Evolving Dunedin

Major Downtown Improvements Coming Soon

City officials approved $261,400 in beautification projects to expand west side parking and unite the marina waterfront with Main Street at a meeting Thursday.

Downtown's entrances will see major improvements this winter. City Commissioners approved two big beautification projects, with a combined $261,400 price tag, during a meeting at City Hall on Thursday. One project will expand parking areas at the eastern entrance of downtown. The other will add palm tree landscaping and a pedestrian promenade that visually unites the Municipal Marina with Main Street. Downtown Parking Lots To See Improvements The city is doling out $81,999 for improvements to two parking areas and an alley near Highland Avenue and Wood Street. Joan Rice, city transportation and traffic engineer, said the project includes: The existing asphalt parking lot will be milled and resurfaced with pervious concrete, and also …

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Parking Stalls Officials On Marina Waterfront Plan

Dunedin officials stuck on balancing parking and green space in the peninsula area.

Officials are hungup on how parking fits into downtown's marina waterfront future. Overall, the plan is meant to make the Dunedin's marina waterfront appear more “connected” to the downtown business area. “If you look down there now, there’s nothing really that attracts you to that waterfront. … It kinda comes across as a dead zone,” Dave Gildersleeve, civil engineering consultant from Wade Trim, said during a presentation to city commissioners on Sept 15. Gildersleeve presented commissioners with 18 recommendations based on studies and surveys with community members. The city hired Wade Trim last year to help develop the plan. The most important of the proposed $1.8 million (estimated) changes, Gildersleeve said, is constructing a Main …

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Monty Seidler

2:42 pm on Tuesday, September 20, 2011

IMHO, I think the present parking areas east of Broadway off Main enable pedestrians to walk west past local and projected new businesses on their way to the Marina. I don't really want to look at more parking on the Marina. There are some of the "18" recommendations that have serious merit. Others are debatable. Opportunities for new business and safe pedestrian crossings sound good. I guess I …   more ›