting would include some complicated area surveys, including a reverification of soil in the Geraldine Street area. The original 2011 plan did not include any environmental testing and because the street lies next to an old Keys Energy Services facility, there might be some contamination, Bouquet said.
The new study will also include an updated engineering study to include any building code changes since 2011, and preparing construction bid specifications and documents.
“So for $38,000, we’re getting quite a bit more than just a straight design,” Bouquet told Wardlow. “It’s a little more involved than what we’d be comfortable doing in-house.”
That appeared to satisfy Wardlow but City Commissioner Clayton Lopez, who represents the Bahama Village district, became angry when he saw that as part of the new project, Fort Street, which connects to Geraldine Street, was slated to become a two-way road.
“How in the hell can you do that? We spent three years fighting on the principal of that street having kids playing in the street and demanding it be one-way in the name of the safety of the children,” Lopez said. “That’s another one somebody sneaked by us.”
Bouquet responded that only a short section of Fort Street, between Olivia and Petronia streets, would be made into a two-way road. The purpose was to provide better access into the planned Truman Waterfront Park in that block, which is a designated entrance into the still-unbuilt park.
Lopez said he wanted to go on record objecting to the two-way section of Fort Street and Bouquet said changes to the design plan would be considered.
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