TAMPA, Fla. — People living in Seminole Heights had the chance to ask questions to the construction company working on a near $40 million tax payer water project.
The construction is for the Southeast Seminole Heights Flooding Relief Project.
Wednesday night inside Hillsborough High School residents got to ask questions to the project manager and other officials with the construction company.
"My question is, is there an overall plan to replace the lawns that are damaged?" one Seminole Heights resident said.
For the first time in months, people got answers to what’s going on outside their homes.
Construction officials addressed everyone's concerns and said they will investigate each issue.
"We’ll have a crew by there first thing in the morning to look at it," the project manger said to one resident.
The project aims to prevent flooding.
"Ultimately this project is going to reduce the flood planes so in 30 years from now these neighbors will not be under water," a spokeswoman for the City of Tampa, Lauren Rozyla, said.
Crews are digging up roads in different neighborhoods around Seminole Heights. For some, that's been hard to live with.
"I think the challenge is when you have to live with the debris and your quality of life is impacted by that," a resident of Seminole Heights, Shirley Smith, said.
Others explained getting out of their neighborhood is time consuming.
"What might take five minutes to get somewhere could take upward to a half hour," another resident of Seminole Heights, Elle Ashworth, said.
The project is costing 39 million tax dollars. About $30 million goes to stormwater improvements, about $9 million is for water improvements and $556,000 is for transportation improvements.
Since the construction started in 2021, people are patiently awaiting those improvements.
"I’m a native and the whole entire area has been dealing with flooding so I’m excited and eager for it to come down my street," another resident of Seminole Heights, Tracy Rodriguez, said.
Of course, others can't wait for it to be over with.
"We’re not really able to enjoy our neighborhood with all this construction," Smith added.
The construction is slated to continue through early next year.