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architectural style is preferred? He showed the board a few prospective designs: the typ- ical Sarasota Mediterranean Revival/Spanish Alamo look, an historic look and an Art Deco entry from the city's Urban Design Studio. This at first appeared to be sort of "nothing up my sleeve" sleight of hand to distract the commissioners from a multi-million dollar change in direction. But to his credit, Garland also introduced the commissioners to the vulnerability from flooding that is a point of fact for all of the city lift stations. He presented a slide titled, Vulnerability Analysis [by] Hurricane Evacuation Areas. It is part of the Utilities Department's post-storm "recovery plan," and it shows the projected impact on each of the city's lift stations from flooding produced by hurricanes and other storms. In light of Pensacola's experience earlier this month with an unprecedented strong rain event (5 inches in one hour), the slide was eye-opening. However, it was a graphic only an engineer could love. Observers had to hope that city staff members in either the Utilities Department or Public Affairs will rework the illustrations so neighborhood residents can have some idea of the vulnerability of the sewer system to storm events. Fundamentally, the concept of vulnerability was the issue that tipped the commission to abandon the out-of-sight/out-of-mind design in favor of installing equipment in a 40-foot- tall building in the middle of Luke Wood Park. "We feel it's prudent to go with Category 3," said Garland, referring to the level of struc- tural soundness he recommended for that facility. "And we need consensus to go in that direction." It was a watershed moment for the project. Would the commissioners abandon an invest- ment of years and millions of dollars? Would they authorize a total redesign, scrapping the eight already-dug, reinforced holes in the ground, some filled with equipment? There was no formal vote, and none was needed. Mayor Shannon Snyder asked, "Category 2 or 3?" Commissioner Paul Caragiulo replied, "Three." And so it went. "I'm excited to be talking about this for a lift station," said Commissioner Suzanne Atwell as the discussion ended. "It's been painful, but look what's happening." Utilities Director Tidwell figuratively tied it up with a bow. "That's exactly what we needed for today," he told the board. CODA As for all those expensive holes in the ground, what purpose can they serve now? One will be deepened because an operational "wet well" is critical to the idea of a gravity-fed sewer system. The old design called for this hole to be too shallow; the floor needs to be 12 feet deeper, so expect to see it go down another 14 feet or more. A couple of weeks ago, though, Garland suggested digging a new hole. And what of the other seven "silos?" Engineers are seldom ironic, but Tidwell was on Monday. "We could fill them up with the debris from demolishing the rest of the site. It would save money. We wouldn't have to truck it to the dump," he told The Sarasota News Leader. % Sarasota News Leader May 9, 2014 Page 34