Status please re: 82nd avenue bike lanes. Where is the village project timeline? The money is mentioned in the budget, but no mention of completion is what is at issue.

What a difference a change in administrations makes - in transparency, in responsiveness as well as in results. Has anyone noticed how projects and timelines are fluid, if provided at all?

I have been asking for updates as to the completion of the 82nd avenue bike lane project. See a PRIOR RELATED POST of November 21, 2018, Follow up – requesting status of the $1,000,000.00 TAP grant, will the new council follow through to maintain our priority for bicycle lanes, attempt to repurpose the money or reject this grant? for background.

2019 went by without a peep. No public discussion was held in 2020. Then, buried deep within the budget message (and, therefore, the adopted budget) is the following:

82nd Avenue Bicycle Lane: Florida Department of Transportation has awarded a grant of $1,000,000 to the Village for the construction of a bicycle lane on SW 82nd Avenue from SW 160th Street to SW 136th Street. Construction funding is allocated by the Transportation Planning Organization for FY 2024. The first phase of the project, which encompassed the portion from SW 168th Street to SW 160th Street, has been completed. The last phase would take the bike lane to SW 136th Street. The overall transportation revenue anticipated for FY 2020-21 is $1,463,700. However, $554,282 of said total represents personnel costs, leaving a balance of $909,418. Some of the items above are already accounted for in the operating budget, specifically items V and X. Total operating costs allocated for FY 2020-21 are $1,278,600. The revenue deficit needed to meet associated costs for the budget cycle is being funded from prior-year surpluses.

CLICK HERE and scroll to page 24.

So at least current village officials are now admitting that there is the $1 Million TAP Grant. Now, can we get a timeline for completion or rejection and return of the grant?

The first step in transparency was to ADMIT there is a viable $1 million TAP Grant for Bike Lanes. (Even if the admission was provided cryptically and buried deep within a really dry-read document.) A good next step would be to publicly provide information on the status and then the project timeline.

Where is this disclosure? This item is listed (on page 24) under a category listed as "Expense Allocation Highlights" which is defined as a category (category discussion begins on page 23) where the Village officials "... review the expense side of the equation and in consideration of potential issues and possible funding shortfalls, we provide this recap for your review:"

The following are listed as Expense Allocation Highlights:

Public Safety

Legal Services

General Fund Revenues

82nd Avenue Bicycle Lane - buried at the bottom of page 24, where few, if any, take notice.

The question I have been asking is for the timeline for this hard fought project or an admission that they are going to let this project go and return the $1,000,000.00 TAP Grant to an agency that will put these tax dollars to work.