by Mike Sharkey
Staff Writer
Paul Crawford and Jim Klement of the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission spent Tuesday morning examining Laura Street from the Landing to Hemming Plaza from every angle possible. They took notes, drew pictures and diagrams, thought out loud and — as important as anything — just looked.
What they saw were five blocks of outdated signage, light poles and garbage cans, plenty of dead foliage and overgrown landscaping, street signs that didn’t make sense and lots and lots of trash. What they got was a first-hand look at a pedestrian experience that isn’t very pedestrian-friendly — an objective of the four JEDC task forces created to improve the overall Downtown experience for residents, workers and visitors.
Crawford is the deputy director of the JEDC and Klement is a principal planner. A block-and-a-half into their “tour” Klement had a drawing of the block of South Laura Street with 25-30 items specifically marked. Most indicated items the JEDC would like to update or remove altogether.
“We are looking at things we want to keep and things we want to get rid of. We want to add historic lights like these across the street and get rid of obsolete light poles,” said Crawford from the Laura Street side of AmSouth Bank.
A moment later, Crawford pointed to the intersection of Laura and Forsyth streets.
“There are four different types of traffic signals at that intersections,” he said, describing all four.
“We are looking at removing signs, combining signs and replacing some structures,” said Klement.
Crawford said the tour is the initial stage for a much larger project that includes converting Laura Street to two-way traffic to Bay Street. Before that major change, Crawford said the JEDC — along with consultant Gladding Jackson — would like to repair and replace the little things first. Those things include the removal of the large brink planters in order to create more pedestrian space, consolidating paper boxes into one area convenient to distributors and consumers, but also something more aesthetically-pleasing than a couple of paper boxes chained to a pole, the replacement of mechanical parking meters with electronic meters, replacing light poles Crawford estimates were put up in the 1970s and many other mini-projects that will contribute to the overall bigger project.
Crawford said he has no idea what the price tag will be or when the project may start. Neither of those can be determined, he said, until a comprehensive inventory of the street is created.
“This is just a study. I will look for the money after I get an idea of the cost,” said Crawford. “It’s a three-step process: taking inventory, analyzing and implementing.”
Part of the annualization and implementation includes the various commercial businesses located up and down the street.
“We hope to work with all of the building owners,” said Crawford, pointing out some of the obvious improvements that could be done by private property owners. “Life of the South could add awnings and Modis could remove dead, dying and diseased trees.”
Crawford said once Laura Street is done, the plan is to either head east or west on the various cross streets between the Landing and Hemming Plaza and start the process all over.