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Highlands Today

Streetscape Project Starts In Washington Heights

Kathy Waters/Highlands Today

Sidewalks along Martin Luther King Boulevard are closed as the Washington Heights neighborhood undergoes a streetscape project.

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By MANDY SHEETS | Highlands Today

Published: September 25, 2007

SEBRING — The Washington Heights area is getting a facelift in the form of new sidewalks, landscaping and lighting.

Streetscape 8 will feature new sidewalks lining the roads, removal of overhead power lines, antique street lights and new landscaping, beautifying Lemon Avenue, Martin Luther King Boulevard and North Ridgewood Drive.

"We are trying to make the area aesthetically appealing and address health and safety concerns," said Pete Pollard, executive director of Community Redevelopment Agency. "We are hoping our efforts will attract reinvestment into the community."

Construction is under way on North Ridgewood Drive, and the entire project should be complete by November.

Pollard said experience proves streetscape projects lead to friendlier communities. More pedestrians can be found walking when they don't have to walk in the street, and lights will illuminate the sidewalks and fronts of buildings, leaving very few shadowed areas.

"Not only are the lights aesthetically appealing, they fix a health and safety issue as well," Pollard said.

City officials have been meeting with the Washington Heights Concerned Citizens group for the past two years to discuss the streetscape project.

"We have been working with them every step of the way to solicit input and explain what we can and cannot do," Pollard said.

KDL Underground and Development is completing the $930,000 project, which is partially funded through a community development block grant.

Some adjustments were made to the original plans because bids came in significantly higher than budgeted.

Robert Saffold, a resident of the area, said he is upset about some of the adjustments, which include changes to curb specifications and removal of the proposed sidewalk on the east side of Martin Luther King Boulevard from Tangerine Lane south to Sheriff's Tower Road.

"We've waited 35 years for something to happen in this year," Saffold said. "We just want to make sure it's done right."

Saffold said without curbs, he thinks the sidewalk along Lemon Avenue will be torn up by cars that park in front of First Missionary Baptist Church.

"The sidewalks are going to be the same height as the street," Saffold said. "So they have nothing to keep them from parking on the sidewalk and cracking it."

Pollard said the city will put no parking signs along the problem area.

"They do have a problem with parishioners parking on the sidewalk," Pollard said. "We are trying to work with the church to eliminate the problem."

Pollard said he doesn't think raising the sidewalk would stop people from parking on the sidewalk.

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