by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
The Downtown Development Authority wants a compromise with City standards that would allow the $860 million Shipyards development to install single-fixtured, 1950s-style lighting along its riverfront side streets.
As the City’s Traffic Engineering and Public Works divisions weigh whether to approve an exception to the lighting standards, DDA managing director Al Battle said the City should consider the development’s location between Alltel Stadium and downtown. The same lights were previously approved for use along Main Street as part of the Springfield revitalization.
“This development is important in terms of maintaining connectivity between downtown and the stadium Riverwalk,” said Battle. “If the developer wants to introduce a slight variation to give the area the look and feel of a riverfront area then I think we can work with them.”
The JEA and the Public Works Department established the lamp standards to maintain a consistent downtown streetscape. City Traffic Engineering chief Fred Kyle said the Bay Street development would be required to choose one of two lamp styles offered by the City.
Kyle said the lamps, which are designated for publicly maintained side streets within the development, feature a single-piece globe, making upkeep more difficult.
“The developer [the TriLegacy Group] can choose any style they want as long as they want to maintain them,” said Kyle. “But since the park is on public land, I assume they want the City to maintain them.”
Public Works director Lynn Westbrook supported Kyle’s position in two recent e-mails to Chief Administrative Officer Sam Mousa. Westbrook said June 3 the Main Street lights should be “a one time exception.” Two days later, Westbrook wrote that the Shipyards’ desired use of the lamps was pushing the City “toward an additional City standard, of which I’m not particularly in favor.”
TriLegacy president Hamilton Traylor said the lamps were intended to distinguish side streets from the development’s 8,000-foot Riverwalk, which will extend the Northbank Riverwalk east to Alltel Stadium. He said the DDA’s Design Review Committee was enthusiastic about the design, including the lights. In return for maintaining public streets within the development, Traylor said the City would gain access to 3,500 feet of riverfront.
TriLegacy has already spent $20 million in City money to install bulkheads along the riverfront. The bulkheads support the Riverwalk by preventing the shore’s erosion. Traylor said the previous bulkheads were discovered in different levels of failure.
The City gave TriLegacy a $40 million grant to convert 17 acres of riverfront land into a series of publicly accessible parks connected by the Northbank Riverwalk. The developers will repay that money using property tax revenue, beginning as early as 2006. Traylor said the Riverwalk and most of the parks would be open in time for the 2005 Super Bowl.
Battle said Kyle, as traffic chief, would have his say in the street light decision, but said that some kind of historical lights would be approved. Battle noted the City departed from lighting and landscape standards elsewhere downtown.
Traylor said TriLegacy was prepared to install standard lighting if mandated by the City. He expects to open the development’s Riverwalk and marina by summer 2004 with the first phase of 99 apartments following in November or December. He said a permit delay could push back the opening of a seven-acre park extending 1,000 feet east of Catherine Street.
Without the western park, TriLegacy will install temporary landscaping to complement the finished Riverwalk. Hamilton expects to have 10 acres of park ready for Super Bowl visitors.