SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla. – A multimillion-dollar drainage project that aims to fix the flooding issues that have plagued the Midway community for years is expected to finally break ground this year.
Tuesday, staff told Seminole County’s Board of Commissioners that the design work is almost done. They’ve acquired most of the easements needed and expect construction to start late this year.
“We’re pretty excited,” said Public Works Director John Slot. “It’s been a long journey for the community and for the commission.”
An engineer with the county gave a presentation showing updates on each portion of the project, which has been split into different bids. A map that is available to the public online shows the areas where construction will be done, and the right of way progress. There are more green lines than anything else, which shows that most of the easements the county needs to get shovels in the ground have been acquired.
The total cost of the project has grown to $33.5 million. It is being paid for with both federal and state grants, along with county funds from the sales tax. Staff told commissioners on Tuesday that they’ve already spent about $10 million on design costs and right-of-way acquisitions.
Our News 6 team has been following the progress for years. The county plans to upgrade the stormwater system and add multiple retention ponds to the historic community that was first established as a farming community in the 1920s.
As newer developments have been added, residents like Emory Green said the rain drains down into lower-lying areas. During hurricanes like Ian in 2022, and even Milton last year, water has overwhelmed older neighborhoods and covered the roadways.
Green, who is the executive director of the Midway Coalition, has been advocating for improvements in Midway for a long time.
“We’re talking about major flooding,” said Green. “We’re talking about 7 - 10 inches of water at any given time in the community and around the areas that not only includes Midway, but also in some of the other communities that are surrounding us.”
Green told News 6 on Tuesday he is super excited for the county to take this “monumental step.”
“This has been long overdue,” said Green. “Sept. 11, 2018, is when this all started, when the residents went to the Seminole County Commission to kind of voice their concerns. They heard the concerns. Now, fast forward 2018 to 2025. It’s been a long process of multiple project managers and staff dedicating their time, their energy, the effort to make sure that this is prioritized.”
Commissioner Andria Herr, who represents the district that includes Midway, said it has taken time, money, and a lot of cooperation to get to this point.
“We had an obligation to fix this for this community,” Herr told News 6. “We’ve gone through this before years ago, and it failed 20-some years ago because we couldn’t get the right of way. There was a lack of trust between the elected officials and the community, and the community and the elected officials, and we really had to change that from the very beginning, or this wouldn’t have worked.”
Green said all the work has been worth it, and he’s proud to be part of the change that will improve the community where he is raising his family.
“I’m 50 years old. This community has pretty much looked the same my entire life. My father is 80 years old. So, you can imagine over the years what he has seen,” said Green. “It is definitely changing. We’ve come a long way.”