SEBASTIAN – A new restroom facility will be coming to the Sebastian Bark Park while surveyors will take to Sebastian streets determining where more parking can be designated.
The Sebastian City Council approved a 6-year spending plan for major projects within the city, including $75,000 for restrooms at the dog park and a $30,000 parking study. The overall 6-year plan’s budget consists of nearly $22.4 million worth of projects. In the upcoming fiscal year 2010-11, the city has about $3.23 million in projects it plans to get underway.
Not all council members approved the plan, though.
Councilman Eugene Wolff took exception to the city’s plan to spend the same amount of money paving streets as it would for installing sidewalks.
Calling roads “integral infrastructure” and more important than sidewalks, Wolff said he could not support the plan.
He also questioned the city’s plan to allocate $200,000 for improvements to the former Hurricane Harbor property as part of the city’s working waterfront development.
“I don’t drink the Kool-Aid on this island,” Wolff said, adding that he would rather see something happen with the site first before putting money into it.
While other council members expressed understanding for Wolff’s concerns, they pointed out that the 6-year plan is really only focused on the first year and a half. Anything beyond that is subject to change.
Mayor Richard Gillmor said that the capital improvements plan “is a little bit of a moving target.”
“This is not set in stone,” he said.
Councilman Don Wright added that there could be other needs that should be included, but currently are not, such as repairs to the retaining walls on Schumann and Hardee lakes.
“We can’t predict long-term very well these days,” Wright said.
