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LORRI HELFANDCity's leaders want to know why there are no entry markers for the Main Street district after years of planning.
LARGO - A few years ago, city officials and community leaders decided that Largo needed signs to identify its downtown core.
A design was worked up by Shaughnessy Hart & Associates of Orlando. And the City Commission gave the staff the nod to put out a bid.
Three years later, the signs still aren't up.
Officials and merchants are perplexed.
"We need to get on with this," Commissioner Charlie Harper said. "I'm very disappointed we don't have signs at all."
Mike Staffopoulos, who has served as community development director for 18 months, said job turnover and staff shortages have forced the department to focus on major projects instead.
While the signs aren't a large-scale project, they are significant, according to Terry Moore, manager of Downtown Largo Main Street association. They add to the downtown historic character and define the downtown area, she said.
"When we say something's going on in downtown Largo, nobody knows where it is," Moore said.
In a general sense, the downtown district stretches along West Bay Drive from Central Park to Clearwater-Largo Road. And it spans Clearwater-Largo Road from West Bay Drive to Ponce de Leon Boulevard.
About a month ago, the city revisited the issue and opened a bid for two monument-style signs. They would be installed in the downtown core on the northwest corner of West Bay Drive and Missouri Avenue and the northeast corner of West Bay Drive and Clearwater-Largo Road.
The signs, identifying Largo's Main Street and downtown district, would be patterned after the previous design. They would be about 13 feet high and 18 feet wide, with wrought iron accents and planter boxes.
Their foundations and columns would be brick, which would probably be provided by the city.
Largo received only one bid, from Broach Custom Signs of Sarasota, for about $50,000, at least $30,000 more than the city planned to spend.
"I think the signs are important, but not for that price," Mayor Bob Jackson said.
Meanwhile, the city staff is trying to find out why the bid came in as high as it did.
And city leaders are considering other options.
"There's got to be a cheaper way to do it," Commissioner Pat Gerard said.
If Largo can't find a more affordable solution, the signs may not go up for quite a while, Staffopoulos said.
But that option is not okay for Mike Martinez, who owns Renovations furniture store on West Bay Drive.
Martinez, a member of the Downtown Largo Main Street association, said constructing the signs should be a Main Street project. He's willing to design them himself and help build them.
"This should have been done a long time ago," Martinez said. "This just doesn't make any sense."
Lorri Helfand can be reached at 445-4155 or at lorri@sptimes.com