City approves sprinkler system, cemetery design services

Following approval from city commissioners, the Central Florida Railroad Museum is getting a fire sprinkler system, and the Winter Garden city cemetery is a step closer to expanding.

At the Jan. 28 City Commission meeting, commissioners discussed the installation of a sprinkler system for the historic building, located at 101 S. Boyd St. 

Their approval waived the formal procurement process and awarded the contract for system installation to Dyna-Fire Inc. With Dyna-Fire serving as the city’s current fire-protection vendor, city staff said, using it for the project maintains conformity in their fire-protection systems.

The project cost is $83,432.06, but staff recommended a 10% contingency, bringing the total cost to $91,775.27.

Michael Caines, the city’s fleet and facilities division manager, said funding was included in the current budget for this project. City Manager Mike Bollhoefer added the installation of this sprinkler system was approved by the city in the early 2000s, when it took over ownership from the railroad organization.

“The city agreed at that time … to put in a sprinkler system,” Bollhoefer said. “At such point in time, if they want to put in a dry system, the railroad museum will be responsible for that. … That was part of the original deal when the city made the deal with the railroad museum — that they agree to this system, and the (museum) would put in any system that they wanted upgraded.”

Caines said the project is a wet system, but over the library, there will be a pre-action system that keeps that section dry.

“This particular system does have safeguards built in,” Caines said. “If a sprinkler head gets broken or comes off, it will not charge water. It has to see heat, as well, so there’s a sensor. It’s a dual-reaction system. It has to have two qualifying things for water to flow in the current system, which is what they agreed to.”

“Those pipes over the written records actually don’t hold water all the time,” Bollhoefer said. “That way, if there’s a leak, it won’t ruin any records, and that’s why they call those dry pipes. I think the original amount budgeted, if I’m not mistaken, was $150,000, so this was significantly lower than the original price.”

Bollhoefer said if the railroad organization decides to install a dry-chemical system in the future, it will not be the city’s responsibility. 

CEMETERY EXPANSION

City leaders also voted to move forward with developing plans for expansion of the Winter Garden Cemetery.

The city will pay Cribb Philbeck Weaver Group Inc. $96,985 to provide engineering services for the expansion. The survey and design proposal includes re-platting, lot layout, site staking, and a market-rate analysis to be prepared by Marshall and Stevens.

Jon Williams, assistant city manager of public services, said the expansion will extend to the wooded 10-acre parcel south of Lake Butler Boulevard, across from the existing cemetery.

According to CPWG, a total of 2,000 plots are estimated for this project. Another element of the proposal is both a preliminary and final irrigation plan limited to the area covered by the proposed 2,000 burial plots.