City prepares for Palm Avenue improvements

More than six years after the city first approved plans to redesign a segment of Palm Avenue, staff members say construction on a streetscape improvement project is set to begin soon.

Since 2011, businesses in the segment of Palm Avenue between Main Street and Cocoanut Avenue have complained about flooding in the area. The issue is most pronounced on the west side of Palm, where tenants between 1262 and 1274 N. Palm Ave. have attributed their problems to the existing street configuration.

Although the City Commission approved a redesign in 2012, the board put the plans on hold in 2014 after residents expressed concern about eliminating a grove of palm trees where the flooding occurred. Commissioners directed staff to revise the plans to preserve the 27 palm trees. Those new plans were met in 2015 with mixed reactions from Palm Avenue stakeholders.

At the direction of the commission, staff proceeded with the new concept for Palm Avenue. Last week, the city received bids from contractors for the project. Although an agreement with a contractor has not been finalized, Coordinator of Capital Projects Richard Winder said the lowest bid was $299,000.

The project will widen the sidewalks along the west side of Palm Avenue and remove segments of diagonal parking, replacing it with parallel parking. The project will also create a new pedestrian plaza area. Other elements include improved landscaping and lighting, according to Phillip Smith, a landscape architect who designed the project.

On Tuesday, the Downtown Improvement District discussed the plans, with some board members expressing frustration the city changed the design. Board member Mark Kauffman suggested most commercial tenants and residents in the Bay Plaza condominium preferred the original plan, which sought to mirror the streetscape on the east side of Palm Avenue.

“This is an improvement over what it is, but nowhere nice as what was designed,” Kauffman said of the latest plans.

At least one property owner was happy to learn the trees would be preserved, though. Trish Carlson, who co-owns the commercial unit at 1266 N. Palm Ave., applauded the decision to redesign the project around the palm grove, which dates back in part to the early 1900s.

“We’ve been advocates for the palm trees in the front of this piece of property,” Carlson said.

Winder said he hoped work on the project could start before heavier summer rains begin, though he did not want to commit to a timeline before finalizing an agreement with a contractor. The city said work could begin by mid-July.

Although Winder was eager to get to work, he also said the project would pose some challenges.

“We have to work around 27 trees, which is going to be kind of a delicate operation,” Winder said.