PASCO COUNTY, Fla. — It’s been a long waiting game for Mike Traverso.
“It’s frustrating,” he said. “It’s very frustrating.”
In June 2021, the fire station across from his subdivision off Seven Springs Boulevard near New Port Richey was closed.
Since the closure of the station — Fire Station 17 — firefighters and paramedics have been responding from farther away when he calls 911.
“I have [multiple sclerosis], and from time to time, I fall,” he said. “I know that we’re supported, but it’s not the same as having the men and women of 17 back here on the job — supporting the Seven Springs — the Elfers community.”
For Traverso, however, the closure of Station 17 was initially good news.
Pasco County closed the station to upgrade it. In 2021, crews began constructing a new Station 17 on the Seven Springs Blvd. site, which is not only close to Traverso’s home but plenty of others in a growing area of Pasco County.
“Thousands and thousands of homes here,” Traverso said.
But in June, the construction suddenly stopped and the project seemed abandoned to neighbors like Traverso.
As ABC Action News first reported in June, work on the new fire station stopped after the contractor doing the work — Orlando-based R L Burns — became mired in dire financial straits for months, wasn’t paying subcontractors hired to build the station, got sued by its performance bonding company, and then filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.
In September, ABC Action News learned Pasco County had found a new contractor to finish the project, and a county commissioner who represents the area said work could resume before the end of the year.
Now, with the year almost over, there’s still no visible movement at the stalled Station 17 construction site.
“Zero,” a frustrated Traverso said.
Weeks ago, Traverso got excited when Pasco County put a chain-link fence around the job site. He thought the fence was a sign that construction was about to resume.
However, according to an online code enforcement record, the fence was erected after a “homeless encampment” was located inside the unfinished fire station.
“It’s mind boggling,” Traverso said.
In a statement, Ryan Hughes, a spokesperson for Pasco County Government said, despite the complaint, no one was ever seen or found in the site by code enforcement officers. However, officers will now check the site daily to ensure it remains secure.
Hughes also assured that progress is being made on constructing Fire Station 17.
He said necessary contracts should be signed by the end of the year.
“The contractor will have to get things ready, then we anticipate a re-start in early 2024,” Hughes wrote.
“Hopefully before the first quarter. Hopefully January,” Traverso said of the timeline. “I’d like to be optimistic about it.”
But he’s not holding his breath after months and months of waiting.
In September, JJ Martinez, a representative of Pasco County Professional Firefighters (IAFF 4420), said he is also hoping for an expeditious resolution to the pause in construction.
“We’re frustrated with station build times throughout the county,” he said at the time. “Our crews have been displaced for more than a year.”
