Fort Walton Beach Council minutes — 02-24-1976 Regular — reading text

project. I have not seen a project for that area. Mr. Rigdon moved that the City prepare a project for a bike trail on Mooney Road and proceed immediately. Motion was secon- ded by Mr. Hill and Mayor called for dis- cussion. Mr. Hunt said that Council has moved in a directbn of sidewalks on Mooney Road. I guess this would be in conjunction with this, not in lieu of it? Mr. Baughman stated that he is not talking about taking a section of the road and calling it a bicycle path. We are talking about making an asphalt strip from two to four feet wide and tie it into the wooden walkway that has been proposed and lead them off the pavement. Mr. Hunt asked if Mr. Baughman is talking about proposing a bicycle trail in lieu of what we have already planned? Mr. Baughman stated that the committee dis- cussed this and we felt that it would be better in that area to build a bicycle path and allow pedestrians to walk on it. I think there are more bicycles and auto- mobiles in that area than pedestrians. Mr. Hunt stated that what we are waiting for is for the county to take corrective action in the Bass Lake Dam area to per- manently repair the culvert at Bass Lake. I understand we have material on hand now to begin construction of a six foot wide walkway across this area. I wouldn' t want to see that project scrapped. Mr. Rigdon said that his idea is to go .-, ahead with the walkway project. My j motion was to extend the path from Golf j Course Road and tie it in with the bridge, and to have only one structure, not two. -~ J Mr. Baughman stated that he has been chairman of the Bicycle Committee for two years, and we have been waiting for the county, state and federal government to come up with funds. I think it is time that we spend some money ourselves for this.  d / z Tr,7' - - 125 Mr. Hunt said that he met with the county commissioners a month or so ago. With all the problems that the county has had with drainage, Mr. Park ton has designated any excess funds to correct drainage problems. He is aware of that hazardous area. The I county Mr. has not ignored us, but I should go ahead and do something. think Baughman stated that the committee sidered asking the county to go in and we con- build a sidewalk on the other side of Mooney Road. Question was called for, and motion car- ried unanimously. PARKING LOT COMMITTEE Mr.Hill presented the following recom- RECOMMENDATIONS mendations from the Parking Lot Committee: TheCouncil Parking Lot Committee from time to time has looked at the temporary leasing of off- street parking lots for the downtown Main Street area where off- street parking requirements have been exempt in exchange for the gift of right- of- way by the property owners. After several months of study and inves- tigation and supported by studies and recom- mendations from the Municipal Planning Board, and appraisals by real estate appraisors, the Committee recommends that the City purchase the James N. Cox property at the price of $ 185, 000. 00 with $ 35, 000. 00 down and $ 150, 000. 00 over twenty years at 8% per annum; and the Pat Brooks Patterson property at $ 34, 800. 00. The monies to be paid from the Community Development Block Grant Program in the amount of $ 137, 500. 00; the balance of $ 82, 300. 00 will be paid from the General Fund over the 20- year period." City Manager stated that you have a recom- I mendation from yesterday that this be studied for two weeks. Mayor recognized Mr. Sam of Downtown Business Association. Taylor, Mr. president Taylor stated that they have studied this situation for fourteen months. We are in desperate need of parking. We took a sur- vey at 3: 10 p. m. this afternoon and there were only seven available parking spaces  i.~'.~......_-~. -'~"---"'" r 126 Jl/~ fI76 on Main Street. At the present time we have several parking areas on Brooks Street, but we can' t get anybody to park there. We need permanent parking as close to Main Street as possible. I strongly urge that we take immediate action for permanent parking in downtown. Mr. stated that he realized that Baughman Council voted to discuss this in two weeks. But I am convinced that this parking lot needs to be in a central location and I am also convinced that we need to get moving. Baughman moved that Council Mr. approve the committee recommendations and purchase these lots in the central loca- tion ( Cox property and Patterson property). Motion was seconded by Mr. Bishop and Mayor called for discussion. Mr. Hunt that he requested that stated we postpone this for two weeks for further study. At that time I had not had an opportunity to review the information available. I think the committee needed to take a closer look at the values of the properties and the appraisals sub- mitted. We had two appraisals on the Cox property. One appraisal was $ 132, 000 and another appraisal was $ 180, 000. On the Brooks property, there was an appraisal for $ 24, 800 and another appraisal for 35, 000. There is too big a spread in the appraisals, and there needs to be fur- ther study. I recognize the need for maintaining and upgrading our downtown area and keeping our tax base in tact. But also I feel we have a responsibility to the citizens to provide dollar value for