by Bradley Parsons
Staff Writer
The Downtown Development Authority’s managing director was knocking on City Council doors Wednesday morning in an effort to keep the Bay Street Town Center on schedule to finish the Phase One street scaping in time for the Super Bowl.
Al Battle arrived at Council chambers minutes too late to keep funding for the project on track for a Tuesday Council vote. Battle had been summoned to City Hall to answer questions about Mayor John Peyton’s request for $800,000 to improve Bay Street, envisioned as downtown’s premier entertainment district. With nobody present from the DDA or the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission to answer questions, a Council committee deferred a vote on the ordinance, keeping it off next week’s Council agenda.
Peyton wants the improvements, which include wider sidewalks, landscaping and on-street parking, finished in time for the Super Bowl. But that timeline would be dealt a severe blow if the Council does not approve funding next week. Committee chairman Daniel Davis said he would put the ordinance back on the agenda if the committee’s questions are answered before Tuesday.
“Somebody should be here from the JEDC to answer these questions,” said Davis. “I’m sorry to defer this, but I need to have my questions answered.”
Davis specifically questioned why the ordinance shifted $600,000 originally intended as development incentives to help pay for the improvements. The committee also debated whether it was necessary to turn Bay Street into a one-way, west-bound corridor.
“If this money was meant as incentives to bring business into the area, I don’t want to get rid of that,” said Davis.
After Battle’s near miss at the committee meeting, he set out immediately for the Council’s fourth-floor offices at City Hall. Davis said Battle had answered some of his questions following the meeting, but said he needed more information before turning the ordinance loose for full Council consideration.
Count Ed Hall among those who hope Davis’ committee gets answers. The City’s streets and drainage chief said it would be “near catastrophic” if the Council doesn’t approve funding Tuesday.
“We are on an extremely tight time frame to get this construction completed before the Super Bowl,” said Hall. “Working around the Jaguar games this fall, I don’t know if we can get this done in time for the Super Bowl if the funding isn’t in place.”
Davis said he was confident that the issues could be resolved in time for a Tuesday vote. If the Council approves the money, Hall said construction would start at the end of June. He said he “didn’t have the numbers” on how long construction would take, but said the schedule would be tight, even if it started on time.
Peyton has deferred construction on several projects that were scheduled for a pre-Super-Bowl completion. His policy is to delay projects rather than have construction underway during the game. However, his chief operating officer, Dan Kleman, told Public Works Director Lynn Westbrook that it was “not acceptable” to delay the Bay Street project.
Questions about the project first surfaced Monday when the Finance Committee reviewed the project. At that meeting, Hall mentioned that JTA wanted to open up an east–bound lane on Bay Street to accommodate downtown trolleys.
The project envisions Bay Street as a one-way corridor leading from the Sports Complex to downtown. Council members worried the trolley lane would confuse pedestrians and drivers and disrupt traffic. JTA spokesperson Mike Miller said the lane was necessary to service City employees who work at the City Hall Annex and the County Courthouse.
Davis said the trolley issue was another question that needed to be addressed prior to Tuesday.