- October 10, 2024
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After over a year of delays, major work on the city’s Belle Terre construction project near Buddy Taylor Middle School is projected to finish in September.
The project is one of two for which the city contracted with Custom Built Construction, Inc., City Stormwater Engineer Carmelo Morales said. The Belle Terre project to stabilize pipes, build a swale and reconstruct sidewalks began in June 2022 and was expected to finish that December, but storm damage delayed it.
The City Council awarded a third project — expanding the stormwater treatment capacity of the London Waterway at London Drive and Leaver Drive — to Custom Built Construction at an Aug. 15 City Council meeting, but council members expressed concern about the Belle Terre project’s delays and the fact that Custom Built Construction’s London project bid came in at two times the estimated project cost.
City engineers had expected the project to cost around $4 million, but Custom Built was awarded the contract for $8.23 million, which was the lower of two bids the city received. The city will use two grants, totaling $7 million, to help pay for the project.
Council members asked city staff to let them know if the contractor needs to withdraw $50,000 or more from the contingency fund for change orders.
“I feel like we’re getting price-gouged,” Council member Theresa Carli Pontieri said. “... I think it needs to be known that we’re not just going to rubber stamp contracts.”
But the cost reflects demand and the increased cost of labor and materials in the industry, Morales said. He also warned the council that micromanagement, such as insisting on a council review of each $50,000+ withdrawal, could have a chilling effect on future contracts with the city.
Morales told the Observer that the delays in the Belle Terre project began last September with Hurricane Ian when a Florida Power and Light team was sent to the devastated coastline in Southwest Florida. When a disaster like that happens, Morales said, FPL sends everyone to help.
It just so happened that the Belle Terre project needed the FPL team to move forward: The next stage involved moving light poles.
Not long after the FPL teams returned, Hurricane Nicole hit the east coast in November. The storm caused significant delays, the pipes in the area failed and the stormwater washed out the west side of the project. The damage became a public safety issue, Morales said.
“Once [the pipes] started to fail, there was always a potential the whole road could have started caving in on itself,” he said, “[Custom Built] actually started doing some work before we even approved some of the changes, because there was just emergency stuff they needed to do.”
For expediency, the city altered its contract with Custom Built Construction to include fixing the damage caused by Hurricane Nicole — a project within the original Belle Terre project.
The delays and extra work extended the project’s timeline and increased its budget, adding over $1 million to the original projected cost of $2 million, for a total of $3.2 million.
“Because this was partly caused by a disaster, we are also trying to get some disaster recovery from FEMA,” Morales said. “It’s probably shy of $1 million that we’re trying to get back.”
The major work will finish in September, and final checks and spot work by October, Morales said.
In contrast, Custom Built’s other project — a weir replacement at Royal Palms Parkway and Town Center — is coming in under budget, dropping from a projected total of $2.08 million to $2.04 million. It will finish in September, too.
Morales said the September date is a month over schedule, but that the city, not the contractor, caused the delay: An electrician needed to update to the weir’s wiring and programming to allow the city to open or close it remotely. Custom Built does not have electricians for that work, he said.
The London Waterway project won’t begin until after the Belle Terre project is complete. Morales said he plans to update the City Council on all of the projects, including the London Waterway one.
He said he understands that the council needs to stay informed — and he’s happy to run any London Waterway project change orders past the council, as requested — but the city already has a robust process for awarding contracts.
“There’s already a lot of steps and red tape [contractors] have to go through to make sure it all goes right,” he said.
