Marco police building construction delayed to April

The long-awaited start of construction on the new Marco Island police headquarters building has been delayed until April, while roadwork and power line relocation needed to complete the reconfiguration of traffic around City Hall continues, city officials announced Monday.

Marco police have been cramped since 2000 in quarters shared with city firefighters in the city public safety building at the intersection of San Marco Road and Heathwood Drive.

A March construction start on new police headquarters, a new emergency operation center and new City Council meeting chambers will take 12 to 18 months to complete once the first shovel turns dirt.

Police were hoping to celebrate that groundbreaking this month.

Two water lines underground on the property where the police building will be constructed next to the city fire station at Bald Eagle Drive and San Marco must be relocated before the police headquarters construction can begin, city project engineer Jim Miller said.

The 8-inch and 4-inch water mains running down either side of Bald Eagle supply water to City Hall and other properties south of the intersection of Bald Eagle and Heathwood, Miller said.

A contractor has been hired to replace the lines with one 8-inch line that will be located on the far east side of the city's right of way on Bald Eagle so the police building won't be built over the water lines, Miller said.

The work is expected to take four to six weeks.

"The water lines have always been there, and their removal was always part of the original intersection plan," he said. "We just had to break out this task and get a contractor to bid the work."

Lane expansion and paving work in the City Hall triangle that's bordered by Bald Eagle, Heathwood and San Marco continues. Through-traffic already has been closed to motorists trying to use Bald Eagle to get to San Marco.

The intersection of Bald Eagle and San Marco will be closed once paving on Heathwood is completed. That paving work is scheduled for completion on April 3, Miller said.

Meanwhile, Lee County Electric Cooperative this week will be relocating and reconfiguring power lines that provide power to the city fire station as part of the overall reconfiguration of the City Hall campus.

Power poles on the north side of San Marco between Heathwood and Bald Eagle will be removed as part of readying the police building site. Some of this work might cause traffic problems for motorists, Miller said.

• On Thursday and Friday, LCEC crews will install a new transmission pole at Goldenrod Avenue and Bald Eagle, causing a temporary closing of Goldenrod from Hartley Avenue to Bald Eagle in front of the model home on the corner. Detours may occur during this work.

• On Monday, March 27, a large crane will be set up in the swale area on the southwest corner of Bald Eagle and North Collier. The crane is needed to install a new power pole. The work will take a few days and will require the closure of the southbound lane for at least one day.

• From March 29 to April 4, an LCEC crew will install a new transmission pole at San Marco and Heathwood, and will begin to install new poles at the police parking lot across San Marco at the Racquet Center.

They'll also move existing concrete poles from in front of the city fire station. This will affect traffic in the westbound right-turn lane on San Marco and northbound right-turn lane on Heathwood near the police parking lot.