Services
Public Works Customer Service
Please contact us if you need to request a service or report an issue at (321) 952-3437 or email us at pwcustomerservice@pbfl.org.
Canal Maintenance
Canals in Florida serve many purposes: drainage, flood control, irrigation, navigation, and recreation. Canals also present many challenges to aquatic plant managers who must keep waters flowing. Without regular and frequent management, aquatic plants would quickly clog these systems, rendering them useless for flood control, navigation, and recreation.
Public Works is responsible for the maintenance of over 120 miles of canals in Palm Bay. Canal maintenance consists of erosion control, repair or replacement of drainage pipes, and mowing/clearing of lot line ditches and drainage rights-of-way. Canals are on a mowing schedule of twice per year for the areas that can be reached with a mowing tractor. The bottoms of the canals are sprayed with herbicide as needed to keep the flow lines free of vegetation. As the need arises, the bottoms of the canals are dredged to help keep the flow of water at the right grade.
As a resident/property owner, we greatly appreciate your cooperation in not storing trailers, boats, etc., or erecting fences or sheds, or using the right-of-way as a planting area. This enables the Public Works crews to operate safely and effectively to maintain the drainage system.
Roadway Maintenance
City Maintained Dirt Roads
Public Works has developed and implemented a road grading program that provides for routine road grading maintenance on city maintained dirt roads. These dirt roads are inspected and graded as necessary on a weekly schedule.
Mowing
In an effort to maintain the grass medians and roadside areas which enhance our community, yet stay within tight budget constraints, the City has arranged a schedule of variable frequencies of mowing. The City utilizes numerous mowing contractors to handle the enormous task of maintaining vegetation in our city of approximately 100 square miles. The grass medians and roadsides on high traffic, arterial and collector roads are cut more frequently than other roadsides in an effort to maintain visibility and appearance in these areas. The prime considerations with other roadsides are to maintain the safety and drainage conditions. Greenbelts, City owned easements and other publicly owned properties are mowed as well to maintain safety, drainage conditions and appearance. It should be noted that during the low growth season of roughly fall through spring, the frequency of the City's contracted mowing is reduced.
While striving to keep their neighborhoods safe and attractive, many homeowners choose to routinely maintain nearby vacant lot roadsides when they mow their own yards. A big THANK YOU to those who help keep our City beautiful with their tremendous efforts.
Pothole Repairs
Public Works is responsible for pothole repairs on all roads the City maintains; which is approximately 861 Centerline miles. Due to the conditions of the roads and the number of miles to maintain, the roads are generally categorized as either good or bad. They are visually inspected for the number of potholes and to assess what methods will be used for the day to day operations to apply a temporary fix. Pothole repairs are scheduled on a complaint basis. However, potholes on major collectors such as Emerson Drive, Jupiter Boulevard, San Filippo Drive, etc. are handled on a priority basis.
On major roads with less potholes, the potholes area is outlined on sound pavement beyond the dimension of the pothole. The outlined area is then cut and all debris, damaged asphalt, dirt and water are removed from the hole. A tack coat is applied to the hole, then hot mix asphalt is placed into the hole and rolled. This method provides the best quality and long-lasting repairs.
On residential roads that are ridden with potholes, less time is spent on these repairs due to the number of requests and the fact that these repairs do not last as long. Therefore, the procedure is to clean the pothole and fill the potholes with the hot mix and roll or tamp the mix into the hole – This is called the “throw and go method”.
Street Signs and Maintenance
More than 20,000 street name signs and stop signs will be placed on a seven-year rotation for maintenance. The replacement street name signs are increasing in size from 6” tall to 9” tall, and will be more durable and more reflective. Main road signs will have the city logo placed on them.
Swale Trenching
The drainage system that the City inherited from General Development Corporation has a few shortcomings. Most of the residential units have swale drainage. Stormwater run-off from the roads and the lots is channeled to a relatively shallow conveyance swale at the edge of the road. These swales then convey the water to "outfalls" throughout the City.
Sidewalks
Palm Bay Public Works Department is committed to providing its residents and visitors with walkable communities and retail centers. The City has currently approximately 208 miles of existing sidewalks and trails. As a goal of the City and Public Works; all collector and atrial roadways are planned to have sidewalks on both sides of the roadway as part of the City's sidewalk master plan.
Surveying and Land Acquisition
The Survey Division consists of two 3 person Field Crews, a Surveying Superintendent, and a Division Manager who is also the Land Acquisition Manager for the City of Palm Bay. The Land Acquisition Manager, Surveying Superintendent, and one of the crew leaders are Licensed Surveyors in the State of Florida and are up to date on all requirements set forth by the State.
The Survey Section provides support services to the City’s Engineering Department with their Drainage and Capital projects in the design and as-built of construction of installed structures. We also assist in keeping the Drainage Plans and data up to date. The Section also furnishes Boundary Surveys, Topographic Surveys, Route Surveys, construction layouts, and right of way surveys to various City Departments. The Survey Section also prepares legal sketches and descriptions for right of way acquisition, easements and real property vacations. The Survey Division Manager also consults and provides expert opinion for the City’s Legal Department.
The Section has completed converting all of the City’s survey benchmarks from NGVD 1929 (National Geodetic Vertical Datum of 1929) to NAVD88 (North American Vertical Datum 1988) to match with survey datums submitted by others.
Support to Engineering Inspectors with citizen and business complaints on drainage, clearing Right-of-Ways, and locations of encroachments within the City are provided by the Survey Division.
Survey field data, and inspection services to the Driveway Permit Technicians are provided by the Survey Division. Survey services for the installation of and replacement of culvert pipes in residential and commercial areas before, during, and after construction are provided.
We are constantly working on the boundary limits of the City of Palm Bay, and converting to State Plane coordinate system for the Utilities Department GIS division to use with their GIS database. We provide consultation, professional, and technical support to all Departments in the City of Palm Bay.
Traffic Signs and Signals / Street Lights
Traffic signals aid our citizens while driving and help to reduce accidents. They facilitate traffic flow and help to reduce stress. We understand that when one of these signals is malfunctioning, or is not working at all, it can bring about unnecessary frustration and increase stress. We have a rotating schedule of testing and observing the functions of these lights. However, we can not always be there to detect one that is malfunctioning. Therefore, we rely on you to let us know as soon as possible if you notice a problem with any traffic lights or street lights.
Tree Trimming
The Public Works Department cuts back, trims, or removes trees in the City Right-of-Way that are over hanging roadways and sidewalks, those that are blocking stop signs, and those that are dead. Other bushes and shrubs that cause a site obstruction to motorists are also trimmed back, and many locations throughout the city are on a 3 to 4 times a year schedule to prevent site obstructions before they happen. The palm trees that are in the City Right-of-Ways and medians are pruned each spring to keep them fresh and promote further growth.
The trimming of trees or other vegetation located near power lines, is performed by FPL. You can contact FPL by calling 1-800-226-3545, by visiting FPL Tree Trimming.
If you have a question regarding any trees, brushes or shrubs, in or overhanging a City Right-of-Way, or would like to report vegetation that is a site obstruction, please contact our Customer Service Department.