Paving the road to downtown Maitland's future

Interlocking gray pavers span seamlessly from the edges of Maitland’s Central Park to the overflowing front doors of bustling businesses at the Maitland City Centre, the scene lit by an overhead web of catenary bulbs. Next to City Hall a food truck is parked dishing out dinner as locals gather on blankets set out on the pavement for an outdoor movie.

This vision for Maitland’s Independence Lane painted by landscape architecture firm Dix.Hite + Partners at Monday’s City Council meeting is a far cry from the black patchwork asphalt bordering a broken down Winn-Dixie that currently makes up the streetscape. And the vision could be come a reality, if the Council agrees to pay the $65,000 price tag to finish the design process.

On Monday the Council voted unanimously to table a decision on the future look of Independence Lane pending additional review by city staff. The decision will be back on the docket next month.

Community Development Director Dick Wells said the Dix.Hite + Partners design put forth a place that he said “accommodates pedestrians very well, and cars when it needs to.” During business hours, Wells said, traffic could flow normally through Independence Lane, which fronts City Hall running from Horatio to Packwood Avenue, and could be easily closed to cars for pedestrian friendly events as a “festival street.”

“[The design] is giving a lot more to people on foot, and just a little less to people in cars,” said Kody Smith, a landscape architect for Dix.Hite + Partners.

Wells said the total estimated cost to build out Independence Lane into the images proposed by Dix.Hite + Partners is between $1.5 million and $2 million.

The proposed design offers slightly more parallel parking than is currently offered on-street, Smith said, and focuses heavily on being the safest, most pedestrian-friendly road as possible.

But City Council members were critical of the proposal and its layout on Monday, challenging the firm to come up with more ample parking options and put more thought into how the road realistically needs to be used.

“I can honestly say I don’t like the way the street looks now, but I can also honestly say I don’t like the way the design looks now either,” Councilwoman Bev Reponen said.

Councilman John Lowndes said making a decision on the fate of Independence Lane now would be putting the horse before the cart. The city, he said, needs to wait until developer David Lamm of the Maitland City Center has all of his plans in place before the city starts pouring money into its own plans.

Lamm’s development, approved by the City Council in November 2014, will overhaul the old Winn-Dixie lot and New Traditions Bank plaza into a six-story mixed-use apartment building with ground-floor retail space.

Lamm said he is very much in favor of a pedestrian-friendly Independence Lane to help make his project a success.

“It’s an amenity that is significantly important,” he said.

The Council and developers will reconvene next month to re-vote on the redesign.