by Joe Wilhelm Jr.
Staff Writer
Good things come to those who wait...and wait...and wait.
After filing a grant application with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) in 2000 for funds to improve the streetscape of Downtown, the Jacksonville Economic Development Commission (JEDC) recently found out that the funds have become available. The City is now preparing to receive $525,000 from FDOT, which will be used for Laura and Bay street projects for “landscaping and beautification of the West Central Civic Core District.”
“The assumption on the grant was that it would be discretionary FDOT grant dollars that could be used for streetscape programs in the civic core,” said Ron Barton, executive director of the JEDC. “We had other plans when we first filed the application, but nothing was ready to go at the time. It ends up showing up at a perfect time. We hope to be under construction with the Laura and Bay street projects by fall.”
The grant is one of the sources of funding that will contribute to the projects on Laura Street, which are estimated to cost $3.15 million, and Bay Street, which will cost $1.5 million. The improvements that are planned include making Laura Street a two-way thoroughfare from Independence Drive to Monroe Street; planting trees; installing historic lights; new sidewalks; making traffic signal boxes more like kiosks; creating a roundabout on Independence Drive at Laura (in front of the Landing) and placing the Andrew Jackson statue there.
The FDOT is the administrator of the grant which is being awarded through a federal enhancement program of the Federal Highway Administration. The JEDC originally requested $750,000 for the project, but received $525,000 due to the funds available.
“The funds were not available at the time the application was filed,” said Gina Busscher, FDOT Dist. 2 public information officer. “We can only disburse funds when they become available and with the dollars that are available. These funds were 100 percent federal dollars without a matching dollar requirement.”
The grant is broken up into $500,000 for construction and $25,000 for design.
“This project has always been a cobbling of sources,” said Barton. “The grant allows us to do portions of the project that were a little iffy early on. Before the grant we were looking at prioritizing and now we look to implement as much of the plan as we can.”
Ordinance 2009-215 will allow the City to receive the grant and establish an agreement between it and FDOT that will establish the FDOT as the administrator of the grant.
City Council’s Finance and Transportation, Energy & Utilities committees are looking at the legislation.
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