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In this month’s newsletter, you will find information about current projects and work completed by BEI since the October 2007 Newsletter that will hopefully be of interest. The project updates are in the following order: • Town of Indian Shores, Florida Projects
Indian Shores Utility Undergrounding on Gulf Blvd. and Lighting Improvements Approximately 2.6 miles of Gulf Blvd. (which is a State Highway in this section of Gulf Blvd.) is the primary access to all property in the Town of Indian Shores, Florida. The Town utilized the services of BEI to negotiate the cost for construction and prepare the contract agreement between the power, phone, and cable utilities and the Town to place all utilities underground (including a 12kV power distribution line) and inspect the construction of the new system. Included with the undergrounding work, the Town has also installed a new decorative lighting system including new white concrete posts with a new white Mongoose style of light fixture along with decorative white Sanibel Light fixtures at select locations. Traffic signal poles have also been replaced with white poles and mast arms. This utility undergrounding and street lighting project is now 100% complete. A portion of this same road is now being reconstructed as part of the instillation of a new Reclaimed Water line by Pinellas County’s “Construction Manager At Risk” contractor PBS&J (Post, Buckley, Schu, and Jernigan) under a LAP agreement with the Florida Department of Transportation. The final design of Gulf Blvd. eliminated the typical underground drainage system in favor of a pervious pavement section for the 10 foot wide sidewalk and bike lane on each side of the road. BEI and the Town of Indian Shores were not in favor of this alternative drainage system as a cost saving mechanism. Due to budget restrictions, the FDOT proceeded with the alternative drainage system and road construction. The sidewalk will be painted red in an attempt to better identify this walk area which is being constructed as a rural road section and not the typical urban road section that has a Type “F” upright curb to protect pedestrians. The Town also objected to the FDOT to this type of design but to no avail. The Reclaimed Water and Road Reconstruction project started in November of 2007 with progress on schedule to date. BEI is the Town’s representative at all weekly construction meetings and performs periodic inspections of the work progress with inspection results reported to the Town and the contractor at the weekly meetings. This project is anticipated to be complete in August of 2009.
Landscape and Beautification work for Gulf Blvd. in Indian Shores, Florida BEI was successful in obtaining a grant for $150,000 for the Town of Indian Shores for landscape improvements on Gulf Blvd. A second grant for $150,000 for landscape improvements is pending. BEI has subcontracted with AVID Engineering (www.avideng.com) for landscape architectural services for the south section of Gulf Blvd. where road construction has been completed. After completion of the north section of Gulf Blvd. in Indian Shores by the contractor, this team will move forward with design and construction of further landscape improvements along Gulf Blvd. The overall concept includes tree and landscape additions in the median areas including a special irrigation system that is totally underground and not subject to damage from car accidents and other emergency and maintenance reasons that vehicles may be on these islands which has been a historic problem. The irrigation system is not a grant eligible item and will be paid for by the Town. The concept also includes rows of Sable Palm trees on both sides of the road to give a dramatic impression as people drive through the Town. This is possible due to the recent undergrounding of the old overhead utilities that previously precluded such an opportunity of beautification. BEI serves with the Town Beautification Committee which is working on other streetscape initiatives including improved bus stops, coordinated mail boxes, improved street signs, welcome signs, street furniture, and coordination of landscaping on private property adjacent to the road.
BEI continues the Stormwater NPDES Phase II Generic Permit for Indian Shores The State of Florida assumed the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit responsibility from the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) several years ago. Most cities in Florida now have their Phase I (For large cities) or Phase II (For small cities) permit in place. Indian Shores is one of the few cities in Florida that never completed their permit application process due to limited town staff and limited staff and communications by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). With new staff and priorities of the State of Florida, Indian Shores was requested to complete the permit process to come in line with State stormwater permit requirements. Brotherton Engineering, Inc. has completed the “Notice of Intent” (NOI) and submitted this document to the FDEP for approval. Over the next several months, BEI will work with town staff and the Town Council to complete ordinance revisions to address illicit discharges to the Town’s “Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System” (MS4), hold public meetings, prepare brochures about pollution prevention for distribution, and implement new requirements for contractors to provide erosion control plans as part of the site plan approval process. The town will also need to revise their computerized records to retrieve documents on erosion plans and implement enforcement actions. City of Belleair Beach Curb Replacement Program Several years ago, the City of Belleair Beach passed an ordinance that makes it illegal to park a car or other vehicle on a city street without a special permit. While this made the appearance of the streets in the residential areas very nice looking, it also allowed easier access for trucks to collect solid waste. Most all curbs in the city are of the “Valley” type. Heavy solid waste trucks traveled down the road with tires in the concrete valley gutter for several years. This causes damage to the valley gutters by cracking them and causing depressions that hold water long after the rain has stopped. Brotherton Engineering addressed this condition in a report to the City Council with a drawing showing all of the damaged curb in the city. Belleair Beach has now started a program of curb replacement and requested the town’s solid waste hauler to remain in the road’s asphalt lane section while collecting solid waste in the future. With very good bids being received by the City of Tarpon Springs, Florida for curb replacement, the City of Belleair Beach exercised its ability to extend the bids for curb replacement to the City of Belleair Beach. The curbs budgeted for replacement in FY 2007 and 2008 have now been replaced by this contractor. Inspections by BEI revealed some improper installations by the contractor and these curb sections were replaced at no additional expense to the City. Seawall Repairs by Belleair Beach Staff Numerous depressions have been showing up behind seawalls in the parks of the City of Belleair Beach. These holes and depressions have historically been backfilled with soil and the sod replaced. BEI was requested to investigate these depressions that seemed to be larger and more frequent than in the past. BEI worked with City staff during the excavation behind these walls as directed by BEI. Investigations determined that the tiebacks that hold the walls up were in good condition, however, joints between some wall sections had deteriorated due to settlement of the wall sections in many locations. The concrete walls were in reasonable condition; however, the joints between the wall sections had widened causing the loss of soil. Repairs were made under the supervision of BEI by the placement of Marafi fabric material over the joints and along the walls on both sides of the joints with the creation of an envelope with the placement of select stone material within the fabric envelope. This repair has prevented the loss of soil and provides a good joint that also allows water pressure to be relieved from behind the wall due to tidal and storm action. These repairs are anticipated to last until the walls will need to be replaced in future years.
Mediterranean Manors Condominium Drainage Improvements This large 40 acre development, located in Dunedin, Florida with 436 condo units was constructed in phases starting in the early 1970s. The last phase of construction is now being completed with condos in the $1,000,000 price range. While the current phase of construction meets the current standards for drainage, the older parts of the development did not properly address drainage when originally constructed and these problems have increased in recent years due to very flat grades of the land. In the year 2007, several projects were completed by BEI to solve these drainage problems. The last drainage improvement project in the Capital Improvement Plan was the correction of the historic drainage problem at the entrance to the development. During rainfall events, this area flooded as water could not properly drain due to improper elevations of the flume through the decorative wall near the entrance and also due to asphalt overlays on the entrance road in the past. The road base in this area was constructed out of soil cement which has helped keep the road from total failure. Brotherton Engineering, Inc. designed improvements that replaced the existing type “D” curb with new type “F” curb, replaced sections of soil cement base with crushed concrete, replace the old discharge flume with a newly designed flume, milling the asphalt surface to accommodate the new type “F” curb line grade, and cleaned out a section of the State Highway drainage swale that drains this area to the Gulf of Mexico. The residents of this development are very pleased with entering their property on an improved road and not through deep water.
Royal Stewart Arms Elgin Building Road and Parking Improvements This 500 unit condominium complex is located at the end of the Dunedin Causeway and next to the Honeymoon Island State Park. There are 7 different Association Board in addition to the Master Association that manages certain common areas. Brotherton Engineering, Inc. provides engineering services to this group of condos as may be required. The Elgin Board had requested different contractors to give quotes on making road and parking improvements based on the opinion of the various contractors. This led to much frustration on the part of the Board since each contractor would emphasize a solution that best fit their types of services. BEI was requested to investigate the overall problems associated with the road and parking areas and make recommendations to the Board with cost estimates. This was accomplished. The Board then requested BEI to complete the design plans and specifications for the work needed which included improved ADA access and elimination of trip and fall problems. The final design included a complete overlay of the south parking lot over a special fabric material to give additional strength to the pavement section and improve the sealing of the asphalt to reduce future cracking of this parking area. New curbs were designed, sidewalk sections were replaced, concrete ramps replaced asphalt ramps for trash bin roll-out, milling and asphalt replacement was specified for the roads on the north side of the building along with sealing under the car ports and the replacement and painting of all wheel stops. Some asphalt removal and patching was also specified in select areas. The overall result was a greatly improved quality of the property as well as providing road surfaces that should last for another 20 years. Areas sealed under the car ports will require resurfacing in a few years and budgets will be set up to accommodate that future improvement.
Elevator Equipment Problems for several clients The Elgin Building and Forbes Building of Royal Stewart Arms and Building No. 4 for the new client Edgewater Arms of Dunedin, Florida, all seemed to experience problems with their elevator equipment at the same time. BEI was requested to investigate the problems that included noise and vibrations. Many of the older multi-story condominium buildings that were build in the 1070s had their elevator equipment rooms located within the central area of the building. This created a noise problem from the very beginning due to the original design of these buildings. Over the years as equipment gets older, these problems have increased due to not only the location, but the vibrations coming from older and poorly maintained equipment. Agreements typically used in this industry by elevator maintenance companies do not have good provisions that detail the quality of maintenance to be performed. As equipment fails, the equipment is replaced by the maintenance company at the full cost to the Association. There is therefore very little incentive for elevator maintenance companies to perform more expensive maintenance on the replacement of bearings and other pump and motor parts. Belts may be replaced; however, the pulleys that wear out are seldom replaced. These problems lead to not only excessive cost to the Association, but also excessive vibration and noise problems during the period of time that the equipment is deteriorating. While BEI is not a mechanical engineering firm and not a designer of elevator equipment, problems with this type of equipment are similar to other mechanical equipment commonly found in water and wastewater treatment plants which is an area of expertise of BEI. Preventative maintenance is a critical issue in the proper operations and maintenance of any water and wastewater treatment facility. This is because of the critical nature of the public services being provided and the extensive cost to replace system components. BEI’s experience in these systems brought forward a company used in the past for preventative maintenance by the name of Vibra-Analysis. (www.vibra-analysis.com) While BEI felt that the solutions to the problem were known, it was important to bring in an expert in this field of mechanical equipment analysis to confront the elevator maintenance company and insist on proper repairs. Vibra-Analysis did the analysis with their diagnostic equipment and prepared very detailed reports on each of the three condo elevator systems. Meetings with managers of the elevator companies resulted in commitments to make proper repairs including flex couplings to isolate pump equipment vibrations from discharge piping. These repairs were made resulting in very happy clients. In addition to these repairs, BEI specified sound proofing materials that meet Fire Codes as approved by the local Fire Marshall to further decrease the normal sounds leaving the elevator equipment rooms in two of the condos. The sound panels are made of cotton fiber with a sound reflecting material in the middle of two cotton layers and Mylar on the surface for cleaning and removal of hydraulic fluid that can come from this equipment operation. These improvements have resulted in operations that are totally silent even to condo units immediately next to the elevator equipment room. Happy clients are a good thing to have.
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