The Saga of Our Streets
(note, all correspondence is latest to earliest)
AND THE BEAT GOES ON!!!!
Letter from Kyle Green, County Road Commissioner
8/24/09
Mr. Syfert,
Point West will be one of the first roads we repair after October 1st of this year. We are currently working on 08-09 fiscal year roads. Point West made next year’s 09-10 fiscal lists. One thing to keep in mind, we usually try and get started the middle of November or first part of December with this process, depending on the weather. I will try and remember to shoot you an email before we proceed.
Thank you,
W. Kyle Green
Road and Bridge Superintendent
Highlands County Board of County Commissioners
7/20/09
From our County Administrator
Based on the most recent evaluation of all County roads, Pointe West made the list to be rebuilt this year. Depending on the amount of the available funding allocated for the next fiscal year, Vantage Trace should be on the list for the following fiscal year. Vantage Circle and Pointe East are probably several years out and that will depend on available funding and how these road(s) compare to other County roads on the next evaluation. If the streets in your subdivision were asphalt, it would be a much simpler task. However, because they are concrete and do not have a normal sub-base, when the roads are repaired, the County is going to have to remove the concrete, go down about 10 to 12 inches and rebuild the sub-base and then put down a layer of asphalt. It is a much more costly process than a typical resurfacing that we do on the vast majority of the roads in the County.
Michael Wright
5/27/09
(Michael Wright is our county Administrator...)
Our records indicate a non-ad valorem district was discussed for road upgrades, but never finalized and no funds collected. There may have been an assessment before the roads were turned over to the County, but we do not believe there was one implemented by the County. Secondly, if we had implemented an assessment for road upgrades, it would have been well in excess of $150 per lot you mentioned below.
Please advise if I can provide additional information.
Michael Wright
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Dear Sir,
The County Engineer’s records indicate all the roads in the Vantage Pointe subdivision, with the exception of Vantage Circle, are county maintained. Approximately 10 years ago, the County accepted maintenance of the roads previously mentioned following a storm event even through they did not meet construction standards. Our records further indicate about eight years ago, an assessment district was discussed as a funding mechanism to upgrade the roads to County standards but that was not implemented primarily due to resident objections. The road failures are, for the most part, attributed to concrete construction having been done directly on top of sand without the benefit of a proper sub-base and base that you find in normal road construction.
The County currently maintains about 1,000 miles of paved roads and approximately 200 miles of dirt roads. Each year our staff rate County maintained roads based on the road condition, area served, average vehicles per day of travel and several other factors to establish a priority list for resurfacing or reconstruction (rebuilding a previously paved road that has deteriorated to the point it can’t be resurfaced) based on where roads fall on the rating system and the availability of funds.
By copy of this e mail, I’ve asked the Road and Bridge Superintendent to make sure Vantage Pointe subdivision roads are included in the annual survey and to make necessary repairs as appropriate in the interim. Based on the information I’ve been provided and having been in the neighborhood, the proper way to repair the streets is to reconstruct them. Without a suitable foundation (sub-base and base) and drainage system the roads will continue to be a maintenance problem. Resurfacing the roads, although less expensive than reconstruction, would be a temporary fix.
It costs between $50 and $60 a linear foot to reconstruct a typical subdivision road, or about $300,000 per mile. The County Commission will be considering a petition paving program later this summer where the County and the home owners share in the cost of road construction but the details have not been worked out as of today. The other option is to see where the roads in your neighborhood are in relation to other roads in the County and await reconstruction funding the amount of which has not been set for the coming fiscal year. It will be part of the budget discussions the Board will be conducting in July and August.
Please advise if I can provide additional information.
Michael Wright
Dear Michael,
I am a resident of the Vantage Pointe community located off of Thunderbird Rd.... We are thoroughly confused about the sad conditions of our streets..... I contacted Rep. Denise Grimsley and her Chief Legislative Assistant, Marty Mielke to find out why our streets were not being maintained.......
I rec'd a phone call from Marty and she had talked to someone in the county and they told her that these were NOT county roads and were therefore privately maintained and were not the county's responsibility.....
She had spoke with Michelle Drake, your administrative assistant. She relayed the information to her from you, who had spoke with Ramon Gavarette, the County Engineer.
I have talked to several longtime residents here and several board members since her phone call to me saying she was told they were not county streets but privately owned and maintained.
The residents are adamant that a bond was paid for, by the residents, to get the streets up to county standards and then the county took over the streets several years ago. The bond cost the residents aprox. $150/lot owner. Since then the county has been cutting the grass alongside Vantage Trace, leading into here and occasionally paving over some of the potholes in the streets with blacktop.
However, it was not all of the streets, as two of the streets were not here and later completed by the last builder in here. These are Pointe West and the Western part of VP Circle....That part of the circle was put in by the last builder and has a decent blacktop surface. However Pointe West which has not been taken over by the county is in sad shape. Vantage Trace (county owned) leads into VP from Thunderbird Rd and acts as a built in speed bump because it is badly broken up.
So the bottom line is, here we sit with our streets all broken up, the county denying ownership and therefore responsibility and nobody doing anything to straighten this matter out. Your help in resolving this issue would be greatly appreciated. These streets certainly do not give visitors a very positive impression of the county nor of our community.
I personally think the county does a great job and cannot understand how this situation has come about.
Jerry Syfert
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5/13/09
Jerry,
I spoke with Michelle Drake, who is the administrative assistant to County Administrator Mike Wright. She relayed the information to me from Mike, who spoke with Ramon Gavarette, the County Engineer.
My recommendation would be for the board members to set an appointment with Mike and Ramon, and they may want to consider including your county commissioner. Of course, any legal documentation they’re able to provide would be extremely beneficial.
Please let me know if I can be of further assistance.
Marty
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Hi Marty, I'm Back.......
I have talked to several longtime residents here and several board members since your phone call to me saying that you had talked to someone and they told you they were not county streets but privately owned and maintained.
Their immediate response was, "Who did she talk to and why is the county coming in here and patching (altho not since I moved here two years ago) with blacktop over some of the holes, if they indeed do not own them???? "
The general consensus is that a bond was paid for, by the residents, to get the streets up to county standards and then the county took over the streets several years ago.
However, it was not all of the streets, as two of the streets were not here and later completed by the last builder in here. These are Pointe West and the Western part of VP Circle....That part of the circle was put in by the last builder and has a decent blacktop surface. However Pointe West which has not been taken over by the county is in sad shape. Vantage Trace (county owned) leads into VP from Thunderbird Rd and is where many of the pics I had submitted came from.
It really gives a bad impression to anyone entering here.
I want to thank you again for looking into this matter and I have told the board that I am out of it, as they are the only ones on this end that would have any kind of records as well as the county, since someone (a clerk perhaps) denies ownership.
In the picture below, Red indicates the allegedly county owned roads. Blue is the blacktop portion of VP Circle, not county owned. Yellow is Pointe West, also not county owned. These streets have all been built up with homes since this satellite pic was taken around 2005.
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5/11/09
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Jerry,
Unfortunately, I’m still waiting too. Haven’t received a response from the county and last Tuesday I sent a reminder email.
Let me call and inquire.
Please accept my apologies for the lack of a response.
Marty
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Hi Marty,
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Rep. Denise Grimsley's Response:
Mr. Syfert,
First, please let me apologize for not replying to your initial request for assistance. I’m in Tallahassee and have checked with district office and they can’t find a record of your letter.
I certainly agree the roads in your community are in disrepair, and need attention. Unfortunately, Department of Transportation (DOT) dollars aren’t available for roads which aren’t arterial routes accessible by the state highway system.
In response to your question concerning using stimulus dollars. The DOT worked with cities, counties, Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) and other transportation partners throughout the state to develop the list of selected projects to receive funding made available by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This effort was based on the established transportation planning processes and thirty percent of the highway and bridge funds were allocated for locally‐prioritized projects.
The following is information relating use of ARRA dollars:
FEDERAL REQUIREMENTS FOR TRANSPORTATION STIMULUS PROJECTS ‐ All candidate projects must meet federal requirements for federal transportation aid and have been assessed to ensure these requirements can be met within the approval timelines. The following are examples of requirements applicable to transportation projects funded under the Act:
• All projects in a metropolitan area must be included in an approved Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) and Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP). All projects
located in a non‐metropolitan area must be included in the STIP.
• Transit projects must be coordinated with the relevant transit operating agency, MPO or FDOT.
• Rail and airport projects should be coordinated with the relevant MPO and FDOT.
• Pursuant to the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), all projects must have completed the required assessments of environmental impacts.
• Right of way on projects must have been acquired pursuant to the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies.
• American iron, steel and manufactured goods are to be used in projects, except in certain instances.
FACTORS FOR PRIORITIZING PROJECTS ‐ Priority projects are those "shovel ready" projects which:
• Have been deferred by the state
• Are tied to concurrency where development is being held up
• Have the potential to generate revenues and jobs
• Are geographically balanced
• Provide congestion relief
• Are located in economically distressed areas
• Can be completed within 3 years
These five projects approved for Highlands County.
Agency Item # Project Description Total ARRA Funding Total Project Costs
Highlands County 426735‐1 Memorial Dr.‐ from Sebring PKWY to Manatee Dr.‐resurface 2.2 miles $ 1,010,315 $ 1,013,31
Highlands County 426751‐1 CR 621 ‐ from US 17 to Crocket Road ‐ resurface 0.6 miles $ 278,501 $ 281,501
Highlands County 426742‐1 Kenilworth Blvd. ‐ from Lakeview Dr. to Persimmon Ave‐ resurface 0.4 miles $ 231,362 $ 234,362
Lake Placid 426753‐1 CR 17(S Main Street) from Poinsettia St to West Interlake BLVD.‐resurface .5 miles $ 174,403 $ 177,403
Sebring 426745‐1 Home Avenue resurface 0.2 miles $ 95,290 $ 98,290
I’ve asked my staff to contact Mike Wright and as soon as we receive his response, I will contact you.
Sincerely,
Denise
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Mr. Syfert,
On Wednesday Rep. Grimsley received reply to her email to Mr. Wright. His assistance told her Mike was out sick, and would be out of town on Friday. In his absence she was going to check with Ramon Gavarrete from Engineering and Kyle Green from Road and Bridge to see if Mike has had any conversations with them.
As of today, I we haven’t heard from back Highlands County. Will keep you posted.
Marty Mielke
Chief Legislative Assistant
Representative Denise Grimsley, District 77
400 House Office Building
402 S. Monroe Street
Tallahassee FL 32399-1300
(850) 488-3457
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Jerry Syfert cc: Highland Road & Bridges Dept
4517 Vantage Cir
Michael Wright, County Adm.
Sebring, Fl 33872
Rep. Denise Grimsley
District Office
Suite B
205 S, Commerce Ave
Sebring, FL 33870
January 14, 2009
Dear Rep. Denise Grimsley,
I am a Sebring resident in the community of Vantage Pointe. We are a community of 186 homes in which new homes are still being built. I am writing this letter to bring to your attention a deplorable situation which exists here that is not only unsightly but also potentially dangerous to our residents. I am speaking of the conditions of our county maintained streets. Several people have fallen and seriously hurt themselves. I was made aware last night at our community board meeting, that one resident’s wife had fallen for the second time and is considering a lawsuit against the county.
We have no sidewalks in this community and as you are probably aware, one of the pastimes of seniors and our Northern visitors is to go for walks and enjoy our beautiful weather while also gaining the benefit of exercise, though moderate it may be. There are no street lights in this community and we rely solely upon the resident’s yard lights which give adequate lighting but not for walking upon a street that has the concrete broken up almost nonstop.
This has become a real issue for the residents. This is a lovely community of well kept, landscaped homes. Can you imagine the impression a visitor must get upon entering here, of not only our community but also of the City of Sebring, the County of Highlands and the State of Florida. I know of no other community in the county where the streets have become so badly deteriorated. While they probably exist, I am not aware of any.
So why am I writing you of this situation????
By now I am sure you have come to the conclusion that this is just another letter from a whining constituent. I realize that money is tight. I would like to suggest that funding in future budgets be provided to repair and rebuild these streets. I am sure that everyone has their hands out to obtain funding for their pet projects as part of the forthcoming infrastructure stimulus package. Now you have seen our hands out, we would most certainly appreciate anything that you might be able to do for us in this situation. In the past there have been band aid applications of blacktop applied which is better than a stick in the eye but even that has not been done lately and our streets are in a sad state. I certainly do not expect you to take time out of your busy schedule to personally check out what is seemingly a minor matter to you, I am therefore including photos of but just a few areas of our streets. Unfortunately the pictures do not truly represent what an unfortunate mess this is. The pictures were taken of the center of the roadways and I did not show the areas along the edges of the pavement that are also broken up.
Yours truly,
Jerry Syfert ,
A Concerned Citizen
