The next step in Downtown improvement will be converting three major thoroughfares — Adams, Forsyth and Monroe Streets — to two-way traffic.
A committee of the Downtown Investment Authority approved Thursday a four-year schedule of capital improvements, as well as the conversion of Hogan, Julia and Pearl Streets and the construction of a park at Hogan Street and the Northbank Riverwalk.
The first phase of the plan will be reviewed this summer by City Council when it crafts the Capital Improvement Plan for the 2016-17 budget.
Eliminating one-way street improves traffic flow and was part of the Laura Street project, between Hemming Park and the Jacksonville Landing, completed several years ago.
“It’s a high priority,” said Downtown Redevelopment Manager Guy Parola.
The committee considered the projects, along with cost estimates prepared for a study completed in 2006. Parola said the authority is working with the Public Works Department and its engineering consultants to update the cost projections.
“They could go up. They could go down. It could be substantial,” he said of the difference between the 10-year-old estimates and current costs.
Jack Meeks, authority vice chair and chair of the capital improvement committee, asked if it would be possible to schedule all of the projects in the first year, if the funds were available.
Parola said that wouldn’t be a reasonable schedule, since engineering and design will take one year for each project, followed by another year for construction.
“It would be too disruptive,” he said.
The streetscape after the conversions could mimic the design used for Laura Street. The budget for that project was $3 million, about $750,000 per block.
“A lavish streetscape is great,” but the budget for each phase will affect whether the proposed improvements are adopted in the city Capital Improvement Plan, said Downtown Redevelopment Coordinator Jim Klement.
“Ask for what you want. City Council will fund what they have money for,” said authority CEO Aundra Wallace.
The Hogan Street plaza project would provide a new pedestrian plaza along the St. Johns River and also create another corridor between Hemming Plaza and the Northbank Riverwalk.
Sam Mousa, Mayor Lenny Curry’s chief administrative officer, told the authority last month the city will have no funds for Downtown projects until the issue of how to pay the pension liability is settled.
The Legislature is considering Curry’s proposal to allow a referendum in Duval County on extension of the half-cent sales tax to pay down the nearly $2.7 billion pension debt.
Authority board chair Jim Bailey pointed out Thursday the capital improvement projects are being discussed before the pension issue has been resolved.
“I have a problem with loading up (the schedule) before the referendum,” said Bailey, who is publisher of the Daily Record.
If approved in Tallahassee, voters would not see the question on the ballot until after council approves the referendum.
The issue is expected to be on the Nov. 8 general election ballot. The city budget’s fiscal year begins Oct. 1.
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