Safety Harbor to rebuild its past

The city will soon hear a plan for renovating brick streets north of downtown. "It's worth saving for our history," the mayor says.

By DEBORAH O'NEIL

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 23, 2000

SAFETY HARBOR -- Helen Mullan knows which brick streets to avoid when she leaves her home on Second Avenue N downtown.

Stay away from Third Avenue N near the post office.

Hold onto your caboose when you hit Second Street N.

And best to take your foot off the gas before rolling through the intersection of M.L. King (Fourth) Street and Fourth Avenue N.

"I have 125,000 miles on my car and it doesn't like to do too many odd things," Mullan said. "We know the spots."

But despite the bumps, Mullan would never trade her neighborhood's brick streets for asphalt. Neither would Safety Harbor's public officials, who soon will embark on an ambitious, multimillion-dollar plan to repair the city's cluster of old-time roads north of downtown.

"It's very quaint and charming," said Donna Savastana, owner of Body and Sole Day Spa on Second Street N. "It's back in time and the streets have a lot to do with that."

It would be far easier and cheaper to pave over them -- brick streets have to be restored literally by hand, brick by brick -- but city commissioners say they will hear nothing of that. They say the neighborhood north of downtown is unlike any other in the city, with its blocks of bungalows and small shops that look out at oak tree canopies along the streets.

"It's worth saving for our history," said Mayor Pam Corbino. "No matter what city you go to, if you see brick streets, you fall in love with them."

The city staff has completed a survey of the condition of the brick streets, and City Manager Steve Wylie expects to present the commission with a plan in coming weeks. Fixing the brick streets requires repairing the utility pipes beneath them, which in some cases have collapsed causing the lumpiness in the roads.

All of the work is estimated to cost more than $6-million. A few years ago when repairs were done to the brick streets around Safety Harbor Elementary, the city discovered restoring a brick street cost $55 a square yard, while paving over it cost $20 a square yard, Wylie said.

"It's expensive," he said. "It's more or less a one-time deal to preserve the charm of downtown."

The work will be done in phases according to a time line that will be set by the commission. Two streets, Bailey and Second Avenue N, will be completed in the next two years. The time line for the rest will hinge on how the commission decides to pay for the project.

Officials anticipate the money will come from some combination of city reserve cash, Penny for Pinellas sales tax money and federal grant money. Wylie said, ideally, he would like to see all of the streets completed in five years.

"I don't want to tear up all of downtown at once," Wylie said. "I also don't want to do it in 30 years either."

The brick streets in Safety Harbor probably date to Florida's building boom of the 1920s, said Betty Quibell, administrator of the Safety Harbor Museum of History.

"I think a lot of them are the original roads," Quibell said. "They are so much in keeping with what the city has tried to project as its image: historical, quaint, unique."

But the roads were not built to carry the volume and heft of modern day traffic. In some cases, brick streets have compacted from the weight, causing utility lines to fail. The stormwater lines, which are often empty except after rain, particularly need attention, said Public Works Director Kurt Peters.

There has been only one major utility break beneath the brick streets in recent years, Peters said. In January 1999, a water main near Second Street and Fifth Avenue N burst, opening a hole in the ground that swallowed a car and sent water rushing over the street.

Some streets need stormwater lines replaced, others require new sewer or water lines and still others need a combination of the three. All of that work will be done as part of the project.

"As you ride the brick roads, you can observe where there are a lot of dips and irregularities," Peters said. "That's a clear indication something is occuring beneath the street with the lines."

Despite the obvious need for repairs, resident P. Pendleton has nothing but respect for the bricks on his block of Bailey Street.

"I've been driving on it for 50 years, I think it's held up pretty well," Pendleton said. "At one time, it was the only road through here. It's been going ever since."

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