The City of Plant City is working on the Pennsylvania Avenue dog park, residential property sales in the CRA and more.
With the start of the new fiscal year, many projects are jumping into action.
One has been years in the making. The city’s dog park on Pennsylvania Avenue opened to the public in 2014, though most didn’t realize it was accessible as the parking lot was on one side of a canal and the park was on the other. There was just a grassy parking lot on Knight Street for visitors and those who did attend often ended up walking around in an attempt to get to the park.
In 2018, City Manager Bill McDaniel decided it was high time they finish the project. Funds were budgeted to install a pedestrian bridge across the Eastside Canal that would connect the park to the parking lot. The city had an asphalt paved lot designed to accommodate 17 parking spaces, including two handicap spaces with signs and markings, retention ponds for stormwater treatment and LED site lighting. it also obtained the permit from the Southwest Florida Water Management District.
Bids came pouring in to handle the project and Tampa Bay Marine, Inc. was the lowest responsive and responsible bid with a projected cost of $289,500. Originally $237,500 was available in PK017 – Dog Park Pedestrian Bridge, so the city ended up transferring an additional $52,000 from a project in the CIT fund.
“It was an unfinished project, it was half-built and it was quite obvious what the initial intention was because it has the gravel lot on one side and the park on the other,” McDaniel said. “I remember one of the first things we did was drop curbstones there to let people know it was OK to park there and that the dog park was open. It bothered me that you had an unfinished project there, and so it was something I really wanted to make a priority. It was one of those low-hanging fruits that we were able to pick and get going. I think the end result will be worth the wait. It’s going to have appropriate drainage, a nice parking lot, we picked a nice design on the bridge that will connect the amenities — all-around, it’s just going to be a great asset to our community.”
North Park Isle also came before commissioners Monday evening as a public hearing was set to review an ordinance renaming the North Park Isles Planned Development (PD) District to North Park Isle Planned Development (PD) District and for conceptual modifications to the PD.
What this means is the community will finally be able to see the “big picture.” Details of the PD will be presented to commissioners who can review the plan and voice their opinions on it. The public will have a chance to talk as well. Some of the changes that have taken place on the property include the increase of the total acreage from 460.19 to 694.8 acres and the increase of total residential units from 1,350 to 3,308 — which was then decreased after the Feb. 24 commission hearing to 2,250 single-family and 250 townhomes.
The public hearing will be held on Nov. 9 during the city commission meeting, which begins at 7:30 p.m.
On Monday evening, commissioners also approved the sale of Residential Properties in the Community Redevelopment Area. There were 18 properties advertised and all of the land is located in the Laura Street Restoration Overlay District. The district allows for the “development of small single-family residential lots less than 6,000 square feet, but not less than 4,000 square feet.”
“Infill development is great and gives people the opportunity to become home owners,” McDaniel said. “Different approaches were considered when we started looking at these properties and trying to figure out what to do with them. One of them was to do an RFP, but that never really went anywhere. We sat here and looked at other models and decided we would put them out to the market… This will result in the opportunity for 18 new homeowners to get a home and be a part of this community, and I think it’s a great thing. There are 19 properties going out. One was sold to its adjacent property and one was too small to build on, so there were 18 that were sold.”
