Vero Beach council directs staff to craft downtown action plan after lighting update and funding briefing

The Vero Beach City Council voted unanimously to ask staff to prepare a detailed action plan laying out next steps for downtown revitalization, after a workshop that reviewed a downtown lighting project, tax-increment financing and options such as a community redevelopment agency and a business improvement district.

The council approved a motion directing staff, working with the city manager, to prepare an action plan based on the workshop discussion. The motion passed 5-0 (Voss, Dingle, Carroll, Vice Mayor Moore and Mayor Catugno voting yes) at the meeting's close.

Council members opened the workshop with a briefing from city staff and outside partners on the downtown master plan and the status of several near-term infrastructure projects. City Engineer Danessa Chambers updated the council on the city's coordinated lighting work with Florida Power & Light (FPL); FPL's representative said the immediate construction phase should take roughly eight weeks once preconstruction coordination and utility locates are complete.

"Our construction project lead will be reaching out to staff this week to coordinate an on-site preconstruction meeting...Talking with our production lead yesterday, he's confident that a timeline of 8 weeks, possibly less, that project will be complete," said Eric (FPL representative).

Chambers said the city has ordered lights for specified locations and clarified which blocks are included in the current FPL-driven installation and which are part of a separate city-funded design project. "The lights that are covered by this project are going to be 20 First Street ... Fourteenth Avenue from 20 First Street north along Pocahontas Park, and Old Dixie Highway from Nineteenth Place…