The Dade City Commission is considering a sidewalk pressure washing program to address the downtown’s main corridors — as part of a concentrated effort to provide a cleaner community appearance to attract visitors to the town.
The city already has strived to beautify the downtown of late, with recent improvements to the public parking areas on Eighth Street, including tree trimming, mulching of planted areas, and debris removal.
Now, city leaders are looking to pressure wash sidewalk areas on both sides of Seventh Street, between Church Avenue and Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, and Meridian Avenue, between Eighth Street and Third Street. Work would encompass concrete curbs, driveways, and both public and private sidewalk areas.
Commissioners on May 26 provided general consensus to review three third-party quotes for pressure washing services at a future meeting. Received bids ranging from $2,800 to $6,000 to $7,290 for a one-time deep cleaning. Commissioners also are requesting additional information from the companies, such as signing off on hold harmless insurance requirements.
If approved, a sidewalk cleaning project would be funded out of the city’s Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA ).
Dade City Manager Leslie Porter explained the program would be similar to that of New Port Richey, which has a regular sidewalk cleaning maintenance program as part of a downtown revitalization initiative.
Commissioners agreed some type of downtown sidewalk cleaning is long overdue, and perhaps should be done as regularly as annually or biannually.
Commissioner Jim Shive couldn’t recall the last time the sidewalks had been pressure washed, or if ever.
Some type of cleaning program would be “a small investment that will definitely make the downtown shine,” he said.
“It would definitely make the walking and pedestrian areas downtown pop and make it look a lot cleaner,” Shive said, adding it makes sense to contract for such services. The city’s public works crew doesn’t have the equipment needed to perform efficiently, he explained.
Shive also observed that it’s an opportune time to undertake such a project because of lower foot traffic downtown due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s time to do some things that we normally couldn’t get done in the downtown area,” Shive said.
Mayor Camille Hernandez said a sidewalk cleaning would “just give our city a refresh” and “make people feel good about their city and have some pride.
“I think this is a small investment that can make a huge difference as we continue to clean up our town,” the mayor said. She favors pressure washing sidewalks at least once a year, if done at “a reasonable cost.”
The city’s practice in the past has been to expect property owners to clean and maintain private property, including sidewalks, curbs and drives, unless part of a code enforcement action. If a property owner has not maintained their property according to city code, and the city remedies any violations, a lien is placed on the property to recoup the costs associated with the cleaning of the property.
Other updates from Dade City Manager Leslie Porter:
- Staff is in the process of ranking bid responses for the construction of a new concession stand and public restroom building at Moore-Mickens Field, 14318 Canal St. The city has budgeted $150,000 for the project. The old structure was demolished on May 22 by city public works.
- Staff is applying for a technical planning grant from the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), to help fund an update to the city’s comprehensive plan.
- Staff is developing a budget workshop calendar for fiscal year 2020-21, with an expectation that several workshops will be required once new city commissioners come aboard following the June 30 municipal election. “We’ll really need to hit the ground running when we have our new commission installed, so I anticipate there’ll be quite a few budget workshops as we work through the process this year,” Porter said.
- Bidding is expected to open July 9 for the multimillion dollar Tank Hill wastewater improvement project. The scheduled on-site pre-bidding meeting had previously been delayed, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Published June 03, 2020
