by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Over the next couple of months, the City will spend thousand of dollars and hundreds of man hours getting downtown ready for the Downtown Spring Festival, which gets underway in April and extends into May. Streets are being repaved and blighted areas will be landscaped.
The City is also going to rebuild many of downtown’s sidewalks. Thanks to a myriad of things, many of downtown’s sidewalks are in disrepair to the point of being dangerous. Director of Public Works Lynn Westbrook said a schedule hasn’t been set, but he figures the areas around the spring festival will get done first.
“The sections with orange markings perpendicular to the street delineate where the sidewalk is to be removed and replaced,” said Westbrook. “Many of the sections could be deemed hazardous by our hazardous section policy.”
Westbrook explained that in many areas the sidewalks may be cracked and look terrible, but may not be dangerous enough to repair immediately. Other areas, many of which are frequently traveled on foot by downtown workers and visitors, may look safe, but aren’t. According to Westbrook, any section of sidewalk at least three-quarters of an inch higher or lower than an adjacent section will be replaced. The causes of the uneven surfaces include tree roots, cars driving on the sidewalk, various City vehicles and other businesses that park vehicles on the sidewalks.
“We will probably start in the areas where the activities are planned for this April and May and radiate out,” said Westbrook.
The initial areas include sidewalks around the Landing, the Ritz Theatre, Hemming Plaza and the T-U Center. Eventually, most of downtown will have new sidewalks with the City picking up most of the tab.
“This is not part of the Better Jacksonville Plan,” explained Westbrook. “Better Jax calls for new sidewalks, not replacements.”
While a majority of the replacement sidewalks will be paid for by various City entities, some downtown property owners may get billed for the repairs. Similar to the policy that affects neighborhoods, Public Works could deem the damage was done by the property owner and bill them accordingly. However, Westbrook said JEA and the City will pay for most of the repairs.
“There are areas where JEA trucks park on the sidewalks to read electric boxes and water meters and traffic trucks park on the sidewalks,” he said. “But some downtown property owners will get billed.”
Westbrook said work will get started immediately and the whole project could take up to a year to complete.