Lt. Col. Malcolm “Mac” McMullen, left, a civilian city police employee, presents Mayor Patricia Gerard with a flag that flew over his base in Baghdad as police Chief Lester Aradi looks on.
LARGO – Two projects aimed at beautifying the city were stalled by the city commission at its July 1 meeting.
Plans for renovation of the city’s clock tower plaza were stalled after commissioners said their staff had ignored concerns over the cost of 13 palm trees and possible danger imposed by plans for a 14-inch-deep pool under the clock.
Commissioners also balked at immediately requiring developers to add public artwork to their projects in the city.
Some reluctance was voiced on both proposals by the area's current economic climate.
“I'm not sure this is how the city should be spending $300,000 right now,” said Commissioner Rodney Woods on the Clock Tower plans.
Commissioners also voiced anger when they learned the palm trees, intended to frame the plaza, were going to cost some $65,000 more than the $300,000 budgeted for the plaza at the intersections of East and West Bay, Seminole and Missouri, at the entrance to the city's Central Park.
Recreation, Parks and Arts Director Joan Byrne said the trees weren't included in the cost estimate because they were to be bought through the city's tree planting funds. She explained this money is paid by builders who don't want to include the required number of tree plantings on their property.
Byrne said the builder is then required to pay into the tree planting fund.
Commissioners also weren't impressed by an artist's rendering of the project. Commissioner Harriet Crozier said the drawing should have given taxpayers a more complete idea of what the plaza would look like after it was done.
Instead, to save money on the drawing, according to Byrne, the city's architect for the project was instructed to only show the central area immediately under the clock tower.
Curtis Holmes, a regular critic of civic actions, again raised his objections to inclusion of a pool under the clock. He pointed to similar projects in Clearwater and Tampa where he said homeless people had turned the pools into bath houses.
Byrne snuffed at Holmes' suggestion saying, “We don't seem to have that problem in Largo.
But, Mayor Patricia Gerard said she was concerned about the possibility of children wandering into the water and drowning. Commissioner Mary Gray Black questioned the city's liability.
The project is scheduled to be financed through the city's allocations from Penny for Pinellas. Woods said this money could be used for “more important” projects such as renovations of the city sewer system.
Last October, Public Works Director Brian Usher told the commission that landscaping lights in the plaza no longer work, its pavement has cracked and repairs alone are no longer feasible. He said the city had put off renovations for five years.
Plans call for building the central water display into a knee-deep pool with lighted fountains. She said uneven pavers and increased landscaping would “soften” the plaza's look and discourage skaters.
This, commissioners agreed, would give the city time to create an advisory board to develop standards for any art created.
The idea was first proposed in 2007 but wasn't reduced to an ordinance until March. If adopted, the code would require builders on any project of $2 million or more to either provide artwork on its site equal to 0.5 percent of the project's estimated cost, or pay the city one percent of the estimated total project cost that would go into a public art fund.
In oither matters, U.S. Army Reserve Lt. Col. Malcolm “Mac” McMullen presented the city with a flag that flew over his base in Baghdad.
McMullen. a civilian employee of the police department is a military police officer who recently returned from a one-year deployment to Iraq.
It was the second such flag presented to the city. In 2004 a city public works employee, U.S. Navy Petty Officer Robert Burris, presented the city with a flag that had flown over his base in Iraq.
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