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by Floyd Egner
Publisher, Tropical Breeze

Safety Harbor City Commissioners were pleased at the beginning of May when bids on rebuilding Fourth Street North came in at about half the estimated cost. By the end of the month they were defending the project from accusations that the savings were coming at the cost of the street’s quaint character.

With an engineer’s estimate of $1.1 million as the cost of rebuilding the five-block section of the city’s historic brick streets, including replacement of utility lines, commissioners gladly accepted a low bid of $607,000. They were assured by Bill Baker, city engineer, that the project was in keeping with previous phases of the multi-year program, particularly the most recent rebuilding of Eleventh Avenue South.

Tropical Breeze photo by Sue Suby Granite curbs removed from Fourth Avenue North are stacked, awaiting removal

However, when construction began, residents learned that the Fourth Street North project would be the first to remove all of the handcut granite curbing that lines other rebuilt brick streets and would not use any of the original bricks that previously were salvaged during rebuilding projects.
Baker initially dismissed concerns, saying at a June 2 commission meeting that the brick was “worn out” and that “we never knew that anyone had an affinity for that awful looking granite curb.” During the week following the meeting, city staff promised to partially restore granite curbing and incorporate at least some original brick in the project.

Baker acknowledged at the meeting that he had been personally involved with only two of the previous brick street rebuilding projects, which have been under way for more than 10 years. In the mid-1990s city officials considered the issue as downtown redevelopment began and heard emphatically from local residents that they did not want bricks replaced with asphalt, as was being discussed as an option. The city put together a long-term plan to rebuild the streets in phases and received federal grants that helped cover costs on projects including Second Street North.

Screen capture from video download of June 2 Safety Harbor City Commission meeting. Karen Skiff addresses the Commission.

Residents reminded commissioners of that history at the June 2 commission meeting. Safety Harbor native Karen Skiff said bricks used in building the streets originally were ballast in sailing ships and the granite was hand-hewn from quarries in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Local resident Patty Kent advised the commission that the bricks may be more valuable than they realize. She said several years ago she sought similar bricks for a brick walkway around her house. The only source for street bricks like those being removed from Fourth Avenue was the City of St. Petersburg, which was asking $5 per brick and only sold them to St. Petersburg residents.

“We’re not going to pay anybody $5 for a brick, not in a million years,” Baker said. “We get brick by the ton.”

He disputed whether the city undervalued the brick. “I don’t see any reason for us to make a decision about how valuable the brick is. We are charged with doing what we think is best for the City of Safety Harbor.

“He (the contractor) was the low bidder,” Baker said. “If there is any value to the brick he got, we get the value in his price.”

Baker did, however, agree to submit a plan to commissioners to incorporate the existing brick in the project.

Mayor Andy Steingold said, “In the future this is something we maybe need to address, deal with it street by street, whether or not to retain the granite, the old bricks, etc. This is just something we’re going to have to revisit.”