Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/332945
Plans already called for directional drilling to be used primarily in Phase 1 of the installa- tion of the force main, which will extend from Midnight Pass Road to U.S. 41 by crossing the Intracoastal Waterway and following the southern boundary of Phillippi Estate Park at 5500 S. Tamiami Trail in Sarasota, the staff memo notes. The final phase of the three-part sewer proj- ect entails construction only on Siesta Key, mostly with directional drilling. The new master pump station will be located on the site of the existing wastewater plant, the staff memo says. Undertaking the water main and force main projects together will add about three months to the project timeline, Cash explained, tak- ing about a year altogether. "The biggest thing that we evaluated," Cash continued, "was the impact to the neighbor- hood. We didn't want to find ourselves in the position of having to come back three or four years from now and have to replace the water main when we could have done it sooner." He added, "There will be an impact to traffic and the neighborhood." Because staff already is in the process of nego- tiating the easements for the force main work, Cash said, and most of the permits already have been secured, it would be fairly straight- forward to add the water main project. Patterson told Cash that she understood that because most of the work will be done through directional boring, as he had pointed out ear- lier, streets will not be cut open. However, she said, pipes will be lying along streets while the work is under way. She also reminded him that he had prom- ised her staff would try to work it out "so that at least the messiest and most disturbing phases of it don't take place in a February and a March." "That's correct," Cash responded. The intent is to minimize the impact on Siesta Key traf- fic, he added. "That would be great," Patterson replied, not- ing that the neighborhood most affected will be one of single-family homes near Shadow Lawn Drive. That is a street people take to reach Siesta Public Beach, she noted. Hines thanked Cash for staff's "good think- ing" about the potential of combining the projects and said he hoped all staff mem- bers would consider such options when they are possible. % Shadow Lawn Drive will be the Siesta Key neighborhood most affected by the sewer force main and water main projects, county staff says. Image from Google Maps Sarasota News Leader June 20, 2014 Page 69