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Cost may sink water plant

After investing $12-million, the county now could be priced out of the Brooker Creek Preserve project.

By THERESA BLACKWELL
Published February 28, 2007

EAST LAKE - The earth was scraped clean, gopher tortoises were moved and two giant orchids - state-listed as a threatened species - disappeared.

Since Pinellas County completed initial site work months ago for a new water blending and pumping facility in the Brooker Creek Preserve, the 46 acres have sat idle. Construction stalled when the price for the project came in $30-million more than the $75-million-or-so Pinellas County Utilities was expecting, and the county let Jacobs Construction Services go and started negotiations with the second-ranked firm, CH2M Hill.

Now, after spending about $12-million on design, site preparation and landscaping for it, the County Commission wants to reconsider the project.

When the reality of escalating construction costs for the project struck home at their meeting last December, commissioners suggested that the county re-examine its options.

One option would be to abandon the blending plant project on Trinity Boulevard altogether and upgrade the aging Keller pumping plant on Old Keystone Road, adding some method for blending water from different sources.

"I reluctantly went towards the blending facility and really knew that we just needed to replace Keller," County Commissioner Karen Seel said at the Dec. 5 meeting.

Utilities is negotiating with the county's original second choice for the project, CH2M Hill, and hoping the price will come in at more like $70-million this time. If the price is still too high, the commission also could seek new bids.

Utilities has asked Jones Edmunds and Associates, the engineering firm that designed the blending facility, to go back and analyze a range of options by around late March. The firm will look at what facilities are needed, where they would be located, lowering the quantity of water the plant would be capable of blending and how the various options would affect the cost. Utilities plans to present the information to the County Commission in April.

At the Dec. 5 meeting, only one commissioner expressed certainty about continuing with the project as currently designed.

"This thing needs to get built," said County Commissioner Susan Latvala. "I don't want any more hang-ups."

County Commissioner Bob Stewart, on the other hand, had numerous questions for Utilities director Pick Talley. Stewart asked how building the blending plant at various prices will affect water rates, and whether building the plant is even necessary.

"Do we need to finish and build a water blending facility?" asked Stewart. "Do we have to do it?"

"We don't have to do it," Talley said. "Is it wise to do it? Yes."

Talley said the Keller plant was built in 1955, and when pumps go down, parts must be fabricated. He equated the Keller facility to an old car that needs to be traded in. And he said that although county water supplies meet all current state and federal regulations, the facility would improve water quality.

County Commissioner Ronnie Duncan said in December that as construction prices continue to rise, believing the blending plant will come in at a lower price relies on "a hope and a prayer." He suggested looking at other options while negotiations with CH2M Hill continue.

"I want to send the signal that we do have a choice," Duncan said, adding that firms submitting a price for the blending facility would need to be competitive. "Otherwise, we're not going to hire anybody to go build a blending plant."

Theresa Blackwell can be reached at tblackwell@sptimes.com or 727 445-4170.

[Last modified February 27, 2007, 23:55:16]