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Work begins on fire hydrant project

Workers are installing water lines and hydrants in Lealman. The pipes must be replaced because they're old and too small for hydrants to operate.

By ANNE LINDBERG
Published May 4, 2005

LEALMAN - The contracts have not been signed, but workers have already begun installing new water lines and 11 fire hydrants in the eastern portion of the Lealman Fire District.

The work is being done by St. Petersburg, which supplies water to the district, but being paid for by Pinellas County, which governs the unincorporated Lealman area.

The agreement is the latest compromise in a long-running battle between the county and St. Petersburg over responsibility for supplying hydrants to the Lealman area.

The county has said St. Petersburg should pay to install the hydrants because not only does the city supply water service to most of the area, it collects a 25 percent surcharge for doing so.

St. Petersburg will not allow the county to touch its pipes, but has said the county should supply the hydrants because it governs the area.

So far, St. Petersburg seems to be winning the argument: The county has paid the city to work on its own pipes. This time, the county will pay $240,000 from community development money. The county paid the city two years ago to install about 40 hydrants of the 160 that Pinellas says the area needs.

Under the contract, which the St. Petersburg council agreed to sign last week, about 3,910 feet of pipes would be upgraded to 6 inches and another 3,850 feet would be increased to 8 inches wide. The pipes, which are old and too small, must be replaced for the hydrants to function.

The contract, which the county has not signed, calls for 11 hydrants to be installed as the pipes are improved. The hydrants will be in the general area between 49th and 54th avenues N and 34th and 40th streets N.

Despite the contract, the exact number of hydrants that will be installed seems to be a moving target.

Last week, one county official said he thought 18 hydrants would go in. Tuesday, another said there may be as many as 13. That number arose in subsequent talks between the city and county and because the county agreed to pay for the first two phases of hydrant installation as shown on a list supplied by the city. The first two phases on the list have 13 hydrants.

"The map shows 11, conversation says 13," said Paul Rogers, a senior community planning specialist with the county. He will oversee the project.

"I'm making an assumption that we're going to get 13 hydrants under our first contract with the city," Rogers said.

It's possible, Rogers said, that, once workers are in the field, there may be other places to "pop" in another hydrant.

"That would be their field design decisions while they're out there," Rogers said.

Patty Anderson, water resources director in St. Petersburg, said the city plans only to install 11 hydrants. She conceded that conditions may allow the city to install more while doing the work.

Anderson said work actually began April 7, before the City Council voted. It's unclear when it will be completed.

"It's very much weather dependent," Anderson said. "We're hoping 8 to 10 weeks, but we'll see."

Both county and city officials have long known of the lack of hydrants in the Lealman area. But until a building at Town Apartments North burned in June 2003, not much happened. That fire made the issue a priority.

[Last modified May 4, 2005, 00:57:19]