The Arcadia City Council plans to seek more than $1 million in damages against its original contractor for cost overruns in the City's Downtown 2000 revitalization project.
The urban design team of Freedman, Tung, and Bottomley made its first recommendations to develop the city's Downtown Revitalization Plan. Ideas included removing parallel street parking along Huntington Drive and adding eight pedestrian crosswalks, as well as creating themes based on Santa Anita Park.
The City Council and the company originally hired for downtown street improvements are on collision course with a lawsuit. Each side says the other may be in breach of contract.
Downtown 2000, the $4 million revitalization project, will primarily affect Huntington Drive and First Ave. Huntington Drive will have more landscaping and lighting, while First Ave. will have angled parking and landscaping to be more pedestrian oriented.
The revamped downtown debuts today with new streets, sidewalks, benches, palm trees and an all-day street fair. This marks the completion of the Downtown 2000 construction project.
About 100 people, mostly members of the Arcadia Business Association, came to support the City Council's downtown design plan by displaying balloons and banners at a City Council meeting.
Freedman, Tung, and Bottomley, a highly regarded urban design team from San Francisco, has been hired to revitalize Arcadia's historic downtown and mom-and-pop shops.
Construction crews began digging up streets and sidewalks along Huntington Drive in June for the City's Downtown 2000 Renovation Project. Traffic jams, frustrated customers and declining sales have been the result.
City officials determined that Sulley-Miller is in gross violation of the Downtown 2000 project. In a unanimous vote, city officials terminated this company as contractor for the project.
City Council approved lending the city redevelopment agency $1.2 million Tuesday to cover additional cost overruns with Downtown 2000 and other projects.
Arcadia City Council voted 4-0 in favor of searching for a temporary contractor for the Downtown 2000 project. Striking workers have caused delays and fears of future health problems.
Arcadia City Council may declare the Downtown 2000 construction project a potential health emergency in order to suspend it's contract with striking workers and hire another firm to do the work until the strike is over.
To spur downtown business and help merchants fix up storefronts, the City Council has approved a $326,000 package of marketing programs, business incentives and no-interest loans.