Lincolnville committee hears update: MLK streetscape at 90% design, outreach underway for 48 easements

Jamie D. Perkins, community services director for the City of St. Augustine, told the Lincolnville Community Redevelopment Area Steering Committee that the Martin Luther King Jr. streetscape project has 90% design documents and is moving toward utility undergrounding and streetscape construction.

Perkins said the project has been active since 2017 and that staff has begun outreach to affected property owners. “We do have 90% design documents at this point,” Perkins said, and staff has mailed informational packets to roughly 48 property owners who could be candidates for easements. The packets included conceptual exhibits showing 10-by-10 and 20-by-20 easement footprints, proposed landscaping, and appraiser valuations to indicate compensation if an easement were required.

The easements would allow placement of small electrical features such as transformers or switch cabinets needed by Florida Power & Light (FP&L) to convert overhead lines to underground along the corridor. Perkins said FP&L has identified the locations; the city is asking for voluntary participation and tracking responses. “We are requesting response,” Perkins said, noting staff will follow up where owners do not reply.

Perkins said the project team estimates about 30 switch cabinets (the smaller equipment) and that the 48 easement requests include additional right-of-way clips needed for stormwater drainage and turning radii. She warned that if a single property owner refuses an easement for a cabinet, FP&L might have to redesign locates for the corridor. “If residents decide that they do not want to participate…FP&L may have to go back to the drawing board and re-analyze those locates,” Perkins said.

Staff described the proposed mitigation for visual impacts: hedging and other landscaping around equipment that FP&L will allow as part of the streetscape plan. Perkins said FP&L will not pay for landscaping but will permit plantings; the city’s design shows landscaped screening similar to what appears in newer subdivisions.

On funding, Perkins acknowledged a recent construction grant application for the overall streetscape (including undergrounding) was denied. She said staff is continuing to pursue funding opportunities but declined to commit a firm construction start date. “We initially were hoping to break ground on this project in 2026, but I’m not certain that that will occur,” Perkins said. She added she would prefer completing the corridor in one phase rather than phasing blocks, because repeated excavation and resurfacing would lengthen construction and increase costs.

Perkins also said the mailed packets went out in batches over roughly two weeks and that the city is tracking responses; no firm response deadline was set. She noted the outreach targeted short-term rentals first but that most properties on the list were homesteaded or primary residences; staff said six short-term rentals were on the initial list.

Next steps: staff will continue individual follow-up with property owners, coordinate with FP&L and design consultants, and seek alternative funding options.