By LINDA CHION KENNEY
At The Regent in Riverview last week, Mary Odum put on her community advocate hat and made it a point to let people know that a 26-mile pipeline from north Brandon to south of Balm Boyette Road would disrupt the quality of life for so many.
She brought with her to the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce’s annual meeting copies of a handout she received at an informational pipeline meeting Jan. 14 at the Bloomingdale Regional Library.
Additional such meetings, involving Tampa Bay Water representatives, include Jan. 16 at Balm Park and Community Center in Wimauma, Feb. 4 and 11 at St. Stephen Catholic Church in Riverview and Feb. 6 at Barrington Middle School in Lithia.
Meetings are also scheduled for Jan. 21 at Brandon High and Jan. 30 at Burns Middle School in Brandon. All meetings kick off at 6:30 p.m.
As Odum sees it, for years county officials have “allowed too many building permits to be approved in south county without having proper infrastructure in place, and now all these people in the line of this pipeline are going to have to be inconvenienced,” Odum said. “It’s going to be very disruptive for the next five or six years, no question about it.”
At issue are the deep and developing need for water and the means to carry it that follow the ongoing, breakneck growth in south county neighborhoods as well as the rapid and continuing development of the greater Brandon and Riverview communities. According to a county report on future land use, unincorporated Hillsborough County is projected to grow by more than 350,000 residents by 2045.
According to Tampa Bay Water officials, the south Hillsborough pipeline is designed to carry up to an additional 65 million gallons of water per day to the county’s southern service area when completed, which is expected in 2028.
The pipeline is to start at Tampa Bay Water’s Tampa Bay Regional Surface Water Treatment Plant in Brandon and connect to the county’s Lithia Water Treatment Plant off Lithia Pinecrest Road near FishHawk. From there, the flow of water will end at the county’s new connection point at Balm Riverview and Balm roads.
Tampa Bay Water officials handed out this map at the South Hillsborough Pipeline public meeting Jan. 14, the first of seven such meetings scheduled.
Tampa Bay Water provides wholesale water to the public utility systems of Hillsborough, Pasco and Pinellas counties, as well as to the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg and New Port Richey.
According to Tampa Bay Water officials, 60 percent of the design plans for the south Hillsborough pipeline have been completed. An interactive map online details the pipeline’s route.
Streets include Woodberry Road, Victoria Street and South Kings Avenue in Brandon; FishHawk Boulevard in Lithia; and Boyette Road and Balm Boyette Road in Riverview and Balm.
Odum said she was surprised to learn at last week’s meeting that major road work would include as well “tunneling under State Road 60 and then east to Parsons Avenue and John Moore Road to the south.” As a result, “We know that is going to be a major inconvenience for nearby schools, churches, residences and businesses, and south county will have its own issues, no question, including tunneling under the Alafia River.”
As for “the vast majority of property assessments needed for the project,” Tampa Bay Water officials say they have been identified, and that the property owners for those easements have been notified. Nevertheless, “a few additional temporary construction easements in the future” are possible, “but those needs have not been identified.” Officials say affected property owners would be contacted either by certified U.S. mail or telephone.
That is how Odum, a realtor for more than four decades, first learned about the pipeline project. “A relative a few years ago told me she was getting postcards from eminent domain attorneys that her property could be in contention for the path of the pipeline,” Odum said. “And now, within the past two or three months, she learned the path was going right through the middle of Brandon, and that her property would, indeed, be affected.”
For this relative and many others, the public meetings “are too late, because route decisions have been made,” Odum said.
“The hearings now are just to explain what to expect.”
Linda Chion Kenney photo
At The Regent for a chamber meeting, Mary Odum, left, gives school board member Patti Rendon a copy of the South Hillsborough Pipeline fact sheet Odum received at a public meeting.
According to Tampa Bay Water officials, engineers analyzed 10 routes, five each of northern and southern segments, with three making the shortlist of top-ranked consolidation routes. The routes were evaluated against 13 selection criteria, including public convenience, safety, environmental impacts and permitting, as well as project cost.
By the numbers, the 26-mile long pipeline, up to 60 inches in diameter, is set to cost $505.7 million, of which up to $84 million is to be covered by county funds. The Segment A route was approved Sept. 19, 2022, followed by the Segment B route, approved Jan. 23, 2023.
Key pipeline dates include design through fall 2025; property acquisition, through fall 2026; construction start, as early as fall 2025; construction completion, spring 2029; and pipeline in service, late 2028.
Odum said the public meetings are a critical first step for interested parties.
“Most people know nothing about this project, and it’s going to be a major disruption,” Odum said. “The meetings are vital if you want to be current with what’s going to happen.”
For routing maps, project information and updates, visit www.southhillsboroughpipeline.com/. Opt in to receive notices by sending an email to shpinfo@tampabaywater.org or call 813-485-6480.