The City of Plant City will soon be adding another method to its lineup to help keep residents up to date on the wide variety of city projects underway throughout town.
Within the next month, detailed signs will be erected at several of the locations throughout the city where development or improvements are underway. The project signage program will help those who drive or walk by know exactly what is happening at the location as well as its estimated completion date.
“I want people to know what the city is doing as well as the completion date for each project,” City Manager Bill McDaniel said. “It’s a way for us to better communicate with the public.”
Right now the city is in the process of identifying a vendor and then the details of how the signage will be made will be worked out. The vendor will need to be able to have a near immediate turnaround and be capable of printing the city’s high quality renderings, logos, graphics and other necessary images on the large pieces of signage.
McDaniel hopes to unveil the new signage and officially kick off the program during the groundbreaking ceremony for the upcoming community center on May 8. The city anticipates a large attendance for the event and will be able to show off not only the future plans for the long-awaited center, but also display the in-depth signage for the first time.
From there, other major projects that are going to be underway this year, like the renovation of the city’s dog park and the multiple parks facilities projects, including the Tennis Center and Brewer Park, will all have their own unique signs on display for all to see.
The city is spending approximately $50,000 on installing lighting at Snowden Park, approximately $115,000 to build bathrooms at Brewer Park, $990,000 to create new concession and restroom facilities at Ellis-Methvin Park, $35,000 for new lighting in the Tennis Center’s parking lot and $275,000 for a restroom and shower facility at the center. All-in-all the total parks renovations throughout the city add up to more than $1.4 million and will be causing major changes throughout the city.
However, projects take time. Between finding contractors, getting designs created and approved, breaking ground and then finally having the opening ceremony the public frequently questions the timeline and status of a variety of projects. The hope is having the signs in place at the designated sites will help create a clear and open line of communication between the general public and city leaders.
Viewers will have an image of the rendering for the renovation, the construction period, project details, the names of current city commissioners, the project partners and contact information all on one sign.
Funding for the signs will either come out of the projects existing budget or will be pulled from the contingency funds. McDaniel said the cost for the signs will be minimal in comparison to the major budgets associated with each project.
“People don’t know what we’re doing,” McDaniel said. “I want the public to know what we’re spending our money on, what improvements we’re making throughout the community. We’re doing some phenomenal work this year and there are a lot of impressive projects underway. This signage program will help continue that conversation. It will hopefully reach people that maybe don’t use social media or don’t attend our commission meetings, the people that may be curious, but don’t know what is taking place.”