News

By Rich Pollack

    Some Bel Lido residents wondered why a water main replacement project started two weeks before the Christmas holiday. But Highland Beach officials said they had good reason: The construction firm had to meet a tight deadline and the town needed the project to start to lock in a low-interest loan.
    Town officials said they received calls from a handful of residents in the Bel Lido community, who complained that the project was a disruption during a time when there were holiday parties, students home from school and extended visits from guests.
    “It would have been nice if the town was respectful enough to wait two weeks so that all our holiday events weren’t compromised and the streets weren’t taken up with machinery,” said longtime resident Bob Crozer. “Why couldn’t they wait 12 days and start after the holidays?”
    Crozer and other residents of the neighborhood also expressed concern about not being notified that the project was scheduled to begin until just a few days before crews came in and began digging up a 4-foot-wide trench on the side of the roadway.
    Highland Beach Public Works Director Ed Soper said the contractor doing the installation of 6,700 feet of water mains serving residents on six public side streets is required by contract to get the job completed within 240 days of when an agreement was finalized.
    Because the town prohibits work on weekends and holidays and limits the hours when work can be done, the contractor needed to get started as soon as possible to meet the deadline, Soper said. The contractor also agreed to suspend work during the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day, which added to the time crunch.
    Soper and interim Town Manager Valerie Oakes said another reason the town wanted to get started as soon as possible was to lock in as low an interest rate as possible on a loan from the state.
    “The longer we waited to get started, the higher the interest rate could be,” Oakes said.  
    While some residents expressed concern, Bel Lido Property Owners Association President Ron Brown said he believes the improvement the community will see offsets the inconvenience caused by the work.
    “It’s a lot less disruptive than I anticipated,” he said.
    Barring unforeseen delays, the water main replacement project is scheduled to be finished by midsummer.  When it’s completed, the roads in the impacted neighborhoods will all be resurfaced and residents will have a more reliable water delivery system, Soper said.