The Loxahatchee Groves Town Council heard several complaints from residents on Tuesday, March 1 about the condition of roads, but vowed that its contract with Bergeron Land Development will eventually have all roads under control.
At a February council meeting, a Bergeron representative reported that the company had made its first sweep through the town, grading, filling and rolling roads to crowns, and raising them in order to reduce flooding, although its efforts were hampered by recent rains.
Don Borovy of Tripp Road complained that trucks at the end of the pavement at D Road avoid the drop-off by pulling their right tires off the pavement to ease the jolt, which he said breaks off the edge. He often has to stop for holes in the pavement on his way from Okeechobee Blvd. north on D Road.
“I watched one grow from only 6 inches to about a foot and a half in diameter in the last couple of months, but nothing is being done, no maintenance,” Borovy said.
On the canal side of the road, he said the berm had eroded into the road, taking another foot-and-a-half of the pavement.
He added that he had to pay $790 to get the undercarriage of his car repaired after hitting a hole. “How come I got a road I pay $1,000 a year in taxes on for 10 years, and it’s worse than nothing?” Borovy asked.
Diane Laudadio of 145th Avenue North said her road is much better now that Bergeron got some work done. “It’s not going to last,” she warned. “It’s not a long road, but it’s a very heavily traveled road, because it’s not just the people who live on that road.”
Councilman Tom Goltzené said the problem involves some landowners claiming that their roads are private property.
“That’s what we’re dealing with,” he said. “We’re not dealing with, ‘We don’t want to deal with your problem.’ We’re not dealing with, ‘We’re incompetent and don’t understand what your issue is.’ The problem is it’s a complicated issue and there’s 35 or 40 roads out here that have similar situations. We’re going to have to work through that as a town.”
Councilman Jim Rockett said he would like to restore D Road to the way it was, and make efforts to crown all the unpaved roads. He said it would be a long process, but they would continue to make improvements.
“It’s a little bit like, ‘How do you eat an elephant?’ You’ve got to do it one bite at a time,” he said.
Rockett asked the council to direct the town manager to start by fixing the portion of D Road that used to be crowned. “We need to crown it, and if Bergeron seemingly has the ability and knowledge, then we ought to turn them loose and have them do that,” he said.
Mayor Dave Browning said two items on the agenda that evening, the amending of the Bergeron contract and termination of the other road contractor, would enable the council to give direction to have the contractor move forward.
Vice Mayor Ron Jarriel pointed out that Bergeron has done its initial sweep of the roads and was beginning its second sweep at the direction of Town Manager Bill Underwood.
“Hopefully this second sweep will be what I call ‘rebuilding the road,’” Jarriel said. “It’s not maintaining the road, it’s going to build it up. Hopefully the second sweep will give you enough road rock material to where they can crown it.”
The previous sweep focused more on filling in holes and creating serviceable roads. “Hopefully, with the second sweep, you will see your crown starting to form and your road will be higher than your ditches,” he said.
Decisions made at the meeting gave Bergeron discretion on the types of fill it uses for the roads, depending on their condition. The council also terminated an agreement with another provider, leaving Bergeron as the sole provider.
“What this provides is an additional level of services and flexibility,” said Town Manager Bill Underwood, explaining that the amendment expands road grading services and tree clearing.
He added that Bergeron requested discretion in the type of fill it uses on the roads, explaining that the provider’s contract has three types of fill named. In a recent fill operation, they had to get special permission to use a different type of fill where the road was heavily flooded. “The issue is how do they get paid if it is something other than one of those three named fill products,” he said. “We need a mechanism that we can bring in different material.”
Goltzené made a motion to approve the amendment, which carried 5-0.
