CLEARWATER, Fla. - The start of construction on Clearwater's Beach Walk project, originally scheduled to begin at the end of April, has been delayed.
According to City Engineer Mike Quillen, additional time is being spent on planning the relocation of underground utilities. He explained, "The Coronado right-of-way is really crowded underground & we want to have as accurate plans as possible to go to bid."
In addition, Quillen claims that the City has not gotten a quick response from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection on its stormwater & coastal construction permit applications. He said, "We don't want to go to bid until we are comfortable that a permit will be issued (or exemption granted)."
Quillen said that the City is now planning to issue plans for the RFP sometime between the end of March and the end of April. "This would lead to a Council construction contract award at the 5/19 meeting earliest or 6/16 latest with construction starting within a couple weeks of that," he said.
The delayed start is not expected to affect the project's completion date; "We are staying with the November 2008 construction completion date," Quillen said.