by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Following months of uncertainty, the City is now preparing to make good on its promise to overhaul eight more blocks of North Main Street.
A Request for Proposals to do the road work will likely be issued later this year and, barring complications, a contractor could get started by mid-Summer.
Public Works spokesperson Marci Cook told the Springfield Preservation and Revitalization Council last week that the more than $7 million now earmarked for the project may insure the road will be upgraded as originally planned three years ago.
The majority of the project’s budget is being covered by a recently-authorized City bond. The remaining $2.5 million was fronted by the Florida Department of Transportation last year.
Those funds, however, would be thinly stretched, she said.
“What we have in the budget will go a long way,” Cook said, “but we’ll have to work closely with the community to see what we can and cannot do. We are committed to restoring Main Street.”
But another missing piece of the redevelopment puzzle, Cook said, is a solid confirmation from JEA that infrastructural improvements along Main Street would also be taking place.
“JEA’s participation will greatly impact our efforts,” she said.
Main Street’s renovation has been on the City’s wish list for years. Finally, in 2001, work began on Phase I of the project between First and Fourth Streets.
However, it soon became obvious that the street had degraded far beyond what the City had expected and ultimately almost all of the money that had been set aside for 12 blocks was expended on only four.
Fearing work would never resume, SPAR mounted a vocal and eventually successful campaign to convince Mayor John Peyton to find more money.
“We don’t have to let this one thing hold back the progress of Springfield,” SPAR Council president Louise DeSpain said. “When you look at the private investments here and the residential development and new retail, Main Street needs to happen along with it.”
Peyton agreed and Cook now says SPAR’s patience and perseverance will pay off.
“We’re so happy to have a light at the end of this tunnel,” she said. “SPAR has been very understanding during this long process. They’re wonderful partners and we’re happy to be working with them for Phase II of the Main Street project.”