Port St. Lucie City staff now has its marching orders after the City Council approved its project schedule involving funds generated by the voter-approved half-cent sales tax increase.
Those funds will be split among Port St. Lucie, Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County and St. Lucie Village; in Port St. Lucie, its approximately $75 million share over the course of the next 10 years will be used for projects such as installing and fixing sidewalks, repaving roadways, and tackling intersections, to name a few.
“We’re already hitting the ground running,” Assistant City Manager Patricia Roebling told the Port St. Lucie City Council during a discussion about projects. Roebling explained that project teams have already been formed utilizing staff from various departments. She added that some of the projects are being designed now.
Not counting less-intensive projects such as sidewalk construction, the city is getting started with St. Lucie West Boulevard improvements.
The intersection at Peacock Boulevard will get longer turn lanes, among other improvements. Construction is expected to start this fall and be complete in time for Mets Spring Training in 2020.
Bayshore’s intersection with St. Lucie West Boulevard is also expected to get some upgrades, as is California Boulevard.
The California intersection, however, will take a bit longer than the others, according to Roebling, because it will need mast arms for the traffic signals once it is widened. Roebling said staff has reviewed the intersection’s needs and determined it best to do all the work at one time.
“This is a very sensitive subject to the HOAs,” Roebling said of California’s proposed widening. She said staff will be reaching out to the nearby communities to discuss the need for the work. The proposed timeline for California is from 2024 to 2027.
The council also decided to prioritize sidewalks within the Torino community just north of St. Lucie West. The city is working with a contractor already under city contract to design the completion of a sidewalk loop that would connect various parts of Torino.
Roebling said the sidewalk project is scheduled for completion by December 2020. Other improvements in Torino include installing roundabouts at key intersections and completing the Winterlakes Park project. Those projects should be complete by spring or summer 2020, ahead of the sidewalks.
Staff recommends spending about $3 million a year on repaving roadways throughout the city. The amount of money “covers a lot of lane miles,” Roebling said.
Among the first to be done is Thornhill Drive between Airoso and Sandia, as well as Bayshore between Kilpatrick and Prima Vista, and Morningside between Port St. Lucie Boulevard and Lyngate. Those are expected to be done within the 2018-19 fiscal year.
Following those three, plans call for Heatherwood between California and Cashmere, Tulip between the 300 block and College Park, and portions of Cameo, Savage, and Cashmere to be repaved in the 2019-20 fiscal year.
Following the 2019-20 fiscal year, the city will allocate more funds to road repaving and accelerate more road improvement projects. The city will “really ramp up” the work, Roebling said.
Gatlin Boulevard remains a priority but is on the books for the work in 2027. Staff hopes to be able to move the roadway up in the schedule as project funding shifts and other funding opportunities arise.
Traffic signal coordination along St. Lucie West Boulevard is planned for the 2027-28 fiscal year. It will require significant funding, according to staff.
In order to expedite some of the projects, staff recommended – and the council agreed – borrowing from internal funds. Instead of incurring outside debt to be paid for with sales tax revenues, the city would borrow from various funds within the city’s own books in accordance with its policies. Those funds would then be paid back with sales tax dollars.
Overseeing the projects’ funding and completion will be a citizens oversight committee, which has not yet been formed. More than 22 applications have been submitted to Mayor Gregory Oravec, who is tasked with selecting the committee’s members. The council will ultimately vote to approve or deny the mayor’s selections.
Oravec told St. Lucie Voice this week that he wants to establish a committee that represents the city’s population as a whole, but also include those with special backgrounds, including finance, project management and engineering. He will continue to take applications until he makes his recommendation to the City Council.
When asked when the committee will be formed, Oravec said “safe to say March.” March is also when the city expects to collect the first of its half-cent sales tax revenues.
The St. Lucie County Commission has already named its sales tax oversight committee, though the committee has not yet held its first meeting.
