The Pasco County Commission has approved a task order with CPH Inc., for the design of a new central office and warehouse for its facilities management department.
The agreement, which calls for an amount not to exceed $339,920, is being made under a continuing professional services agreement with CPH, according to backup materials in the board’s Jan. 12 agenda packet.
The county’s facilities management department currently shares space inside Fire Station No. 22, on U.S. 41.
That fire station is scheduled to be replaced by a new facility on the Asbel Road extension, which is expected to be completed in August 2022.
The existing fire station will be demolished to allow future development of a Public Service Center for the Pasco Sheriff’s Office.
The new facilities management office and warehouse will be built on the existing central Public Safety Campus to house facilities management personnel that provide services in the central zone of the county.
In Wesley Chapel, meanwhile, construction has begun on the Overpass Road interchange.
“That interchange will be open to traffic in the Summer of ’22. So that’s just around the corner,” County Administrator Dan Biles told commissioners during their Jan. 12 meeting.
“It actually may be open to traffic before the Diverging Diamond,” Biles said.
By closing Overpass Road during construction, the project will be accelerated by six months to nine months, Biles said.
In connection with the Overpass Road project, commissioners also adopted a resolution authorizing the rerouting of Blair Drive. The Overpass Road/I-75 Interchange Project requires Overpass Road at Blair Drive to be limited access for the safety of the public traveling on Blair Drive and on Overpass Road through the new interchange. To accommodate this requirement, an extension of Blair Drive is being constructed to connect to Old Pasco Road.
Blair Drive at Overpass Road will be closed and reconstructed as a cul-de-sac.
In another action, commissioners approved a state-funded grant agreement between the Florida Department of Transportation and Pasco County, relating to Lacoochee Industrial Area right of way improvements.
The project is aimed at supporting the creation of new jobs in Lacoochee using $5,469,395 approved by the Florida Legislature last year.
The funds will be distributed on a reimbursable basis.
The scope of work for this project consists of:
- Reconditioning Bower Road from Cummer Road to State Road 575 (approximately 3,200 feet) through the use of full depth reclamation
- Milling and resurfacing of Cummer Road from U.S. 301 to Bower Road (approximately 4,700 feet)
- Adding a new right-turn lane on Cummer Road at U.S. 301
- Providing driveway aprons, as needed and new signing and pavement markings
- A new right-turn lane on SR 575 at Bower Road, new signing and pavement markings, and preparation of maintained right of way maps, in coordination with FDOT, along Bower Road and SR 575.
To avoid construction delays, the design and permitting phase of the project was
expedited with local funds.
Funding, in the amount of $300,000, was approved through the Office of Economic Growth in the Spring of 2020, to start the design and permitting phase of the project.
The project scope was split into two segments for the purpose of design and permitting. Segment 1 affects county roads, while Segment 2 affects the state highway system.
The design of both segments is currently underway with design and permitting of
Segment 1 to be completed by January 2021, while Segment 2 will be completed by June 2021.
The agreement also notes that the design and permitting phase will not be reimbursed by FDOT because that work preceded the agreement, but the grant support services associated with the design — a separate task order — will be.
Published January 20, 2021
