The Advisory Council of the Downtown South Neighborhood Improvement District (DSNID) met on March 8, 2017; attached are the meeting minutes.  The minutes contain several recommendations to be approved by the Board of Directors (the City Council sitting as the DSNID Board of Directors).  The actions include:

1.  Approving a $250,000 contribution to a CIP project in FY2017-18 toward improvements at the intersection of Orange Avenue and Michigan Street to improve truck traffic flow; this allows for more pedestrian orientated designs on Orange Avenue north of Michigan Street.  The amount is matched by $250,000 in Transportation Impact Fees previously provided to the project by the City.

2.  Approving a $358,000 contribution toward the enhancement of Orange Avenue, south of Grant Street.  The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) will repave this portion of Orange Avenue in 2018-19 south of Grant all the way into the City of Edgewood; FDOT has offered to include planned enhancements to the streetscape during the repaving project as part of this $3.6 million base project.  The amount is matched by $358,000 by Metroplan Orlando.

3.  A consolidated Scope of Services is attached, detailing several planning efforts to be conducted by the DSNID by GAI Consultants and Littlejohn/S&ME.  These efforts include: planning the enhancements to the streetscape with FDOT's design consultant, VHB; conducting a charrette with the Main Street Board to validate the vision of the District; creating a "complete streets" master plan; furthering enhancements to the Division Avenue, Michigan Street and Orange Avenue corridors; and, creating development guideline Land Development Code amendment, with a visual guidebook that wraps up the various plans and improvements of the area, suitable for marketing, development and staff purposes.  The total work is $370,190, which is utilizing the City's planning services continuing services contracts; a separate item on today's agenda addresses the interlocal agreements needed for the DSNID to utilize the City's continuing service contractors and other services.

4. The Advisory Council also discussed the hiring of a project manager within the City's management to handle the DSNID's activities.  A motion to recommend exploring the independent hiring of a project manager/executive director and creating a permanent position within the City of Orlando was passed by the Advisory Council; a contract project manager position managed within the Economic Development Director's office is subsequently scheduled for the April 2017 Budget Review Committee, which will be acted upon by the City Council at a future date.  A workplan for this position is attached.