Maitland plans infrastructure for downtown

Maitland is setting the stage for its new downtown.

On Monday, the City Council agreed to have AVCON Inc. study what it would take to extend Independence Lane, which runs in front of City Hall, north across Horatio Avenue and eventually to George Avenue, as part of the infrastructure for the city’s planned downtown redevelopment.

The $17,000 contract will identify property easements the city could secure in order to extend the road and its stormwater grid, tying it to the regional stormwater facility.

The city plans to construct the road with the understanding that the adjoining property owners/developers will pick up the tab, said Verl Emrick, Maitland’s community development director.

One of the property owners, Emrick said, has plans to build a CVS Pharmacy, but it’s contingent on the extension of Independence.

‘Complete street’

Mayor Howard Schieferdecker was excited to move forward with the extension as well as cementing right-of-way contracts with the property owners along the proposed road. He said the climate for development is perfect — costs are low and there has been renewed interest from developers since the Maitland Town Center development agreement with Brossier Co. was terminated at the beginning of 2011.

“I’m really pushing the development teams to say ‘complete street from Packwood (Avenue) to Horatio’. … People (developers) are talking to us. … Ladies and gentlemen, this is the time,” he said.

He said it should be easier to work with many developers on projects with smaller price tags than with one developer on a multimillion-dollar four-block project.

Reponen disagrees

Councilwoman Bev Reponen, who was the lone dissenter on the vote, said she was concerned that the city was moving forward with a taxpayer-funded study on land that they don’t yet own.

“The devil is in the details,” Reponen said. “You said we’ll get the costs reimbursed but nothing is in paper that says that’s going to happen.” She said the extension is a good idea but it hasn’t been thought out.

“You don’t know what you’re going to connect that pipe to,” she said of the stormwater line. “I can’t buy this as a good plan.”

But Councilman Phil Bonus said he’s confident that the city will recoup its money.

“This is an excellent incremental step toward taking it to the next step,” Bonus said.

First phase

AVCON Vice President Rick Baldocchi, the city’s consultant, advised the city to move forward with its infrastructure studies in conjunction with the design of CVS and the other projects along the corridor.

“I agree you don’t want to go forward and do the street design right now,” he said. “That’s why we came in with a study to get the information prior to doing that.”

In the first phase, Independence Lane is proposed to end in a cul-de-sac about halfway between George and Horatio.

Bonus said he would like to see plans for a trolley way and a pedestrian/bike path to go through to George and continue to the city’s planned SunRail station a few blocks to the north.

“I’m interested in moving persons from the rail to downtown,” he said.