CLEARWATER - A roadway transfer agreement between the City and the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), transferring State Route 60 from Cleveland Street to Court and Chestnut Streets was due to become effective on Tuesday February 14th.
But along with that roadway transfer, $2.29 million that FDOT had budgeted for the 2008 resurfacing of Cleveland Street between Myrtle Avenue and Frederica Lane was about to disappear. A City memorandum stated, "The City has requested and the FDOT has agreed that these funds be allocated to the City to allow the City to administer this resurfacing project; however this can not be done after the roadway is transferred out of FDOT jurisdiction."
The solution was to delay the effective date of the transfer agreement until February 28th, providing time to draft a Joint Participation Agreement that would allocate the FDOT funds to the City-managed resurfacing project.
The Clearwater City Council approved the amended roadway transfer agreement during a hastily called meeting on Monday February 13th, just one day before the roadway transfer was scheduled to occur.
$436,000 will be transferred from FDOT in 2006 for project design, and the remaining $1,857,670 will be made available in 2008 for construction.