Can Kicking Continues?
Tuesday's BOCC meeting was not really eventful.
We heard a presentation by North Florida Land Trust about conservation in Citrus County. The gist here is that we are not really doing enough to protect our drinking water in this county. All 5 commissioners said that was one of their main priorities, yet, according to NFLT, those main areas where our drinking water lies are not under conservation.
Yet, no real talk on how to address that. Remember, a few days ago I mentioned Betz Farm is in one of those areas, yet, we are selling it.
Makes sense.
The longest conversation of the day was regarding 491 and the expansion.
Speaking of 491... Yesterday morning they did a ribbon cutting for the Phase 2 expansion project being completed. The project was completed on time and under budget... not a common thing in the government projects world.
Back to the meeting.
The agenda item was about widening 491 from Pine Ridge Blvd to Hampshire Blvd. The request was to allow staff to start the RFQ process to hire a consultant/contractor to do the design work and right of way acquisition for Phase 3 of 491 expansion.
Commissioner Barek raised a valid question.
Why are we stopping at Hampshire? This should go to Deltona.
Good question. That sparked some conversation amongst the other commissioners.
To give you an idea on what we are looking at, here is a map.
The Green line at the bottom is Pine Ridge Blvd. The Purple line in the middle is Hampshire. The Red line at the top is Deltona.
The orange color is the proposed 3rd phase... from Pine Ridge Blvd to Hampshire. The magenta line would be the expansion from Hampshire to Deltona. The Blue area is the recently approved Tuscany project.
The discussion here was the best use of tax dollars. If costs continue to rise for projects, it is cheaper to do them now than in 5-10 years. Barek's argument was that if we wait, it will cost another board more money than if they just bit the bullet and did it today and find the money somewhere.
That led into a discussion on where to find the money.
Staff came up to clarify the costs.
For the proposed portion to Hampshire, the 1.2 miles or so will cost around $12.5 million. This includes the engineering, right of way acquisition and so on. This makes the project shovel ready to start building.
Commissioners asked what it would cost to go to Deltona. It is roughly the same distance from Hampshire to Deltona as is from Pine Ridge Blvd to Hampshire... roughly another 1.2 miles.
Staff said to do the full 2.4 or so miles, it would cost around $24 million.
Makes sense. Double the length, double the projected budget.
Now, keep in mind that this is ONLY the design and engineering portion. It is NOT the actual building the road, which is another $20+ million.
However, the county only has $17 million in Impact fees that could be used for this. The county would need to find a way to come up with the $7 million they are short to do the full project.
Ok questions...
The costs quoted by staff (just over $12 million to go to Hampshire and just over $24 million to go to Deltona) include the engineering costs, right of way acquisition costs and other costs associated with the planning of the road.
Where does Tuscany (Metro Development) come in all of this?
Remember, they owe us right of way through their entire project. To date, their development agreement is STILL not finalized, but here is what was presented to the BOCC in July.
They also owe us a lane of 491 through their project when the county builds it.
If we are going 1.2 miles from Pine Ridge Blvd to Hampshire, why does it cost about the same as going 1.2 miles from Hampshire to Deltona? The Hampshire phase includes most of the Tuscany project. They owe us right of way and shared costs of building... does that not apply to design phase? I would think that is part of the construction and thus be billable to Tuscany for their portion.
I would think with those things, it would be cheaper for the county to do the Hampshire phase than the Deltona phase, yet staff said they were the same... and staff said the Tuscany project was included in these calculations.
Hmmmm..
In any case, it appears were are $7 million short in Impact fees to do the Deltona option. Then discussion followed on how to come up with $7 million... and ended basically saying we do not have the money.
This board in particular talks about how kicking the can down the road has gotten us into this position to begin with. Things that could have been done cheaper years ago now costs significantly more. The animal shelter comes to mind. Once a $5 million or so million dollar project is now close to $20 million.
This is one of those things. If we only extend to Hampshire (mind we you do not have money to do actual construction), are we not doing the same thing? Is this not kicking the can down the road?
Today, it is just over $12 million for design/engineering from Hampshire to Deltona... what is it going to cost 5 to 10 years from now? Will it be $13 million? $15 million? $20 million? Who knows, but everyone agrees it will be more.
Would it not be better to find the money today and get this moving in a longer section than paying more years down the road because we delayed? Even if we have to bond it and pay a bit in interest, does the total of all payments come out less than the additional future cost due to inflation? Recent history suggests yes.
Have we asked staff for that calculation?
"Based on current bonding rates, will the county save money by bonding the project, getting it engineered/built to Deltona and paying back the loan and interest.... or is it cheaper to do only to Hampshire now, wait a few years and then expand to Deltona?"
Seems simple enough to get that answer.
If bonding comes out cheaper, why not explore that route? That would be being good stewards of tax dollars, right? We bonded the first part of 491 and also 486.
Point here is that we keep saying that we have kicked the can down the road long enough, yet, they are kicking the can down the road here by not moving this to Deltona rather than Hampshire.
But this also requires a bigger conversation... what is the plan for the roads in this county and how will we address them and get them done? Hopefully we hear a bit about that at the strategic planning meeting in February.