by James Coulter
The City of Lake Wales will be consulting experts on how to improve drainage along Lakeshore Boulevard now that it has authorized spending $107,900 on consulting services.
At their regular meeting on Tues. Nov. 3, 2014, Lake Wales city commissioners voted unanimously to approve the consent agenda. One item involved authorizing the city to procure consulting services concerning the Lakeshore Boulevard Drainage Improvement project.
The agenda item authorizes the expenditure of $107,900 for Kimley-Horn to provide consulting services, and the City Manager to execute the necessary documents on behalf of the City for this project.
Nancy C. Hernandez, Utilities Support Manager, explained that The Lakeshore Boulevard Drainage Improvement project, “will develop construction-level plans for drainage improvements, including the installation of curbing and necessary stormwater infrastructure.”
“The Lakeshore Boulevard Drainage Improvement project aims to address a historical erosion issue along this corridor,” she wrote. “The absence of curbing and structures has caused wash out and erosion between residential homes. In the past, staff installed a temporary asphalt berm to mitigate erosion; however, this solution was never intended to be permanent.”
A portion of this project will be funded with funds transferred from the American Recovery Plan Act (ARPA), which will require a budget amendment, Hernandez explained.