St. Pete allocates $19.1 million to resilient infrastructure

Hurricane Milton’s projected storm surge forced Mayor Ken Welch to evacuate the Southwest Water Reclamation Facility. Its new operations and maintenance building will withstand a Category 5 storm.

St. Petersburg City Council members unanimously approved an $18.3 million contract to storm-harden the critical facility – one of three – at their Nov. 6 meeting. They also allocated $770,504 to inspect and improve stormwater infrastructure.

Mayor Ken Welch celebrated the projects, designed to increase resiliency against climate change, in an announcement Monday. The $19.1 million investment will help the city provide more reliable public works service before, during and after disasters.

“These projects support improvements to some of our most critical public works systems and facilities that impact residents’ day-to-day lives – the city’s stormwater infrastructure system and the Southwest Water Reclamation Facility (SWWRF),” Welch said in a prepared statement.

“With Environment, Infrastructure and Resilience as one of our Pillars for Progress, my administration remains dedicated to identifying additional projects and resources to increase our community’s ability to withstand future disasters.”

Councilmember Brandi Gabbard requested a discussion on the SWWRF due to the “enormity of the project and the dollar amount.” City Architect Raul Quintana called it “very interesting” and the “highest priority” among St. Petersburg’s three sewage treatment plants.

An $8.8 million Resilient Florida grant will help fund the $18.3 million guaranteed maximum contract with Atlanta-based Ajax Construction. The contractor will demolish the existing 50-year-old operations and maintenance buildings and combine the two into one environmentally resilient three-story facility.

“Those buildings are no longer operationally functional,” Quintana said. “They don’t meet the emergency criteria – daily situations that come up, and also emergency issues. The existing buildings are not rated for any kind of hurricane wind strength and, obviously, not rated for storm surge.”

That will soon change. Quintana said the facility at 3800 54th Ave. S., near Eckerd College, will “basically meet Cat 5 flood stage.”

Ajax will flood-proof the first level, which will house maintenance equipment and a welding shop. The second floor will feature technical staff offices, restrooms, lockers and a conference area.

Quintana said the third floor will house the Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system. That will ensure the “guts and brains of the whole system” are 30 feet above sea level.

The 500-year storm surge threshold is 28 feet. Quintana said the elevation was “driven by the grant, and to make this a highly resilient facility.”

He noted that the city has already submitted Resilient Florida grant applications for a similar project at the Northeast Water Reclamation Facility on 62nd Ave. N. Mayor Ken Welch shuttered both facilities before Milton made landfall, which prevented two-thirds of the city from flushing their toilets for several hours.

“I think anytime we have resiliency projects like this happening in St. Petersburg, we want to celebrate and highlight that,” said Councilmember Corey Givens Jr. “So, I just wanted to thank you for your hard work here. I’m excited to see this one get started.”

The Southwest Water Reclamation Facility is at 3800 54th Ave. S.

The $750,000 contract with Jacobs Engineering Group will help restore St. Petersburg’s stormwater conveyance system. However, Gabbard requested the discussion due to “some questions about the selection process, specifically the scoring.”

She said many of the same contractors respond to municipal bids “over and over again.” Gabbard also noted that the city’s evaluation committee initially gave the Dallas-based company lower scores than other respondents.

Brejesh Prayman, engineering and capital improvements director, explained that evaluators often update their scores throughout the process. A procurement analyst then tallies their anonymous submissions and the group names at least three project finalists.

Prayman said receiving between two and four contract proposals was once typical. The SWWRF project garnered 34.

“It was a very specialized category of work we were looking for,” Prayman added. “That’s why we had two of the larger firms and two of those really specialized firms.”

Jacobs Engineering will develop asset management solutions, audit the city’s stormwater conveyance system database, create inspection workflows and inspect and rate pipes. Councilmember Lisset Hanewicz questioned why that was not already happening.

Prayman said the city must inspect its entire system every 10 years. However, routine maintenance and proactive inspections are “two different things.”

Hanewicz called the project and cost “fantastic.” She said the data “would be helpful” when responding to questions and complaints from residents.

“Climate change impacts are intensifying, and my administration is committed to improving the overall resiliency of our public works systems so we can better serve our residents,” Welch said. “I want to thank city council for recognizing the importance of these investments, and for their ongoing support in strengthening our city’s infrastructure.”