Sidewalk Talk
Town Gets Moving on Plans to Change the Look of Kane Concourse

 “He has never gotten feedback from the Design and Review board regarding any benches, regarding removing the plants.”

By Evan Berkowitz

At its Feb. 12 meeting, the Bay Harbor Islands Town Council discussed changes to the sidewalks on the town’s main commercial thoroughfare, Kane Concourse, also known as 96th Street.

Gianno Feoli, whose design firm Calvin, Giordano and Associates was recently contracted for this job, gave a presentation about the street’s new look.

In a Feb. 2 memorandum to Town Manager Greg Tindle, Feoli writes that the project’s scope is to replace the existing terra cotta tile along Kane Concourse and its intersecting streets, and to provide locations for site furnishings (benches, bus stops, trash cans, pedestrian lights, etc.). The firm will work with the Florida Department of Transportation to coordinate location and installation of all new vehicular lights, he states.

Feoli presented the council with a several-page packet detailing the master plan, which included design and construction recommendations from the firm. One significant proposal was to simplify the pavement patterns, eliminating decorative symbols such as waves, squares or diamonds to avoid a look that could soon become outdated. A simpler design would also ease installation and reduce costs, the firm suggested. All three of the proposed two-tone designs for the pavement included the color sandstone. The complementary colors suggested were blue, tan and camel. The council chose camel.

Another idea, which Tindle said was suggested by Design and Review board members, required a “maximized hardscape.” It called for removing 34 large palm trees from the road to increase the space for commercial activity — restaurant tables, for example. Council members rejected the idea of removing the trees, saying they were iconic to Bay Harbor and aesthetically very pleasing.

Teri D’Amico, a member of the town’s Design and Review Committee and an adjunct professor at Florida International University’s School of Architecture, said her committee never approved the sidewalk design Feoli presented. “We never looked at this. He [Feoli] has never gotten feedback from the Design and Review board regarding any benches, regarding removing the plants,” she said. D’Amico also noted that the council often uses the name of her board unfairly, putting its stamp of approval on projects that do not actually deserve it. A frequent critic of the town’s construction project approval process, she said that when this sidewalk item eventually does come before her board, the major design work will already have been done, and they will be informed that “it’s too late” to make any improvements or changes.

When asked about the discrepancy, Tindle said he had never claimed that the Design and Review Committee had approved this project, only that it had given some recommendations, which were recorded in the official minutes.

The council expressed plans to pave a portion of the sidewalk in front of Town Hall with the new design as a test before approving the entire job. Feoli said work on the project could begin as early as August, but a lot of issues still have to be worked out including permitting and approvals from FDOT.

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