Hello San Marco! And Happy New Year! – Art Shad
We have a great year ahead of us in the Square and surrounding neighborhood. Here is an update on a few projects we have going on in the area.
One project that began before Thanksgiving is the replacement of the aging and crumbling Lake Marco bulkheads on Sorrento and Largo Roads. Great care was taken to conserve the oak trees on the banks. The project should be complete in a few months.
The San Marco Boulevard Streetscape project will be starting a little later than planned due to contract and bidding issues. We are now expecting the project to start in mid-March to early April. The estimated two-year project will be done in eight, two-block sections, from Naldo Avenue to Prudential Drive, to minimize impact to businesses and residences on San Marco Boulevard. The two traffic circles, otherwise known as roundabouts, at Landon Ave. and Naldo Ave., will help with traffic flow, and the addition of pavers, widened sidewalks, historic light poles and landscaping will beautify the area and make it pedestrian friendly, matching the nearby San Marco Town Center and Hendricks Avenue, giving the neighborhood an even more cohesive, engaging feel. (Please go to http://ramprofessionalgroup.com/ for details on meetings, design layout, etc.). One more town meeting is scheduled just before construction to give homeowners and business owners in the area important information regarding project management contact numbers, construction time-lines, etc. The Office of Public Works will be passing out flyers and a notice in the paper will go out prior to the meeting and you can call our office as well.
I met with residents and San Marco Preservation Society members in August to discuss the concept of a walking path at F.E.C. Park. The decision was made to construct a six-foot wide, ADA-accessible, landscaped walking path, connecting Marco Place to River Oaks Road. The winding path will be planted with approximately six shade trees. The plans also include installing a“LaVilla”-style, wrought-iron fence on the Marco Place side of the park. This fence will be the same height and style as the fence surrounding nearby Fletcher Park.
Greenscape Celebration Park at Lasalle Street on the river is complete. The date of the ribbon-cutting ceremony is still to be determined. Greenscape of Jacksonville is working with Art in Public Places to install a tree-themed sculpture in the middle of the park and when the sculpture is commissioned and installed, a date will then be set. Speaking of Greenscape – they have moved their office to San Marco, to the recently refurbished South Jacksonville City Hall on Hendricks Ave. They are leasing out the top floor, sharing the common area with the San Marco Preservation Society, who is leasing the bottom floor.
The above are just a few of the projects that our office works on on a daily basis. There is always something going on in San Marco, from smaller construction projects to ongoing infrastructure issues. If you have any questions, concerns or comments about these issues or City ordinances or legislation affecting the merchants and/or residents of our neighborhood, or City questions in general, please give my council office a call at 630-1382. You can also call 630-CITY to report any Code Enforcement, Traffic, Public Works, Solid Waste, or other city concerns or complaints. This will generate a CARE issue (Citizen Active Response Effort), which is immediately sent to a specific City department for action. This is a good tool to track common complaints and issues and helps the City determine where (and how often) problems exist and what has been done to address them.
As always, it is my pleasure and my honor to represent San Marco within my City Council District 5. I wish you all a healthy and prosperous 2010. See you in the neighborhood!
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