by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to appropriate $600,000 toward the Bay Street Town Center s treetscaping project. However, City officials say it will be a while before specific projects are announced and doors in the proposed entertainment district start opening.
The $600,000 will be used to establish a Downtown Development Business and Loan Program for new businesses.
“You won’t see anything in the way of visible activity for some time,” said Downtown Development Authority managing director Al Battle. “But there is going to be a lot going on behind the scenes while we continue to prepare for it. We’d like to be up and running by this time next year.”
Battle added that once an application to Housing and Urban Development seeking an additional $2 million in tax incentives is approved, it will be easier to predict which businesses will get involved.
“We’ll have to wait and see when the dollars become available,” he said. “We’re not out of harm’s way as far as getting our first projects announced, but businesses will come whether they use our funding or not.”
Battle said the application is currently being prepared and should be sent within a few weeks.
“I can’t say when we’ll get approval from HUD,” said Battle, “but it is definitely not a 48-hour process.”
According to Battle, an undetermined design and engineering firm — they’ll be approved by the Planning Department — will likely perform intensive studies along Bay Street to determine the most effective methods in getting the project started.
“We want to get going on that as soon as possible,” said Battle. “We’ll use their input to figure out the best way to move forward on sidewalk development and lighting in the district. The engineering firm will also look at various traffic patterns because the streets between Newnan and Ocean streets may become two-way if we find it to be beneficial.”
Battle added the firm may also be instrumental in figuring out how to avoid conflicts with nearby residential housing projects.
“We want to get a handle of how aggressive we can be with this,” said Battle. “There are other projects coming online in the area that we have to account for like Berkman Plaza, but we would like to be a natural complement to them if we can.”
Battle said there is an additional to push move quickly because of the 2005 Super Bowl.
“It makes common sense for us to work quickly on this,” he said. “That’s the biggest push, but we would like to have some things in place by the end of the year. Downtown should be a viable option for entertainment and culture by the time we’re hosting the Super Bowl. We want to represent the best of what Jacksonville has to offer.”