On January 23, 2006, the Community Redevelopment Agency took the next critical step toward Phase I of the proposed Alcaniz Streetscape Initiative by approving the funding plan for streetscape improvements on Alcaniz Street in Old East Hill and a portion of Alcaniz and Romana Streets in the Pensacola Historic District. 

With the Council’s approval of the assessment following the Public Hearing on March 9th, the solicitation for construction bids will be completed and a contractor will be selected to begin construction.  Before and during construction, coordination meetings will be scheduled with property and business owners.

Proposed Phase 1 consists of streetscape improvements to two street segments identified as project areas A and B:

• Project Area “A” on South Alcaniz Street between Garden and Intendencia Streets and on Romana Street between Alcaniz and Florida Blanca Streets. Streetscape improvements will include full conversion of overhead utilities to underground, improved sidewalks, historic-style street lighting, landscaping and crosswalks. A property owner assessment is proposed at 20% of the cost of underground utility conversion only. The amount to be assessed is estimated to $151,753 to be assessed at the rate of $57.26 per front foot.
• Project Area “B” on North Alcaniz Street between Cervantes and Gregory Streets in Old East Hill. Improvements in this area will include conversion of east-west overhead utilities (only) to underground, parking lot at Alcaniz and Wright Streets, improved sidewalks, historic-style street lighting, landscaping and crosswalks. “Full” undergrounding of utilities is not proposed. No assessment is proposed for Project Area “B.”

The CRA’s portion of the funding for the project is estimated at $2,935,417 and is available in the CRA fiscal year 2006 and 2007 budgets.


BACKGROUND:

On May 12, 2004, Mr. Ray Gindroz of Urban Design Associates presented the completed Pensacola Historic District Master Plan to the City of Pensacola, the University of West Florida, the Institute of Machine & Human Cognition, and West Florida Preservation, Inc. Approximately 300 members of the public were also in attendance. The Historic District Master Plan provides a framework for the redevelopment of the Pensacola Historic District and the surrounding area. The Master plan calls for improvements to the framework of streets and public open space to create an atmosphere appropriate for development. The master plan identifies a series of initiative areas in which these public improvements are coordinated with private investment. The Alcaniz Street Initiative is one of these initiative areas. The Master Plan envisions Alcaniz Street north of Garden Street as a key entryway into the Historic District lined with new mixed use development, improved streetscapes and pedestrian crossings.

The engineering consulting firm of Hatch Mott MacDonald was commissioned to develop design drawings for the Alcaniz Street Initiative. On August 24, 2004, following a series of public input meetings, Hatch Mott MacDonald presented design development drawings for the Alcaniz Street Initiative. On May 9, 2005, CRA discussed the implementation of the Alcaniz Street Initiative in light of ongoing redevelopment efforts and determined it was appropriate to move forward with bidding Phase 1 of the Initiative. The CRA approved Authorization No. 9 with Hatch Mott MacDonald on June 6, 2005 for construction documents and coordination for Phase 1.

Additional public meetings were held on September 8, 2005 with property owners in each of the two project areas (A & B) to review the project and assessment proposals. Based on input received at the meeting and through a formal survey of property owners proposed to be assessed for Project Area “A”, 70% of the owners favor the proposed assessment, and 10% are opposed. The remaining 20% did not respond, representing 4.2% of the linear frontage of the project.

The CRA staff and consultant have worked closely with the three utilities, Gulf Power, Bell South and Cox Cable to develop firm costs for the underground utility conversion. These costs along with the estimated prices for streetscape improvements and required archaeological services are reflected in the total project cost which is estimated at $3,087,170. Cost estimates do not include the cost to rework the individual building service connections that may be required to be modified as part of the overhead conversion. Each of these modifications will be the responsibility of the individual property owner and a private electrical contractor.