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Thousand Oaks roads to get a quick fix

A FEMA grant and taxpayer money will pay for a coat of blacktop over deteriorating streets only 3 years old.

By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published March 10, 2005

TRINITY - The deteriorating roads in upscale Thousand Oaks are about to get $200,000 worth of fresh blacktop at taxpayer expense.

And it's only a Band-Aid fix.

In the coming weeks, county-hired crews will smooth over crumbling patches of the neighborhood's 3-year-old roads, which are falling apart because of prolonged water exposure.

The project will cost $213,274, with most of the money coming from a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant. Pasco taxpayers will chip in nearly $27,000.

County officials still are wrangling with the Thousand Oaks developer over who's to blame for the crumbling roads, which Commissioner Ann Hildebrand likened to "crumpled up brownies." The battle could end up in court, and the permanent fixes could be years away.

But the FEMA grant expires in August. So the county must use it or lose it.

"The bottom line is FEMA gave us an allocation to make these specific repairs, and rather than turn away the FEMA money, we'll make these repairs," Michele Baker, the county's director of emergency management, said Wednesday. "It won't be the be-all-end-all fix for Thousand Oaks."

County officials said the problem stemmed from road designers assuming the water table was lower than it was. After heavy rains, officials said, the water table pushes up from underneath the roads, eroding the limerock base.

Roads that should have lasted two decades began crumbling after two years.

The developer, Sunfield Homes, has argued that neighboring Trinity communities are sending the floodwaters into Thousand Oaks.

The county and the Southwest Florida Water Management District are splitting the cost of a half-million-dollar study to pinpoint the problems and solutions. The long-term fixes could involve rebuilding the roads or adding more stormwater drainage areas, among other options.

In the meantime, the fresh asphalt from FEMA will smooth out some potholes. But the crumbling could recur in a couple of years unless the neighborhood's drainage problems are fixed.

Pasco County got the FEMA grant after the summer floods of 2003, Baker said, but a wet 2004 made it impossible for crews to do the work then. The grant is specifically for Thousand Oaks, she said, so it can't be used elsewhere.

Hildebrand applauded the project, saying parts of the neighborhood's roads are downright dangerous.

"That's going to go a long way toward appeasing the folks out there," Hildebrand said at the commission meeting Tuesday.

Bridget Hall Grumet covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is hall@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 10, 2005, 01:14:16]