It's not always easy being green

By Al Everson
BEACON STAFF WRITER

posted Mar 13, 2009 - 9:28:33am

The interchange of Interstate 4 and Orange Camp Road may be beautified this fall, thanks to a revised landscaping plan by the Florida Department of Transportation.

The FDOT had offered to landscape the interchange ramps with a variety of plantings, if Volusia County and the City of Lake Helen would agree to share in the annual maintenance expenses. The reluctance of the local governments to become partners in the maintenance almost killed the project.

"They expect the local governments to maintain it forever," County Pubic Works Director George Recktenwald said.

He advised the County Council against making a maintenance commitment. "We're looking at $40,000 annual maintenance cost when I've had to cut 12 positions," he said.

Recktenwald said the expense of maintaining the interchange would come from funds his department uses to maintain roads. That account is already short of cash, because the economic recession and fuel conservation by drivers have resulted in lower fuel-tax collections. Over the past two years, county officials have postponed several road-building projects as funding has fallen.

When Lake Helen City Administrator Don Findell approached the County Council in January about forming a maintenance pact, he acknowledged the Lake Helen City Commission also was hesitant to commit the money.

Findell recommended the FDOT make an alternative landscaping plan that would require little, if any, maintenance. Findell's alternative consists of planting more trees and dropping "understory" plants like saw palmettos. Trees, Findell said, cost little to maintain.

The revised landscaping proposal will reduce the cost of the project to $540,000, according to FDOT spokesman Steve Olson. The original landscaping job had been estimated at $850,000.

— al@beacononlinenews.com

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