Apopka halts $4.9m design contract for East Plant WRF expansion over $100m funding concerns

Apopka halts $4.9m design contract for East Plant WRF expansion over $100m funding concernsThe City Commission unanimously voted to deny a negotiated design contract with Tetra Tech, choosing instead to pause the project until a strategic funding plan is established for the facility's eventual construction.

The rejected Phase 1 design contract with Tetra Tech was negotiated at $4.41 million, plus a 10% contingency, totaling $4.85 million to be funded via impact fees.

The Mayor estimated the total cost of the East Plant expansion project would exceed $100 million, a figure currently absent from the city's capital improvement plan.

Commissioners expressed reluctance to spend impact fees on a 22-month design process that could become outdated before construction funding is secured.

The city is already utilizing a $25 million State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan to retrofit its West Plant to meet near-term capacity needs.

The Apopka City Commission has unanimously rejected a $4.85 million negotiated design contract with Tetra Tech, Inc. for the expansion of the city's East Plant Water Reclamation Facility (WRF). The decision, made during the June 17, 2026 meeting, halts the engineering phase of a capacity expansion project that local officials estimate will ultimately cost more than $100 million to construct. The city's Finance Director presented the negotiated Phase 1 contract for RFQ 2025-A-184, which included a base design fee of $4.41 million and a 10% contingency, bringing the total to $4.85 million. Tetra Tech had previously been selected as the top-ranked firm by an evaluation committee in late 2025, with the design phase projected to take 22 months. However, the Mayor and Commissioners raised significant concerns about advancing the design process without a clear strategy to fund the subsequent construction phase. The Mayor noted that the estimated $100 million construction cost is not currently programmed into the city's capital improvement plan. He argued that executing the design contract would be "premature" without a comprehensive funding strategy, warning that the city could end up paying for engineering documents that might require costly updates by the time actual construction funds materialize. The $4.85 million design contract was slated to be funded through utility impact fees. Commissioners indicated a preference for deploying these funds toward projects that yield immediate capacity results rather than future planning. To address near-term capacity needs, the Mayor highlighted that the city is already utilizing a $25 million State Revolving Fund (SRF) loan to retrofit its West Plant. Additionally, officials noted that options exist to leverage available capacity from neighboring Orange County while Apopka formulates a long-term infrastructure funding strategy. Following the discussion, the Commission formally voted to deny the contract award, effectively shelving the East Plant expansion design.