- April 16, 2024
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Just like many communities around the country, the city of Maitland is constantly looking to the future to improve the quality of life for its residents.
Making those improvements — whether people like it or not — is a long, arduous process that takes time, money, and resources to make happen.
That’s why, after much debate and tinkering, the city completed and finalized its Capital Improvements Program last September to set up a five-year plan, which includes major projects and improvements going on within Maitland.
The 85-page packet itself hits on five major master plans for the city: Stormwater/Lakes Management Plan; the Cultural Corridor Master Plan; Downtown Maitland Plan; Parks Master Plan; and the Sewer Master Plan.
Of the five, two — utilities and transportation — have dominated discussion at recent City Council meetings.
Although 2018 will be a relatively low-cost year regarding improvements to the water system, 2019 is a bit of a different story — thanks in part to a water main upgrade on 17/92 between Ventris and Monroe avenues.
“It’s a huge, $6 million project,” said Maitland City Manager Sharon Anselmo. “So where it is now, is the city is attaining the easements to do the work — so these lines are on 17/92, so as you can imagine there are a lot of conflicts.
“They want those utilities outside the road right of way, so that’s what we are working on — developing the path,” she said.
The current plan calls for an initial $2 million to be used in 2019, while $4 million already has been spent on the project. No timeline was given on how long the project may possibly take.
Anselmo also said the project has been in the works for several years and was funded in 2016.
Along with ensuring that the level of water service is increased, the city also has an eye on helping to bolster the sewer productivity by finally finishing lift station No. 1 in 2018, which sits at Deloraine Trail.
The $2.3 million project, cost-shared by an unnamed entity, dates back more than a decade.
“Construction is funded this year, but we bought the property in 2004,” Anselmo said. “What that station will do is allow the folks in Dommerich Hill to get on city sewer — currently they’re on septic tanks. At this point, it should go out to bid some time in the Spring and start under construction.”
But of all the upgrades in utilities the city has planned, none have been more talked about that than the under-grounding of power lines. The hope for many is that by under-grounding the lines, the city will be better protected from the kind of power outages caused by storms such as the recent Hurricane Irma.
“It’s beyond the power outages — it’s the aesthetics,” Anselmo said. “Under-grounding increases your property value by just the aesthetics.”
Currently, the city has two projects lined up for Maitland, which includes under-grounding in Greenwood Gardens and Dommerich Estates.
The Greenwood project, which will cost $500,000, is scheduled to be completed in four months sometime in 2018. In Dommerich Estates, the process will be a bit longer. The city will start planning for the project in 2019.
Initial estimates call for $150,000 in 2019, followed by an amount of $500,000 each year from 2020 to 2022. So the Dommerich Estates upgrade will total about $1.6 million — combined with the work in Greenwood, and total costs for all under-grounding will be around $2.1 million.
Anyone who has lived in the area long enough knows the traffic in and around Maitland can be nightmare — especially during rush hour.
Over the next five years, there are plans to start eight projects, but only two are currently on the road to begin in 2018 and 2019. One will come in the form of traffic signal refurbishment on Sandspur Road at Maitland Avenue, while the other will be the planning and implementation of an Intelligent Transportation System.
The first will be a simple upgrade of the traffic signal at the intersection that will cost the city $225,000, but the new ITS infrastructure will be one of the biggest projects put forth.
“It’s smart traffic engineering … if something were to happen on I-4 and sends a whole lot of cars over to 17/92, it would be able to react to that and change timing signals,” Anselmo said. “That’s about $1 million over five years — it’s mostly software and hardware.”
According to the CIP report, the money put into the ITS infrastructure will allow remote monitoring and controlled traffic by means of fiber optic communication, closed-circuit TV cameras, variable message designs and adaptive signal-control technology, among other things.
The hope is the changes will help to streamline the city’s transportation network while also making it safer and easier to maintain.
Along with looking to better the traffic situation on the road, Anselmo said the city is looking to make it easier for those traveling via foot or bike.
While improvements are being made around the city to improve sidewalks and add more space for bicyclists, one of the main areas is next to City Hall on Independence Lane.
Between the $800,000 extension of the road, which includes the development of a park next to City Hall (planned for 2020) and the Maitland City Centre, there is the expectation that foot traffic will be up, and the city is looking to help make traveling smoother.
“Some of it will happen naturally, just because you’re going to have more people in these buildings that are going to be crossing over to get to McDonalds or Walgreens,” Anselmo said. “So we did talk to FDOT about reducing speed here on 17/92 once we do have more pedestrians here — and also do some intersection improvements.
“Extending Independence Lane will make it walkable down to Lake Avenue, and then from Lake Avenue the new development there — where it use to be Maitland Shores — there is a bike path that is proposed to go through their complex that will connect you to Rauvadage and hopefully get you down to Winter Park,” she said.
With more foot and bicycle traffic also comes issues of safety, so Anselmo said the city is looking to implement more basic signage and stronger street security enforcement during specific times of the year.
For Anselmo and those at City Hall, the changes are all about creating a city where people can feel free and safe to walk about .
“The hope is that this is infill that the folks here will be out walking, and that in itself creates slower traffic,” Anselmo said.
