Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/301152
If the switchgears were flooded, Garland said it would take six months or longer to replace them because they are custom-made. With all the talk of a new and deeper wet well, new electrical pumps, moving diesel generators and other mechanicals well above ground, Vice Mayor Willie Shaw asked, "Is this approaching a total rebuild?" His ques- tion was reiterated by Caragiulo. "Should we look at conventional designs?" Mayor Shannon Snyder boiled down the discussion to its essentials. "The only real question is, do we leave it underground or aboveground?" he pointed out. "We need a conversation about the entire system and how we respond to events." He said that dis- cussion was best left to a budget workshop about capital improvements funding that will be held later this spring. In the meantime, neighbors adjacent to the stalled Lift Station 87 were thrown a bone. Having looked at a stranded construction site for a year, they have asked for some kind of screening. "Drape the site with something tasteful," said City Manager Tom Barwin. As for the aboveground/below-ground design issue, Barwin added that he would task the city's Urban Design Studio to prepare some drawings. The city will pay for Lift Station 87 out of proceeds from the sale of its so-called waste- water "spray fields" at Hi Hat Ranch in eastern Sarasota County. But as Caragiulo noted, the new twice-as-high price tag for Lift Station 87 will just about wipe out the money from the land sale. % Questions remain about whether the 'wet well' for Lift Station 87 should be above or below ground. The structure shown is aboveground. Image from 90.5 WESA via Wikimedia Commons Sarasota News Leader April 25, 2014 Page 21