South Monroe Sector Plan

[Florida]

The following document identifies the tasks required to execute the South Monroe Sector Plan. Projects are organized according to Priority, Staff Assignments, Remaining, and Future. Each is described below.

Priority: Capital improvements strongly supported by the community during public meetings and give the higest priority.

Staff: Various tasks that city departments have identified in order to execute plan.

Remaining: Miscellaneous, yet cruicial to the execution of the plan.

Future: Open depending on condition.

[Florida]

Priority Projects

1. Create a South Monroe Gateway

2. Streetscape Improvements

3. Construct a Southside Community Park

4. Develop a Southside Activity Center

Staff Projects

1. Create en Economic Development Action Plan

2. Brownfield Cleanup

3. Revise Ordinances for South Monroe

4. Stormwater Improvements

5. Transit Remix

6. Area Fencing

[Florida]

Create A South Monroe Gateway

This will require a merging with the Cascades Park Project, upgrades to landscaping and appearance on Monroe, Adams and Gadsden Streets within and along the edge of the public rights of way.

These improvements are intended to create a gateway/entrance into both Downtown Tallahassee and the South Monroe focus area.

-Railroad beautification to reduce appearance as a divide

-Heavy Landscape Median Along Monroe

-Add Structural and Vegitative Icons along Bridge Flanks

-Beautify Adams and Gasden with Edge Planting

-Street Trees

-8 Ft Sidewalks

-Improve street lighting

-Add street furniture where possible

[Florida]

Streetscape Improvements

-Landscape themes and Landscape Medians

-Crosswalks and Stamping of Roadway in Crosswalks

-Sidewalks up to 8ft

-Street Furniture

-Bus Shelter Enhancements

-Street Lights

-Street Trees

-Landscaped Medians (where possible)

-Utility Placement (removing from sidewalk where possible)

-Closing Open Ditches

-Reccommended Building Placement

The streets are placed into three categories

Pedestrian: Palmer Avenue, Magnolia, Oakland, Adams, and Gadsden. These streets will have 8' sidewalks, streetlights, landscaping, and street furniture.

Community: Monroe, Magnolia, Paul Russell, Orange. 6-8' Sidewalks, street trees, lights with landscaping and street furniture where possible.

Neighborhood: Harrison, Pershing, Hennings, Perkins, Gaile,. Neighborhood streets are reccomended to have sidewalks on at least one side of the street with streetlights and street trees.

[Florida]

Construct a Southside Community Park:

In conjunction with Leon County, construct a community park at the corner of Meridian Street and Orange Ave. Convert the County's proposed stormwater pond, into a park with amenities similar to Lake Ella.

Included will be:

-Playgrounds

-Benches

-Picnic Tables

-Bathroom Facilities

Included with this should be the redevelopment of underutilized parcels on South Monroe Street, which are currently abandoned gas stations.

[Florida]

Develop a Southside Activity Center:

Short Term: Coordinate with the owner of the Southside and Towne South Shopping Centers to enourage cosmetic changes to the exterior of the two shopping centers. Especially for the Southside Shopping Center where new facade and landscape would drastically improve its image.

Long Term:

- Defining the street that connects Meridian Street and Adams through the two shopping centers.

-Using the street along with enhances crosswalks to better connect the two shopping centers.

-Intergrate visually and functionally the two shopping centers with similar color schemes, signage and facades.

-Address the edge of Monroe and Adams Street through the construction of additional buildings or lanscape treatments.

-Create a southside center providing retail employment, housing and entertainment opportunities.

-Intergrate Southside Bus Transfer Facility into this project.

-Work with Florida A&M University to intergrate its conference center into the project.

[Florida]

Create an Economic Development Action Plan

Establish a dialouge between the City's Economic Development Department and business representitives for the South Monroe area through a series of facilitated meetings. The purpose of the meetings is to develop the economic strategies for the area by first determining what the businesses want to achieve and then to identify resources to implement these goals.

Enhancements include the following:

-Facade Renovations

-Coordinated Sign Standards

-Code Enforcement Regulations

-Economic Incentives

-Signage Grants or Low Interest Loans

-Incentives for Building Maintenance

-Ombudsman services and techn-ical assistance.

[Florida]

Brownfield Cleanup

Adopt a Local Brownfield designation for the South Monroe sector. Educate property owners on the incentives provided to Brownfield areas.

Brownfield Areas are eligible for:

Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund

Cleanup Laon Guarantee Program (10% of Loan)

State Voluntary Cleanup Tax Credit (35% of cleanup costs with a $250,000 cap per year)

Business Incentives:

(Not required to be Contaminated)

Brownfields Bonus Refund (This is in addition to that offered through the Enterprize Zone program).

Sales Tax Exemption on Building Materials and Labor for Multi-Family or Mixed Use (w/Residential) projects.

[Florida]

Ordinance Revisions:

Adopt Streetscape Standards that include:

-Requirements for 8' sidewalks

-Require all new site plans to address street through either

(a) Constructing buildings adjacent to the sidewalk (Maximum of 10 feet). This would necessitate removing setback requirements and/or establishing build-to lines. Parking would have to be beside or behind the building as well.

(B) Construct buildings setback from the street with parking in front, but requiring landscaping or a pedestrian

wall on the street to buffer parking from the sidewalks.

-Require new construction to have smaller, pedestrian scale signs.

-Require landscaping be placed along the streets and sidewalks where feasable.

-Buffer outdoor storage of materials from the street through fencing or landscaping.

[Florida]

Transit System Retrofit

Designate a Southside bus transfer facility in the planned activity center and in the Transit Development Plan. As actual site plans for the Activity Center are developed, work with the property owners to integrate the transfer facility into the project.

As future funding becomes available, create a trolley route to connect Universities, Downtown, and the South Monroe sector.

[Florida]

Fencing Concerns

An alternative to using barbed wire chain link fencing includes varius types of materials and designs available to prodvide borders and barriers that enhance territorial reinforcement.

They include but are not limited to:

-Ground Covers

-Low Shurbs

-Trees

-Low Walls

-Bollards

-Slopes and Berms

-Paving Materials and Textures

-Picket Fencing

-Framed Lattice Fencing

-Wrough Iron Fencing

-Wide Pedestrian Friendly sidewalks

[cityboy05]

You really did a nice job on this. I would love to see this street redeveloped. It is indeed a gateway into downtown Tallahassee. I would like to see more signs in this area for instance saying downtown 2 miles, gaines street 3miles and so on. I think Tallahassse needs more signage period.

[Florida]

I couldn't agree with you more on the signage.

[csmurphy8885]

pretty signs

[Florida]

Urban signs

[97preludesh]

yes, tallahassee signage sucks, read my new topic: A motion to improve Tallahassee Signage.

[TD]

Gravedigger, I had to bump this one to the top..... have we made any progress on the south monroe plan?

I dont think so.

[Florida]

I love it when members dig up the old bones! There are several sector plans and I think each in its own way has made progress. It doesn't seem there's much progress on South Monroe to many of us because we don't hear about the various projects in the news, but it wouldn't be a bad idea to tour the district and see for ourselves. I can make it a project this weekend to go out to South Monroe and snap a few shots of its condition. I can say, its encouraging to see that old building restored just past the railroad tracks, and I know the Rally's on South Monroe is getting a make over.

[poonther]

This one's not quite on Monroe, but is on the Southside:

Lot 2 Gillis Commercial (TPA080075) (41-12-05-003-0020) located on 0.69-acre on the SE corner of Adams Street and Orange Avenue. The proposed project is the construction of a 2,100 square foot restaurant. The property is zoned C-2 (General Commercial ).

This is the vacant lot next to the new Captain D's. I'm ASSuming this will be fast food? Any idea which one?