Longboat underground utilities project timeline now uncertain after storms

Before Hurricane Helene, the town of Longboat Key’s underground utilities project was on track to be finished by the end of the calendar year. Now, the timeline is back in question.

Florida Power & Light and its certified contractors had to respond to emergencies as a result of Hurricanes Helene and Milton, which diverted their resources elsewhere. 

Director of Public Works Isaac Brownman shared this update with town commissioners at the Oct. 21 regular commission workshop. As of that day, Brownman had not heard back from FPL or Wilco about a revised schedule. 

“We’re trying to get that information from (FPL) and to get Wilco to revise their schedule and give us something aggressive, yet reasonable, that we can now call our amended master schedule,” Brownman said. 

Although Brownman could not provide any further updates from FPL, he did share the good news that the new underground system seemed to work during both hurricanes. 

Longboat Key did experience power outages during both Hurricane Helene and Milton, however, Brownman said both of those widespread outages were due to issues with FPL’s system off the island.

These problems were with substations and subaqueous power lines that, once FPL corrected, allowed Longboat Key’s power to return relatively quickly. 

“Once they got that fixed, a lot of the island came right on, especially after Milton, which was quite impressive,” Brownman said. 

If the town still operated mainly on power lines, the wind from Hurricane Milton could have left the island without power for much longer, according to Brownman, which is a testament to the efficacy of the project. 

In the Sleepy Lagoon area, one of the island’s lowest neighborhoods, Brownman said there was saltwater and wrack lines on top of underground transformers and the transformers were still operational once the power was turned back on. 

Brownman said he was pleased with this news, especially after experiencing the opposite during Hurricane Idalia when about 20 new underground transformers failed due to saltwater intrusion. 

Now, though, the project timeline remains uncertain because FPL’s assigned project engineer was reassigned due to the storms. Other FPL contractors, like Wilco, are also assigned to assist in emergency situations. 

Luckily, Brownman said, FPL assigned Wilco to Longboat Key and the surrounding area since the contractor knew the system well. 

For now, Brownman said the town must wait until FPL is able to get back onto the project site and re-evaluate the timeline. As soon as Brownman has those updated timelines, he said he would share those with the commissioners. 

Where does the project stand? 

Before Hurricane Helene, Brownman received an update from FPL that showed the project had been on target to meet the original deadline. This commitment was to complete switching to the underground system by the end of October and to complete the overhead pole wreck-out by the end of 2024. 

Phases 1 and 2 are fully complete. Phase 1 extends from the New Pass Bridge to the north end of Country Club shores, and Phase 2 covers from the Longboat Pass Bridge to Dream Island Road.

Phase 3, which covers from the north end of Country Club shores to the county line, was close to completion as of FPL’s last update. All transformers were energized and service conversions were completed. Only two switching orders remain. 

Lastly, Phase 4 extends from the county line to Dream Island Road in the middle of the island. As of the last FPL update, 95% of transformers were energized, 19% of service conversions were completed and 53% of stitching orders were completed. 

The underground utilities project has been an ongoing project for the town for about 10 years now, which started with referendums in which town residents voted to approve the town’s option to borrow the $25.25 million for the Gulf of Mexico Drive portion of the project, and up to $23.85 for the neighborhoods' portion of the project. 

Then, active construction began in July 2019. From 2019 to now, complications like easement acquisition and supply chain issues led to further delays.