By Pam Nicholls GSAC Board Member
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The project to restore the landscaping along Seagate Drive and the Seagate Linear Park destroyed by Hurricane Ian will likely not be completed before the end of March now, according to City Parks & Recreation Director Chad Merritt.
With planting season quickly approaching, the City is still waiting for Florida Power & Light to remove the poles and overhead power lines left over from the project to bring power, cable, and communication lines underground in the neighborhood.
As the new landscape plan for the medians calls for some reconfiguration of the existing irrigation, Merritt thinks it would be best not to make a start before FP&L is finished.
“The latest projection we received from FP&L was the project would be completed in March this year,” says Merritt. However, if this deadline is not met, Merritt says he plans to proceed with planting regardless. “Since there have been several shifts with the work timeline already, we do not want to jeopardize replanting the medians if the FP&L project continues to be pushed back,” he said.
As previously reported, the City is also working with FPL to recover a portion of the costs of restoration since funding for the landscaping is not covered by FEMA.
The area highlighted in yellow in the aerial photograph attached to this article illustrates the medians where landscaping is planned. The Parks & Recreation Dept considers the median between Pirates Bight and Seagate Drive as an extension of Seagate Linear Park.
