BRADENTON BEACH – The city commission approved moving forward with the final phase of a project to underground utility lines in the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) district, following years of setbacks due to hurricanes and equipment shortages.
Acting as the CRA board, the five city commission members voted unanimously during the Aug. 20 CRA meeting to approve a scope-of-services agreement with Utility Consultants of Florida (UCOF) for consulting and management of the remaining Florida Power & Light (FPL) underground conversion in the CRA district at a cost of $120,712, to be paid for using CRA funds.
No cost estimate was provided for the total anticipated cost of the final phase of the multi-year, multi-phase undergrounding project. The CRA’s first undergrounding project took place along Bridge Street and a small portion of Bay Drive. That project was completed in 2020.
The CRA district extends from the south side of Cortez Road to the southernmost property lines along Fifth Street South. Public Works Director John Cosby said the final stage of the multi-year CRA undergrounding project would take place between Bridge Street and the Cortez Bridge.
UCOF Senior Project Manager Mark Porter has long served as the city’s contracted undergrounding consultant. He and Cosby were directed to work with CRA attorney Nancy Meyer to draft the easement agreements that will be needed to carry out the undergrounding project. Cosby will serve as the project manager.
Cosby said the proposed project is a continuation of an earlier phase of undergrounding work previously completed in the CRA district. He said the project has been delayed multiple times due to hurricanes and tariff-related equipment shortages.
“The first hurricane, Debby, caused a delay, then the tariffs caused FPL not to be able to get equipment, and then we had Milton and Helene, which caused a further delay,” Cosby said. “We’re finally at the point where we’re ready to move forward.”
Despite the delays, Cosby said FPL and UCOF agreed to honor pricing set in 2022, and the project will move forward without cost increases.
“There is no increase in anybody’s fees,” he said.
Cosby said he and Porter will lay out where the electrical, phone and cable equipment needs to be located.
“There is one transformer which will be a little too close to the road,” Cosby said. “So, we’ll have public works install bollards just to make sure the equipment doesn’t get damaged.”
Porter told the commission securing property easements is now the critical first step.
A construction easement is a legal agreement that allows a utility company to access a specific portion of private property to conduct its work.
“We looked at the easements and they look good,” Porter said. “We’ll start immediately contacting those owners. FPL is just waiting for us to say we’ve got all the easements.”
He said the city needs about 11 easements from property owners along the corridor, and that FPL will not begin its own scope of work, including surveys and cost estimates, until the city confirms those easements are in hand.
Porter estimated the easement process could take up to three months, followed by four to six weeks for material procurement, with a goal of having contractors begin work before November.
The commission questioned where the northern boundary of the project would end.
Mayor John Chappie asked if the utilities would be run under Cortez Road to the north or would stop south of the road.
“We’re still trying to figure that out,” Porter said. “We’ll have a big switch there at that corner. It will depend on the footprint of the bridge.”
“This will be part of the CRA no matter what side it goes on,” Cosby said. “We are at the mercy of the DOT (Florida Department of Transportation). They’re going to tell us where they want us to put it, depending on where the bridge comes forward.”
He said even if the boundary goes to the north, it’s still related to the CRA and will not power anything north of Cortez Road.
Porter said he plans to provide the board with regular progress updates, about once a month, as the project moves forward.
