The New Smyrna Beach Citizens for Smart Growth want to see the road and neighborhood given that moniker — an ode to the area’s history. They also want some zoning classifications along the causeway eliminated, more of an emphasis on residential growth, the speed limit reduced and low-speed vehicles allowed. Also among the group’s 18-point wish list for the boulevard that links the city’s two distinct commercial districts is enhanced landscaping — one that the city is now equipped to achieve to the tune of $1 million.
The city received word from the Florida Department of Transportation recently that it would receive a $500,000 grant from the agency to beautify a stretch of the North Causeway from Riverside Drive to the George E. Musson Bridge. City officials had already set aside $400,000 in Community Redevelopment Agency money for the project and added another $100,000 to the pot through a budget transfer to match the FDOT grant.
While City Manager Pam Brangaccio said the beautification plan still is “very basic” in concept, it’s likely to include the planting of new shade trees, the addition of “wave pattern” crosswalks, a new sidewalk on the north side of the roadway, pedestrian shelters, new lighting and landscaped islands in the median.
“I think this beautification plan is a tremendous asset and a key element of the overall end product that we’re all trying to achieve,” Danaher said.
The $500,000 grant from FDOT, which could be available to the city in the next fiscal year beginning July 1, was approved on the condition that city officials use “bold landscaping” where possible, “using many large trees, and few if any shrubs to produce the highest visual impact” according to an email sent Feb. 5 from Dennisse Zornan, FDOT production project manager, to Assistant City Manager Khalid Resheidat.
“It has to be for large, large trees — impact landscaping,” Brangaccio said.
While city officials had to send a conceptual drawing to FDOT to apply for the grant, Brangaccio said a design contract still has to be awarded for the project. Construction would begin Feb. 2015.
“We don’t even know yet where the utility conflicts are, where the right-of-way lines are, all of that would happen during the design process,” she said.
The beautification project could parallel a spate of new development along the North Causeway, including the New Smyrna Marina, which in addition to a marina, includes a restaurant and a fishing supply store and plans for 21 single-family homes. The first phase of a potential 200-unit condominium development at 99 N. Causeway called Isola Bella is also in the planning pipeline.
“Everything’s starting to come together,” Danaher said.
Danaher said he and other representatives from Citizens for Smart Growth want to sit down with city officials to see what steps need to be taken for their ideas about the North Causeway to become a reality.
“We think it’s going to be a tremendous improvement,” Danaher said of the beautification project. “And I would say working in conjunction with the rest of the ideas in our plan, we think as the whole thing starts to come together, it will really make a difference.”
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