News

By Steve Plunkett

Gulf Stream’s project to bury electric and other utility lines is at least two months behind schedule even before a shovel hits the ground.
Consulting engineer Danny Brannon told town commissioners at their March 16 meeting that he is already in the middle of designing the south half of the project, but Florida Power & Light Co. has not designated one of its engineers for the project.
“FPL’s delay in getting us an engineer assigned is going to end up probably costing us two to four months,” Brannon said.
Comcast Corp. and AT&T Inc. both have designated engineers to work with Gulf Stream, Brannon said.
The town has spent $231,000 so far on the project, he said, and from here on out, “activity is going to be much more intense.”
Putting FPL, cable TV and phone lines underground will occur in two phases, south of Golfview Drive first, then north. Landscaping in the first phase originally was supposed to be removed starting in April and the project finished in September 2013.
Now the finish date could be postponed to January 2014.
Brannon said the overlap of the phases meant the north half of the project might still be on schedule, with completion targeted for March 2014.
“Do you see prices going up any time soon?” Vice Mayor Joan Orthwein asked.
Brannon said two years ago contractors were bidding low just to stay in business, but many of them have disappeared.
“The ones that did stay have some work, but they don’t have a lot of work,” Brannon said. “We’re still in a competitive pricing situation.”

Commissioner sworn in
Earlier in the meeting, Commissioner Garrett Dering was sworn in to fill the remaining two years of former Commissioner Chris Wheeler’s term. Dering was appointed to the position in October after Wheeler sold his house in Gulf Stream; no one filed to oppose Dering in the March election.
Town Clerk Rita Taylor quickly administered the oath of office.
“The last time you did this, the next thing you said was here are the issues you need to know about,” Dering joked.
When first chosen, Dering had 17 days to prepare for a vote on subdividing the historic 6-acre Spence property into six single-family parcels.