San Carlos Island Drainage Project is underway
Officials from Lee County and an engineering group answered questions and provided an update on the San Carlos Island Drainage Project which began construction recently. The hour-long session was held at Valerie’s Lounge on San Carlos Boulevard.
Project Coordinator Denise Sabatini from Lee County’s Municipal Service Taxing Benefit Unit and Senior Project Engineer Ronald Kerfoot of AIM Engineering & Survey, Inc. relayed information to the project area’s inquisitive property owners. The project, which has been in the planning stages since 2004, began construction just a few weeks ago and is expected to be completed by the first or second week of April.
According to Kerfoot, the construction end will consist of a new roadway and drainage improvements. The work is contracted to Guymann Construction of Florida, Inc. from Cape Coral. The contractor will not be penalized if the projected time line is extended by no fault of the company’s own work.
“The basic design includes adding a two-foot concrete gutter to each side of the roadway and rebuild it to county standards,” he said. “We making some drainage improvements and easements have been attained to release more water out to the bay.”
The project site encompasses improvements on San Carlos Drive as well as North Street. Drainage pipes are currently being installed during this portion of the construction phasing.
Kerfoot said the new roadway will be 20 feet wide. Changes to the grade will have to be done so that “the gutters will pitch to inlets that will lead the water out to the bay.”
The slight grading changes to the original plan left many property owners bitter. One owner said he heard the road grade will rise up to a foot in some areas.
Another concern dealt with the county Right of Way possessions. One resident asked his fellow property owners a hypothetical question. He received a consensual ‘no’ as an answer.
“Right now, would you vote for this project again, knowing that you’d lose your trees, land and so forth,” he said. “We weren’t told what was going on when this project started. We were told we going to move our mailboxes and that was it.”
Other raised questions centered around drainage swales under property owners’ driveways and lawns preventing water to not be trapped between roadway and properties; utility service interruptions; surveyor’s markers; property assessments; and grants.
There was discussion on secondary drainage systems where there will be additional inlets and hikings out on the road shoulders. The purpose is to make sure water is not trapped on the properties that are lower than the road grade.
“The purpose of this project is to bring the roads back to county standards,” said Sabatini. “The road portion of this project is being paid for by the County Department of Transportation.”
For legal protection, pre-construction photographs have been taken to show pre-existing conditions.
“The pre-construction video is protection and proof for the sake of all parties: the county, the contractor and the property owners to ensure that when the project is completed, the properties are put back whole. The video is a good reference guide for all to review what existed prior to the project,” Sabatini said.
The project coordinator said the work is currently under budgeted. Total original estimates for the construction portion was $628,000 which broke down to $545,700 with a contingency of $82,300.
“Our contract bid came in at $583,947,” she said. “With the bid, we’re under budget by more than $44,000.”