Public Meeting Previews King Street Plans

Many public infrastructure projects focus more on the infrastructure part than the public. But St. Augustine officials are making sure the public is front and center with its plans for King Street.

The city held its second public meeting late last month on the King Street Improvement Project. According to a city media release, the plans aim to create “a beautiful streetscape leading to the heart of the Nation’s Oldest City.  The project goes from Malaga Street (west) to Charlotte Street (east) and includes a variety of mobility and beautification improvements to make this ‘The Best Mile in Florida.’”

Assistant City Manager Reuben Franklin began the meeting with an overview of the status of the project.

“When I think about this project, I think about it in two distinct phases,” he said. “Malaga Street to Cordova Street and Cordova Street to the base of the Bridge of Lions.”

Franklin said after the first public meeting in February, the city’s Historic Architectural Review Board and Corridor Review Committee both met in April, followed by a City Commission discussion in May. Commissioners are expected to consider the project again at a future meeting.

“After this this meeting, if there’s neighborhood associations or businesses that want to get together, I’m more than happy to set time aside to meet in smaller groups and get more feedback,” Franklin said. Summing up the overall plan, he said the project will provide beautification, pedestrian improvements and traffic flow improvements.

Following Franklin’s introductory remarks, project manager Chantal Bowen from traffic and engineering consultant Hanson spoke about the effort.

“We’ve got a very strong team,” she said. “This is a very special project for us; we know it is special for you.”

Deputy Project Manager Jeremy Marquis from Marquis Latimar + Halback echoed Bowen’s comments.

“We really have boiled this down to the fast this is important to all of us who live here and it’s important to all of those who visit,” he said.

Marquis said the guiding principles of the improvement effort, or what he called the “Big Three” are livability, history and beauty.

“We are a living city (and) you need to be able to drive around; you need to be able to park (and) you need to able to still function well,” he said.

Reviewing the history of King Street, Marquis said there have been many different iterations of the road and showed historical photographs to illustrate the point.

“We have such a beautiful city, such beautiful architecture (and) ambiance, and this is about reinforcing that,” he said.

While preserving the historic nature of the street is a prime consideration, Bowen said there are more practical issues that also need to be addressed.

“Infrastructure definitely needs to be upgraded,” she said. “One thing we know for sure at the top of the list is stormwater.”

Bowen said an innovative concept being considered is an inverted crown design for the roadway.

“Roads are normally crowned in the center of the road,” she said. “We’re looking in this case to actually bring all the drainage to the center, actually installing a new collection system down the center of the road.”

The inverted crown is designed to keep stormwater from running up in the sidewalks, making it easier for pedestrians to move around.

Bowed also said discussions are underway with FPL to move the overhead electrical lines underground to provide “more resiliency and storm readiness at the same time it also improves aesthetics along the corridor.”