A Christmas present in June?
Sure, why not.
Six months after residents criticized Temple Terrace’s threadbare holiday decorations, City Council members signed off June 16 on a $50,000 plan to bring lighted displays to the redevelopment area, with the first phase expected in time for this year’s holiday season.
Leisure Services director Karl Langefeld told the council that the department built its proposal around three goals that were set after the December meeting: Keep the plan fiscally responsible, make it scalable for future years and get the most bang for their buck.
Staff has settled on concentrating the displays along Bertha Palmer Boulevard rather than spreading smaller installations across multiple sites.
“What seemed to make the most sense was to do a display in the redevelopment area,” Langefeld said. “By doing so, we are concentrating our light displays in one area, which will provide the biggest impact. … And it draws people downtown, not only to see the lights, but then to patronize the businesses.”
Last year, residents described the city’s efforts as depressing and said smaller cities, like New Port Richey and Plant City, were doing it better.
Years ago, the city had a much more robust holiday presence on the streets, but various rules and budget constraints, as well as storage issues and declining participation from local businesses, led to the decorations being buried in storage.
Mayor Andy Ross said at the time that some of the criticism was fair.
But new plans call for lighting the trunks of palm trees on the east side of Bertha Palmer between Bullard Parkway and the Winn-Dixie, pole-mounted displays on the streetlights across from them and lighted garland wrapped around four trellises near Starbucks. City Hall’s four existing 4-foot wreathes would be swapped out for 6-foot lighted wreaths with bows.
Banners, which will be hung on light poles along 56th Street, will be funded through donations and contributions from businesses and through the Chamber of Commerce.
Langefeld said the project will be phased in. The first phase covers the stretch of Bertha Palmer Boulevard this year, with a second phase adding lighting around Springdale Pond. A third phase would extend displays into the planned Riverside Park. Once completed, the three phases would be one linked corridor of holiday lighting and decorations from Bullard Parkway to the Hillsborough River.
Staff solicited quotes from three vendors — Mosca Designs, Holiday Designs and Full Stop Productions — with Mosca returning the lowest bid at $43,246.60.
Langefeld said staff is prepared to move forward with Mosca pending the council’s go-ahead. If ordered by August, he added, there would be plenty of time to have everything installed for the season.
The “higher-quality LED” lights and pole displays are expected to last at least three years, while the wreaths and pole-mounted decorations should last 7 to 10 years with proper care.
City crews will handle the installation, and the decorations will be stored in the offseason at the Public Works Complex.
The money will come from current-year fund balance savings tied to an unrelated capital project that came in under budget. However, Langefeld did tell the council that future phases may depend on whether the amendment to eliminate property taxes passes. If so, it would make it harder to expand the program in coming years.
“This would be a challenging expense to incur in the future,” he said.
Council members asked about the lack of decorations for other busy city facilities, such as the Family Recreation Complex, the Lightfoot Center and the library. To stay within the $50,000 budget, Langefeld said, the city had to concentrate the displays in one area for maximum effect rather than spreading the decorations out to other facilities citywide.
The council included a directive in its motion to ask staff to investigate adding decorations at those other facilities as well.
It was also suggested that a standout display on 56th Street might draw people to the downtown area. Langefeld said there was limited room in the budget, but he would try to fit that in.
For now, though, city officials are focused on making sure that this year’s holiday season looks a little brighter than the last one.
