Main Street merchant gives vital input

When Pastry Art owner Forrest Shaw went to City Hall to look at preliminary drawings for a Main Street streetscape project a couple of weeks ago, he was disappointed with what he saw.

The former architecture-and-design professional turned coffee-and-pastry shop owner noticed preliminary drawings for enhanced bulbouts that included more landscaping, but barely any additional brick pavers to provide more space for outdoor dining and pedestrians.

Segment two of the three-segment Main Street project calls for work in the 1400 and 1500 blocks of Main Street between the Five Points roundabout and Orange Avenue. The second phase includes enhancing bulbouts in front of Pastry Art/Brooks Brothers and C’est la Vie; and on the corner of Main Street and Orange Avenue in front of The Gator Club. The $150,000 project also calls for new lighting, re-painting 42 streetlights and enhanced landscaping.

Because segment two is the cheapest, easiest and quickest to construct within the phased project, the city intends to finish that portion first, starting construction in the coming weeks and completing segment two by the holidays.

But when Shaw and others had an opportunity to look at the preliminary drawings, it concerned them that the three bulbouts were more about landscaping and less about more brick pavers to make wider bulbouts for pedestrians.

“In a nutshell, the drawings didn’t show much in the way of detail and we wanted to make sure, as we move forward, that what we talked about with increasing sidewalk café space were translated into the drawings,” Shaw said.

Shaw also noticed the bulbout in front of The Gator Club didn’t match the already existing bulbout in front of Mattison’s City Grille.

Chief City Planner Steve Stancel said the comments were well-received and he stressed that the drawings were “very preliminary” in nature.

“The project will be performed as intended and we hope to have final plans for segment two in a couple of weeks and be finished with (that portion of the) project by Thanksgiving,” Stancel said.

Shaw, who seeks to gain about 15 outdoor dining seats to his current 28-seat area, was glad to hear it.
“We realize we are the low-hanging fruit portion of this project,” Shaw said. “But we’re looking forward to having this done before season and are glad it’s being done right with public input.”

After segment two of the project is complete, plans call for more major construction on Main Street from U.S. 41 to the Five Points roundabout, including the addition of brick sidewalks next summer. More minor Main Street upgrades from Orange Avenue to Osprey Avenue are also expected to be done next summer. Both of those projects combined are expected to cost $1.75 million and to cause concerns for some business owners, especially those residing between U.S. 41 and the Five Points roundabout.

Plans to construct a $1 million roundabout at Main Street and Orange Avenue are on hold until 2014 at the earliest.

Downtown Redesign
The following projects will be financed through tax-increment financing (TIF) dollars:
Project: Cost
Main Street renovations from U.S. 41 to the Five Points roundabout: $1.35 million
Main Street renovations from the Five Points roundabout to Orange Avenue: $150,000
Main Street renovations from Orange Avenue to Osprey Avenue: $400,000
North Palm Avenue streetscape project: $236,700
First Street enhancement project from Pineapple Avenue to U.S. 41: $1.5 million
Roundabout at the intersection of Main Street and Orange Avenue: $1.1 million

* Tax-increment Finance (TIF) funds will be utilized to front the $4,736,700 in total projects. The DID, however, will contribute $2,052,425 for Main Street segment improvements and $10,000 toward the Palm Avenue streetscape project.