Sales Tax Committee Settles on Blueprint Projects

The Leon County Sales Tax Committee has recommended nearly $700 million in projects to be funded an extension of the current penny sales tax.

The Leon County Commission will have the final say on which projects will be placed on the ballot for voter approval this fall.

The Blueprint infrastructure program is known mostly for the road improvements to Capital Circle over the last ten years.

While the project list developed by the current committee includes road projects like Capital Circle Southwest and the Airport Gateway project, the list is different from the prior recommendations in two substantive ways.

First, the current list contains smaller projects focused on specific areas of our community.

And second, the process, for the first time, allows for the allocation of approximately $90 million to what is labeled as “Economic Development.”

A list of all the projects are provided below with the name, the geographic location of the project, and the estimated cost of the project.

The most expensive projects include the “basket” of water quality and stormwater projects at $85 million and the Capital Circle Southwest road project which is estimated to cost $70 million.

The completion of the southwest portion of Capital Circle is seen as a major step toward providing better access from I-10 to the airport.

The list also includes projects that promote the quality of life characteristics of our community. There is $50 million for sidewalks, $15 million for a bike route system, and $10 million for a Northeast Park.

There is a total of just over $40 million allocated to a new approach to development called “placemaking”.

Placemaking involves the planning, design, management and programming of public spaces.

The website Projects for Public Places(www.pps.org) writes that placemaking facilitates creative patterns of activities and connections (cultural, economic, social, ecological) that define a place and support its ongoing evolution.

An effective Placemaking process capitalizes on a local community’s assets, inspiration, and potential, ultimately creating good public spaces that promote people’s health, happiness, and well being.

The Sales Tax Committee approved placemaking activities in Midtown, the Market District, College Avenue, Monroe-Adams Street, and in the Orange and Meridian area.

The Sales Tax Committee will meet one final time, on January 30, before submitting the project list to the Leon County Commission.