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Sewer Project Details Updated

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By KATHY STEELE

ksteele@tampatrib.com

Published: October 22, 2008

SULPHUR SPRINGS - A city project to replace 12th Street sewer pipes is on schedule, the contractor says, but a pocket park on Park Circle and surrounding streets will be closed to through traffic until March.

A portion of 19th Street at Mohawk Avenue, just off East Hillsborough Avenue, will be closed until late November. Workers are preparing to tunnel under Hillsborough to avoid closing one of the city's busiest thoroughfares.

At a town hall meeting with about 20 residents at Sulphur Springs Elementary School, Mayor Pam Iorio fielded a question on the pace of the $19 million sewer replacement project.

Some residents have expressed concern that "it is going slower than anticipated," said Christie Hess, head of the Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association's crime watch.

The approximately 4-mile route will stretch from Sulphur Springs to East Tampa and take about a year to complete. The pipes will replace defective 1980s pipes sold by a company that since has been sued out of business.

Replacement became urgent after two major sewer breaks within two years in Sulphur Springs and Seminole Heights.

"If we don't get on that, the 12th Street sewer is old and they'll be a geyser of sewer," Iorio said. "Not on my watch."

Representatives of CHRMHill Constructors said the company is sending letters to nearby residences to explain each phase of the work. Blue-vested field ambassadors are in the neighborhood to answer questions.

The neighborhood association also is sending e-mail alerts on the project's progress.

Work began in September at Park Circle and will head to Hilton and Crenshaw streets before turning onto 13th Street. From 19th between Mohawk and Hillsborough, the route moves south toward East Tampa, ending at the intersection of 26th Street and 29th Avenue.

Among the final segments, workers will dig about 40 feet under the Hillsborough River to link pipes on Park Circle to the Sulphur Springs pumping station at 12th and Nome streets.

Residents also learned at the Oct. 14 town hall meeting that Sulphur Springs and West Tampa could be major beneficiaries of the more than $13 million the city will receive from a federal foreclosure relief plan. Hillsborough County will receive about $19 million.

A report on how the money will be spent and which properties will be targeted will be given to the city council Nov. 20, said Cynthia Miller, the city's growth management and development services director.

Miller told the council Thursday that the city would sell abandoned or foreclosed houses to first-time homebuyers or repair them for rentals.

"This can be a major, major improvement to the neighborhood," she said.

Reporter Kathy Steele can be reached at (813) 259-7652.

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