Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Mayor Julie Conley is not letting the grass grow under her feet when it comes to taking up the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) on its offer to landscape the Washington Street bulb-outs.
Or put another way, she wants to strike while the iron is hot.
Conley informed the Monticello City Council on Tuesday evening, Feb. 2, that she had reached out to Jason Peters soon after his comments to the council at an earlier workshop. Peters is FDOT District 3 director of operations
She was referring to the Jan. 19 workshop, at which the council was prepared to pass a resolution asking the FDOT to reduce the sizes of the bulb-outs because of traffic safety concerns.
Peters was able to convince the council to leave the bulb-outs as they were for pedestrian safety reasons. As an added inducement, moreover, he offered to have his agency help with the landscaping of the bulb-outs.
Conley said that when she contacted Peters, he immediately put her in touch with the District 3 landscape project manager, who had proven most cooperative.
“There is no big application process,” Conley said. “The FDOT pays for the plant materials and the irrigation system. What they don’t pay for is the design.”
Conley added that she had since gotten in touch with Josh Baxley, of Dewberry Engineering, and asked if he would do the design for the landscaping. She wanted to know if she had the council’s consent to instruct Baxley to proceed with the design, she said.
The reason for the seeming rush, Conley explained, was that the FDOT funding was currently available and she didn’t know how much longer that might be the case, given the state’s projected shortfall because of the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic.
The council gave its consent for Dewberry to proceed with the design, as well as to prepare an estimate of the project’s cost. The council also asked that whatever the vegetation selected for the bulb-outs, that it be low in both height and upkeep labor.
Dewberry is expected to present the design for the landscaping of the bulb-outs and the associated costs to the council at its next workshop, scheduled for 6 p.m. Monday, Feb. 15.
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