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Highlands Today

Washington Heights Plan Unveiled Tonight

COMMUNITY INVITED TO PARTICIPATE

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By Joe  Seelig | Highlands Today

Published: November 6, 2008

SEBRING - Washington Heights residents will get a chance tonight to offer their input on a conceptual plan that aims to revitalize the neighborhood.

The Washington Heights Neighborhood Development Plan will be unveiled at 7 tonight at the Boys and Girls Club, by Keith and Schnars, the city's planner.

The Boys and Girls Club is located on Martin Luther King Boulevard and East Center Street.

The planners will present the different elements of the conceptual plan followed by an opportunity for people to walk around the room, look at the plans from a larger perspective, and make any recommendations to add or make changes.

Robert Saffold, chairman of the New Washington Heights Concerned Citizens Group, and community advocate, said in a previous story that the community has been working on this project in some form for about four years.

The community's streetscape project was finished in August. The center of the community, Martin Luther King Boulevard and Lemon Avenue, was adorned with antique street lighting, new sidewalks and curbs, the look of brick-style pavers and new landscaping.

"It has changed the appearance of the whole community," Saffold said referring to the streetscape project. "It by far meets our expectations from the beginning."

Still to be addressed are poorly lit side streets and a lack of sidewalks and drainage issues.

The idea is to take what's good in the community and add to it. The plan includes important sub-plans like extending the neighborhood's storm water system by first creating a storm water master plan.

Creating a plan for landscaping and green spaces will be important, and with it plans for economic growth and recreation, with a basketball court and maybe a skate park.

Plan highlights: http://media.tbo.com/tbo/pdfs/110608highlandsland....

Joe Seelig can be reached at (863) 386-5834 or jseelig@highlandstoday.com

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