- March 28, 2024
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S.E. Cline Construction was awarded two contracts, totaling almost $2 million in state and federal grants, for Flagler County Airport improvements and a bridge at Princess Place.
The Flagler County Board of County Commissioners unanimously awarded Bunnell-based building firm S.E. Cline Construction a $1.07 million contract for the construction of two structures housing 10 T-hangers each, with associated taxi-lanes, at the Flagler County Airport.
In the same night, the same company was also awarded the $542,325 grant-funded bridge project at Princess Place.
Cline’s airport bid, a job which will be funded entirely by the Florida Department of Transportation due to Flagler’s recent shift to the Rural Economic Development Initiative county designation, was awarded from six total bids. The second-lowest bid came in at $1.1 million.
No local preference was considered in the contracting process.
“These are not ad valorem taxes,” County Administrator Craig Coffey said. “If we do not use (these funds), they will go to (another) airport.”
The project will also employ local workers, he added, and make the airport more self-sufficient.
“T-hangers are extremely important to the financial liability to the airport,” Chairman Alan Peterson added.
“It gets a lot of people working and puts a lot of new people to work,” Commissioner George Hanns said.
Cline Construction also submitted the lowest, and only, bid for bridge replacement at Princess Place, over Styles Creek.
The one-lane bridge will be made of timber, with coquina facing and a timber covering. It will also include two 8-foot paths on either side for pedestrian and fishing use.
“This (is) part of a stimulus grant,” Coffey told the board. The bridge replacement, with design and permitting, is estimated at $542,325, with the qualifier that an extra $35,000 to $50,000 might be needed in the future for the undergrounding of electrical wiring.
A total of $648,000 in FDOT funds are available for this project.
Commissioner Barbara Revels noted that the current bridge has had to shut down in the past due to ill repair.
Tens of thousands of dollars have gone into renovation projects, Coffey added, only to stabilize the bridge for a few months at a time.
“This is much overdue,” Hanns said. “Princess Place is our most visited place in Flagler County … I commend staff and their due diligence for obtaining grants for all these projects.”
Construction will begin on the bridge after the annual Creekside Festival in October, which drew 12,000 people last year. The main entry into the park will be closed for three to four months during construction, but another entrance will be available.