Park maintenance, road resurfacing projects and potentially EverBank Field scoreboards will be among the projects added to the Capital Improvement Plan budget that's set to be reviewed Friday.
City Council member Richard Clark said after the Council Finance Committee panel meeting the program's budget is traditionally in the $140 million range, but he expected fiscal 2013-14 to be less than $100 million.
The stadium improvements came up after Council member Robin Lumb discussed several road projects that leveraged private investment, such as an extension of New World Avenue that could mean construction of a middle school, high school and workforce housing.
"Eventually, we're going to have the discussion on the stadium," Clark said.
Clark mentioned Jaguars owner Shad Khan's investment in locker rooms and other stadium improvements at EverBank Field, which as previously reported, totaled more than $7 million.
Afterward he said the City has to find a way to pay for its share of the EverBank improvements. The City has committed to paying about $43 million, with the Jaguars paying the remaining $20 million.
As reported, the scoreboards were estimated to cost $26.5 million, with the Jaguars to pay $20 million and the City the remaining $6.5 million.
Mayor Alvin Brown did not include funding for any of the EverBank improvements in his budget.
The one-hour session mainly focused on roads and parks projects, with Clark offering a slew of park infrastructure projects — new fences, grass, lights and other aspects — he said are critical.
"We simply need to put infrastructure into these parks so kids can use them," Clark said.
He said putting projects on the list will make Council "re-engaged" in the process and, for example, will help the parks system by indicating when maintenance is needed instead of costly replacement projects later.
The subcommittee will again meet Thursday to add more amendments to the plan before the full Finance Committee is scheduled to review the budget Friday.
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