Brooksville discusses preserving South Brooksville and other brick streets; staff to revise ordinance and produce asset assessment

The council revisited a prior direction to inventory and plan for the city’s remaining brick streets. Public Works presented a staff list of known brick streets (Daniel Ave., Bell Ave., East Liberty St., South Brookdale Ave., Virginia Ave., South Saxton Ave., Olive St., Mount Fair Ave., Cherry St., Highland St., Florida Ave., Pryor St., West Early St. and Magnolia) and proposed allocating the annual paving budget ($600,000) on a biannual basis to alternate between asphalt paving and brick maintenance/replacement.

Council members expressed strong interest in preserving exposed brick streets such as South Brooksville Avenue and asked staff to return with a clearer funding plan and an asset management assessment that ranks both brick and paved streets by priority. Members debated whether to require full water/sewer line replacement when repaving a street and whether to repave streets that, when milled, reveal bricks beneath existing asphalt. Staff said an ordinance currently requires work to stop if bricks are found during milling; council directed staff and the city attorney to propose language that gives public works discretion in cases where a paved road will be repaved and only a small buried brick patch is revealed.

The council agreed that fully exposed historic brick streets should be preserved and that the city should avoid needless stop‑work orders that disrupt contractors when a paved street is being milled and repaved. Public Works said it will commission an updated asset management/street assessment to produce a prioritized list and bring back proposed ordinance edits and funding options. Finance staff confirmed the street fund can carry over reserves so the council can set aside money for brick maintenance in future budgets.