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Water, sewer lines finally get go-ahead

An agreement between the county and Tampa had residents using septic tanks and wells.

By S.I. ROSENBAUM
Published November 4, 2005

PALM RIVER - When county commissioners last came to Palm River for a town hall meeting, they faced a sea of signs that read: TURN ON THE WATER.

It seems the message was received.

Commissioners approved $6.5-million in Community Investment Tax dollars recently to build water and sewer lines along Causeway Boulevard.

"It's a huge victory," said Liz Gutierrez, executive director of the Greater Palm River POINT Community Development Corp. and founder of the citizen's group Palm River First. "We've been working on this for years."

The stretch of Causeway that runs between U.S. 41 and U.S. 301 has never had sewer or water lines. Residents have made do with septic tanks and wells, which has caused commercial developers to stay away.

The cause: a decades-old agreement between the county and the city of Tampa.

According to the 1967 agreement, the city is responsible for Palm River's water and sewage, even though the community lies outside the city limits and is part of the unincorporated county.

The agreement trapped the area between two governments, neither of which were willing to help.

Tampa officials said they had more pressing projects lined up for their own residents.

And county officials said they couldn't spend money to build an asset that would only benefit the city.

"It was clear everything was stalled," said Hillsborough water department director Paul Vanderploog. "It just wasn't going any place."

But recently, an element of urgency entered the picture, as the state Department of Transportation planned a major road-widening project that would dig up the very stretch of Causeway where residents wanted sewer and water lines to go.

At the town hall meeting, residents told commissioners that it would be a shame to have to dig up the road twice.

"It would have been a horrible, horrible loss if the county and the city hadn't been able to strike an agreement," Gutierrez said.

She said commissioners told her that dozens of residents pleading for water lines at the meeting had moved them.

"You all were very organized at the town hall meeting, and we heard you loud and clear," they told her, she said.

Commissioner Thomas Scott, who represents Palm River, said the vote was unanimous.

"I think that public meeting had a lot to do with it," he said. His fellow commissioners were impressed with the community's unity and "politeness," he said.

Vanderploog said the project will begin in early 2006, to coordinate with the DOT project.

When the water and sewer lines are complete, he said, the county will work out an arrangement with the city to give Tampa control of the lines. Developers wanting to hook up to the lines will have to deal with Tampa, not Hillsborough County.

S.I. Rosenbaum can be reached at 661-2442 or srosenbaum@sptimes.com

[Last modified November 3, 2005, 08:48:08]