on the calendar for next year so that we'd be able to apply. Well, lo and behold, we found out that they have $40 million that they had not dispersed and we were encouraged to apply for that gap funding. And because we have some projects that are already underway, it
is very favorable for us and that's just me saying they have been very positive in their conversations with us because we have projects that have been going on that are already designed in our shell already. So, I am going to introduce you to Mr. Chris Lightfoot who's going to
come up here and explain his shovel ready project. So, we have been talking about this project for um probably 3 years now. Um and this one is titled the West Tent Street Utility Improvements Project. Uh the project
consists of about 9,300 linear feet of trenchless uh gravity sewer rehabilitation. Um 14,000 linear feet of 6-in water man to improve uh fire flow and uh pressures and residents homes. 13,500 ft of 2-in PVC water manes
uh that will be upsized to 6 in and about 2.4 miles of roadway. And it also includes stormway improvements along 10th Street from Alabama Alabama Avenue to Tennessee Avenue um to help those homes in that area to uh prevent flooding and standing water in the
roadways. Our estimated uh original project cost was $5.25 million. That is the grant that we received. The engineering was $650,000 and after design and inflation from several years, our estimated um
cost opinion of construction is now $6,382,000. The project is out to bid and bids are due May 5th. Um so what this grant does is um give us the opportunity to apply for the remaining balance so that we can complete the entire project and not have to value
engineer anything out. um estimated around two to$2.4 million is what we're going for with this grant. So, we'll take questions at the end after we have a lot of people out here, so we'll look for questions way out in
the back there. No, this is 100% grant funded. Um, no match at all required from the city. Correct. And we actually just submitted, we couldn't submit for reimbursement until the design was 100% complete. Um, so we just submitted our reimbursement
package last week uh for the design. It was approximately $550,000 for this project. Um, we should be receiving that in the next 2 to 3 weeks of reimbursement back. Yeah. So, right, we will have the the next
workshop at that one. We have the set of plans here tonight that we can um review. Anyone can ask questions on. Um and like I said, the bids are due May 5th on this one, right? prior to the meeting.
Any other questions from the people in the very very back or the of the grants for the small city uh development grants are for the city in ways that infrastructure and things that we need that are critical. And Ben's
going to come up and talk about this wonderful portion of this project. Thank you. I'm Ben Jenkee. I'm the city's CRA director and economic development director, and I've been uh um
responsible for the administration of the uh Florida and and Ohio Avenue improvements project or this is a grant that uh similar to Chris's project, the West 10th Street project was applied for about 3 years ago. Um along with the
application, a cost estimate was submitted. At that point, uh our estimate was about um $4.3 million for this project. It includes the improvements, the landscaping, streetscape, uh improvements along the
Florida um corridor, some electrical improvements along Florida Avenue, and also segments of Ohio Avenue. So, uh, we're in the middle of the design phase right now. We hired Florida architects to prepare some plans, some
construction plans for us to, um, that will enable us to advertise the or issue an um an invitation to bid to for the construction of these improvements. uh we're about 60% complete and I think you
already mentioned uh Ryan uh the public workshop that we have scheduled for April the 29th that is actually the workshop that um where we will the architect will be presenting this project to the community seeking
input from um our residents um about this project so that we can finalize the plans and um move forward with the construction. ction. Um, so we're a little bit behind compared to the West 10th Street um because there is a lot
more community involvement uh in included in this project. Um, as I already mentioned, the original um cost estimate for this project is uh $4.3 million. This was approved by Florida
Commerce. Um we all know that construction costs went up significantly over the last um few years. Um and a recent cost estimate uh that was done for this project is suggesting a project cost of about $12
million. So we're using this our goal our plan is to use this grant opportunity to cover the gap between the original cost estimate and the current cost estimate. Are there any questions at this
point? We should be able to complete the project based on the current cost estimate. Yes, we should be able to complete the current project. However, it's an estimate. We know the exact number the moment when we're
receiving the remember opening the con the bids for the construction. Then we can say with certainty how much this project is going to cost. Great question. Um so this this grant um and also Crystal's grant is is very specific when it comes to the scope of
work. We had to be very uh we really had to get into details um regarding the expenses that would be covered under this uh grant. expenses such as streetscape furniture
um um plant landscaping plant material may not be covered under this grant. So, um, we looked into this in, uh, into the potential shortfall in in terms of
non-eligible expense and, um, we added some money into the CRA budget to cover this, uh, this potential gap or this potential shortfall with CRA dollars so that we can complete the project.
So once the pro uh project is done, you will see some significant improvements along the the road corridor, Florida Avenue and parts of Ohio Avenue. And the improvements will include um a different surface material to make it to make the
corridor more handicap accessible. Right now we have a lot of um physical barriers in that uh road corridor that prohibits somebody for example in a wheelchair to get from one side of the road to the other. So, we'll make it all
we'll we'll do the construction all at one level so that there won't be any any um curbs that that u people would have to step up in order to get across these. Um we'll be improving the appearance of
the Florida Avenue corridor to really support enhance the the commercial experience or the retail experience on Florida Avenue. This is our way, our contribution to really revitalize our historic downtown
area. Um, I do want to point out that this grant is only designed to pay for improvements within the existing road rightway. So, within the existing city property, it's not
designed to pay for some of the um expenses or some of the improvements on private property. So, we're hoping with these improvements of the corridor to encourage people to invest on Florida Avenue, build a new um retail uh store,
a professional office along that corridor to really revitalize it. Yeah, they're crystal. No, I I think so. We've been working on on a game plan for the last couple of months, few years on this
project. Um there's a lot of administration, a lot of paperwork involved in securing grants like this. Um and we're really at a point right now where we can really share the the concept with the public, seek some input, and then finalize the plans.
We've been working with some of the business owners already. Um but now is is is a perfect time to get the community involved in this so that we can finalize the plans. That is correct. Yes. Yes.
All I got. So, our next steps will be to continue to communicate with um with the small cities community development block grant uh person program director that we're dealing with here. And like I said, they
have been extremely positive. And um so we have continued meetings with them. We make certain that everything we do is transparent. So we'll be uh putting on the website the summary of this meeting and then also we'll have notices about the next uh public hearing that we're
going to have. It's one of the requirements that they have is that you make certain and you were asking about the that you make certain that the public is invited and aware of the process and where the money is coming from and what we're doing with it. And
with that, if you don't have any Yes. They just changed it from May 2nd to May 16th. We're delighted to have a few extra weeks to work with it. Um, anytime we get money. No, go ahead. Go ahead. and it has to start 6 months after we
receive uh the funding notice, right? Yes. If there's nothing else, have a lovely evening and thank you all for being here.