DeBary to start $10 million stormwater project in July - Jacksonville Business Journal:

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million in funding. A contractor hasn’t been chosen yet. Bids on the westsidre emergencysystem — which involves installinvg about six miles of pipes and three pump stationes — are due May 19. The work shouled alleviate flooding problems for 60 to 75 home s in west Volusia DeBary Interim City Manage r Anthony Gonzalez said about 44 contractorsw and subcontractors showed up atthe project’s pre-bidx conference April 21. “It was more than we expected.” City stormwaterr consultant David Hamstra, who is with Orlando-basee Inc., said construction on the projectr should startJuly 6.
The contractor will have 15 months from the starty of construction to completethe project, according to FEMA DeBary officials got word about the $7.5 milliomn in federal funding in late April. “We went Hamstra said. “This was really a blessing.” The 18,000-resident city has 34 lakez like “bowls of water” that overflowa when they fill up, he The stormwater project will pipe the water away from homew toa 65-acre, 35-foot-deep borrow pit the city bought yeard ago in southwest DeBary. The town has been workinfg for years to get FEMA funding for the stormwatertimprovement project, after three hurricanes in 2004 causec extensive flooding.
The city was hit again last August durinbg TropicalStorm Fay, whicj left about 90 homes undefr water. Jamie Selby, general manager of the , expects the project to benefit his business and thesurroundingf 1,100 homes. During the 2008 there was flooding at the club entrance and on some area of thegolf course, although the clubhousd wasn’t affected. “We don’t want another problem like last year,” said Selby. “We were shut down for nearly two weeks and very slow for aboug four tofive weeks.” DeBaryt was awarded $ 3.
5 million in FEMA funding in but as it movedd ahead with design of the project, constructionj costs went up, Hamstra When the city submittedr its final plans in January 2008 to the federal agency said it couldn’t cove r 75 percent of the costs, as initiallyg expected. But Hamstra said U.S. Congressman John R-Winter Park, and FEMA officials in the Lake Mary officwe promised to look for more Last month theyannounced they’d found enougn to meet the 75 percent match. If the project’xs bid comes in below $10 million, FEMA’s funding will be reducec to cover just 75 percent of the totalkproject cost.
DeBary will cover the othed 25 percent ofthe project’s cost with a $1 milliohn grant, plus county and city The project also is expected to help alleviate the floodinf of U.S. Highway 17-92, during majort storms, as it’s the city’s main hurricanw evacuation route. DeBary also is working on abouyt $10 million in smaller stormwaterneighborhood projects, for which voters approved funding in 2005. About one-thirx of those projects are done and another third are under way.
They range from about $500,009 to $2 million to add retention ponds and bigger OnMay 18, the city will hold a workshopp on $20 million to $30 million in additionalo neighborhood stormwater projects identified durinbg the 2008 flooding to decide how to prioritize and fund that