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AARON SHAROCKMANWork on three blocks of Georgia Avenue is intended to develop a greater sense of community.
PALM HARBOR - This 115-year-old community is blazing a new trail these days, revitalizing a downtown removed from the superstores and suburban sprawl that greater Palm Harbor is known for now.
This summer, the focus of that effort has moved to Georgia Avenue, where a three-block stretch of the street has been turned into an oversized sandlot. Come February, downtown boosters hope it is the groundwork for a more pedestrian friendly historic downtown.
Workers are constructing a new storm sewer under Georgia Avenue to take stormwater to a retention pond being built west of Alt. U.S. 19. Before, rain from County Road 1 would turn Georgia Avenue into a river, residents say.
Now all that water will be directed underground, said Paul Giuliani, director of Pinellas County's public works construction division.
The new road will also have brick intersections at 11th and 12th streets and new sidewalks. The $2-million Penny for Pinellas project is scheduled to be completed Feb. 17, 2004, Giuliani said.
But Tuesday, Georgia Avenue was a sand pit marked by tire tracks and surrounded by construction cones. There are only three homes on the road, and dirt access roads service them. Businesses, meanwhile, all sit on street corners, where the cross streets remain open to local traffic. Giuliani said his office hasn't fielded any complaints since work began July 27.
The Georgia Avenue project is being done in anticipation of widening CR 1 from Tampa Road to New York Avenue. It also is part of Palm Harbor's larger revitalization efforts, said Don Hurt, president of Old Palm Harbor Main Street, a group that promotes the downtown.
The goal is to make historic downtown Palm Harbor stand out in people's minds as a distinct place.
"You could drive from Clearwater to Tarpon Springs and not even realize you were in Palm Harbor," Hurt said. "It's a regular megalopolis. And to people, Palm Harbor is U.S. 19 at 55 miles an hour."
"We want to give our hometown a real identity."
The group's focus is on three square blocks around Florida Avenue between CR 1 and Alt. U.S. 19.
Earlier this year, the county restored an 80-year-old chapel on the corner of Georgia Avenue and 12th Street. It also has been working on building an activity center, dubbed Harbor Hall, with a parking lot next door to hold receptions, banquets and dances. The center, which will also house the offices of Old Palm Harbor Main Street, should be finished next month.
"I can remember when my little downtown was always bustling on Friday and Saturday nights," Hurt said. "That went away for awhile. But now, people want to return to that kind of shopping experience."
After work is finished on Georgia Avenue and CR 1, workers will repave Florida Avenue, widening the sidewalks and adding brick intersections and other aesthetic touches. Hurt said the plan is to create downtown street sets that match the identity of Palm Harbor's downtown.
Hurt said he expects the entire project to be completed some time in late 2004.
"The work on this street is the first step toward a new downtown," Hurt said. "And hopefully, a new sense of community."
- Aaron Sharockman can be reached at 727 771-4303 or asharockman@sptimes.com