Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Location, location, location

A generator proves an unpopular neighbor, even before it gets an address.

By RICK GERSHMAN
Published September 8, 2006

BAYSHORE BOULEVARD - No one wants it out front, so maybe we could stick it out back.

The proposal is a possible, in some cases unpopular, solution for the "Bayshore bunker" issue.

Many residents have protested the construction of an enclosure for an emergency generator in the median of Bayshore Boulevard near Stovall Street.

Those in the nearby Monte Carlo condominium tower were particularly vocal about keeping the stormwater pumping generator out of the median, saying it doesn't belong along Tampa's most scenic waterfront street.

But the city's top alternate site doesn't seem to be a big hit either: behind the Monte Carlo.

Public works administrator Steve Daignault sent a letter Aug. 24 to Monte Carlo Condominium Association president James Grau and Bernice Ross of the Bayshore Greenway Group.

Daignault asked the association to vote on whether to provide an easement to the city to install the generator on the southwest corner of the Monte Carlo, by tennis courts next to Grovewood Court.

"Based on the information we have to date, we believe this site provides the most practical cost-effective solution for relocation of the generator," Daignault wrote.

Grau could not be reached for comment. Ross, a Monte Carlo resident, said he has been out of town.

Ross responded with a one-page faxed letter on behalf of the Bayshore Greenway Group. It noted the advantages of alternate locations for the generator, such as under the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway by MacDill Avenue.

The letter doesn't give any indication whether Monte Carlo residents would consider allowing the generator out back. In a brief phone interview Wednesday, Ross said she could not comment on that.

It turns out one person's "out back" is another's "out front." Placing the generator behind the Monte Carlo would also place it only a few feet from other homeowners.

"If they use the city easement, that's 7 feet from our building," said Jim Wilson, president of the Grovewood Condominium Association.

Wilson said presidents of two adjacent condominium associations also oppose relocating the generator and enclosure to the easement.

Monte Carlo residents, he said, "don't want this behind them either. It's not just that there's so much density - it's just not a good place to put it."

Still, the generator has to go somewhere, city wastewater director Ralph Metcalf said. State and county environmental regulators mandate installation of the backup generator, which will pump away sewage if the pumping station on Bayshore loses power.

"Even if you move it behind the Monte Carlo, it's going to cost another $300,000, and the wastewater department has a lot of needs," Metcalf said in an interview. "So if you do this (relocation), what aren't you going to do?

"In a perfect situation, we'd want to put it somewhere else, too. But how much do you pay for that? How much are aesthetics worth? You tell me."

City Council members voted Aug. 17 to urge the city administration not to install the generator, which has been on order, in the 8-foot-tall enclosure workers recently built in the median. But the city might not have any other choice, Metcalf said.

It would cost about another $200,000 to relocate the generator to the Crosstown site, given the added costs of running wires and cables, Metcalf said. And the city has not obtained permission from the state Department of Transportation to place it there.

Storing the generator while the city determines its location could cost thousands of dollars, Metcalf said. Moving it after it's installed would require a medium-sized crane.

"We're not going to spend thousands of dollars moving it to various places," Metcalf said. "This isn't something you can put someplace for 20 bucks a day."

The council plans to discuss whether additional funding should be used to place the generator elsewhere at its first budget meeting Thursday.

The generator had not arrived as of Wednesday, Metcalf said, and he had received no indication from the Monte Carlo association on whether it would support putting the generator behind the building.

He said the generator would be turned off most of the time and is "fairly quiet" while in operation. City workers would need to run it for a short time about once a month to keep it primed.

"We haven't had a lot of power losses with that (Bayshore pump) station, never had it go underwater, but you never know, it happens."

Still, if Monte Carlo residents are concerned about the noise from the generator, he said, "it's going to be a whole lot quieter 150 feet from the Monte Carlo" in its projected home in the median.

"If it's on a back street, 20 feet from your house, it's going to be a lot louder."

Rick Gershman can be reached at rgershman@sptimes.com or 226-3431.

[Last modified September 7, 2006, 11:41:54]