Attachment_M_-UNITE_Ashley_Grant_-_City_of_Tampa_-_Narrative.pdf

Uniting Neighborhoods and Infrastructure for Transportation Equity: Ashley Drive

City of Tampa

Reconnecting Communities Pilot Discretionary Grant Program

DOT-RCP-FY22-01

UNITE: Ashley Drive

Narrative Overview 1

Location & Map 8

Response to Merit Criteria 9

Project Readiness 18

Benefit Cost Analysis 19

Appendices Appendix A: Benefit Cost Analysis

Appendix B: Environmental Justice Screen Report

Appendix C: Florida Department of Transportation Feasibility Report

Appendix D: Letters of Support

Narrative Overview

INTRODUCTION

“There is a natural power in feeling connected to your environment and being able to naturally move through it however you choose.”

-- Gloria Jean Royster, North Downtown Tampa Resident

For generations Ashley Drive has served as an impassable barrier that has deprived the residents of North Downtown Tampa from the natural power associated with the freedom of movement and of connection to their environment.

With the construction of Interstate 275, a portion of Ashley Drive was converted into a grade-separated freeway ramp, bifurcating historically Black neighborhoods, severing Downtown Tampa’s historic street grid, and routing high-speed regional traffic into Tampa’s urban core.

Today Ashley Drive exists as a contradiction.

Its history serves as a monument to Tampa’s history of racial diversity, but also to its legacy of white supremacy and segregation. It acts as a gateway to Downtown Tampa, but also as an auto-centric highway that is incompatible with the surrounding community. It straddles Tampa’s beautiful riverfront and is home to many of Tampa’s most valued business and cultural amenities, but also isolates these places from the rest of Tampa’s downtown.

This grant request Uniting Neighborhoods and Infrastructure for Transportation Equity, or UNITE: Ashley Drive, will support the City of Tampa’s efforts to address these longstanding contradictions and inequities.

Project area's proximity to Downtown Tampa

With funding from the USDOT Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program, Tampa can begin the work of redressing its history of inequitable transportation decision-making and Black community erasure while creating new economic opportunities in the area. By lowering Ashley Drive’s interchange ramp to street level at Royal Street, this project will restore the neighborhood connectivity eroded by I-275. Renewed roadway connections and improved active transportation facilities will fundamentally change how downtown Tampa’s most vulnerable residents and users move through their communities.

Once completed this project will:

• Redress the barrier between Downtown Tampa and its riverfront, characterized by high-speed traffic, long block lengths, and indirect bicycle and pedestrian routes

• Reconnect Tampa’s historic street grid by bringing the freeway ramp down to grade and introducing new roadway connections at Harrison Street and Royal Street

• Bolster safe and direct active transportation access in Downtown Tampa by providing new bicycle and pedestrian routes and upgrading existing facilities

• Create new opportunities for affordable housing, park space, and placemaking by providing new connections and repurposing underutilized space

• Engage and empower community members through the establishment of a Community Advisory Committee, and a collaborative community planning process

Under the leadership of Mayor Jane Castor, the City has embarked on a multi-faceted planning effort to prepare for Tampa’s rapid growth and changing landscape. Mayor Castor’s Transforming Tampa’s Tomorrow (T3) initiative focuses on fostering a sustainable and resilient community prepared for climate change, providing attainable housing for all Tampa residents, supporting our economy through workforce development, and developing a well-connected, multimodal transportation network.

The UNITE: Ashley Drive project is in lockstep with these strategic goals, and will help transform Tampa’s tomorrow.

DESCRIPTION OF BARRIERS

Situated between the Hillsborough Riverfront and the downtown urban core, Ashley Drive presents several significant barriers that restrict mobility and access, undermine redevelopment efforts, and fracture community cohesion. In its current condition Ashley Drive:

• Severs the downtown grid, introducing greater out of direction travel for bicyclists and pedestrians, restricting access to premium transit, and encouraging more driving trips downtown

• Exhibits an auto-oriented design that is detrimental to those walking and biking, and is inconsistent with the surrounding community

• Acts as a major barrier to Tampa’s downtown redevelopment strategy by disrupting the essential connection between the Hillsborough River and the rest of downtown

UNITE: Ashley Drive will redress these barriers by restoring connectivity, improving the active transportation environment, promoting community character, and supporting economic development and affordable housing in Tampa’s downtown.

A more detailed description of the barriers presented by Ashley Drive can be found in the Merit Criteria #2: Mobility and Community Connectivity section of this application.

COMMUNITY HISTORY

The history of Ashley Drive and the surrounding community tells a contradictory tale that is in many ways reflective of Tampa’s complicated racial past. On one hand, it is reflective of Tampa’s history of strong racial diversity and cooperation. On the other, it highlights some of the darkest elements of Tampa’s past including its legacy of white supremacy, segregation, and forced displacement.

The story of Ashley Drive’s namesake particularly demonstrates this dichotomy.

Ashley Drive was named for William Ashley, who arrived in Tampa in 1837 at age thirty-three and spent the rest of his life serving as Tampa’s first City Clerk. The streets of Tampa looked and felt very different in 1837: in the evenings, downtown was lit by gas lamps and along the eastern bank of the Hillsborough River, orange blossoms from citrus trees perfumed the air. William was joined by Nancy Ashley, his lifelong companion. Their relationship was itself a great contradiction. History and their shared surname suggest that their relationship was grounded in mutual affection—they spent their childhoods together, lived together, and were buried together—but they never officially married. Then again, they couldn’t: Nancy Ashley was a Black enslaved person; William Ashley was a White person enslaving her.

No matter how loving Nancy and William’s relationship was, we must recognize the inhumane power imbalance that underwrote

it. William’s enslavement of Nancy may have offered her a degree of protection, according to some historians. In the absence of the legal right to marry, naming Nancy as William’s property was a way to ensure that any harm she might have suffered from a third party in segregated Tampa would be punishable by law. But the captivity/servitude that underwrote their bond, though made necessary to a degree by their circumstances, also degraded the relationship.

William and Nancy’s relationship was only tenable under a compromised arrangement that left William with total agency over Nancy’s life.

A grim symmetry exists between these circumstances and the consequences of Ashley Drive. Prior to the construction of Ashley Drive and I-275, Tampa’s Hillsborough River was lined by predominantly Black neighborhoods, including The Scrub -- an epicenter of Black business and culture. Before that, the riverfront land was owned by Fortune and Benjamin Taylor, a Black couple who had escaped enslavement in South Carolina and found entrepreneurial success in Tampa.

William and Nancy Ashley’s Shared Tombstone in Oaklawn Cemetery

Tampa Interstate Construction, 1951

Around the middle of the twentieth century, construction of I-275 and Ashley Drive erased Tampa’s legacy of Black success and cut off The Scrub from the north and west. Planners and city officials intentionally and tactically used the construction of the interstate as a tool of segregation. Zoning plans from the project explicitly mention “several other, smaller areas, occupied now by colored people that should be eliminated and moved to other areas.” Later, officials used eminent domain to condemn the Scrub and replace the razed neighborhood with public housing.

Over time, Ashley Drive’s geographic and social rift in downtown Tampa festered. The roadway’s placement destroyed businesses on either side and stamped the life out of the working waterfront. Larger developments, office buildings, and sprawling parking lots ate away at local businesses. Fortune Street, named for Fortune Taylor, once spanned the entire east-west length of the downtown.

Today it is only a single block long.

I-275 and Ashley Drive continue to damage Tampa’s vulnerable communities. Legacy Downtown neighborhoods have never recovered socially or economically from the loss of The Scrub and the bisection of North Downtown.

All but one of the census tracts surrounding Ashley Drive currently qualify as low-income zones. In census tract 51.01, through which Ashley Drive runs, the poverty rate sits at 23%-10% higher than the statewide average.

This reconnection project also carries great symbolic weight. Today, Ashley Drive offers a metaphor for the contradictions of William and Nancy’s fundamentally unequal relationship and Tampa’s long history of discrimination. The proposed redesign of Ashley Drive presents an opportunity to transform this division into a seam and help stitch the community back together.

This side-by-side comparison of the project site demonstrates prior to the construction of the interstate, the downtown grid provided residents direct access to the riverfront and connections to the north

PROJECT HISTORY

The need to transform Ashley Drive was first identified as part of the City of Tampa’s InVision City Center Plan, which highlighted the corridor as a barrier that prevented access to the Hillsborough River. It recommended that opportunities to reconfigure Ashley Drive be considered as part of any future reconstruction of the I-275 Downtown Interchange.

Such an opportunity presented itself through the Florida Department of Transportation’s (FDOT) Tampa Bay Next Program (TB Next). The TB Next program conducted extensive public outreach to determine the future configuration of Tampa Bay’s regional interstate system. One of the largest components of the TB Next Program was the re-evaluation of the Tampa Interstate Study Environmental Impact Study (TIS SEIS). FDOT and its community partners conducted extensive public outreach to develop a solution to address the interchange’s safety and congestion issues, while mitigating impacts to the surrounding community. The resulting Locally Preferred Alternative (LPA) was presented at a public hearing in February 2020, and the TIS SEIS was granted Location and Design Concept Acceptance (LCDA) by the Federal Highway Administration in September 2020.

The LCDA included improvements that will shift general purpose traffic away from Ashley Drive and onto parallel Tampa Street and nearby Scott Street, presenting an opportunity to re-imagine the role of Ashley Drive. The City of Tampa worked with FDOT to develop a concept that would reconstruct the Laurel Bridge allowing the Ashley Drive interstate ramp to be brought down to grade sooner. This would provide for a more gradual transition into Downtown Tampa and present an opportunity for new roadway connections. These improvements were further vetted by corridor and intersection operations analyses completed by FDOT, that proved the feasibility of the concept.

From 2020-2022 the City of Tampa has completed extensive public engagement regarding the project, giving presentations to public advisory committees and citizens groups, meeting individually with community leaders, and hosting virtual and in-person public workshops. When asked how Ashley Drive could be improved, participants noted a desire to slow vehicle speeds, balance traffic volumes with the surrounding network, and reconnect the grid including Harrison Street/ Fortune Street, Royal Street, and Laurel Street. They also expressed interest in the provision of additional amenities such as public art, more green spaces, better lighting, and improved signage for visitors. This feedback was used to refine the UNITE: Ashley Drive project presented in this application.

Through a parallel effort, the City of Tampa partnered with the Downtown Community Redevelopment Area (CRA), to purchase four acres of underutilized land adjacent to the project area, with plans to develop the spaces into mixed-income developments with complimentary community uses. The city is preparing to release a Request for Proposal in Fall of 2022 and will partner with developers to improve connections and provide active transportation facilities on local roadways.

These improvements will complement the investments proposed as part of this proposal.

2020-

Interstate Construction

InVision City Center Plan

TB Next LCDA Approval

UNITE: Ashley Drive Outreach

Grant Request

GRANT REQUEST AND PROJECT

PHASING

The City of Tampa is requesting $5,354,695.50, with a $5,354,695.50 local match for a total project cost of $10,709,391. This project will be part of a larger multi-agency and public/ private partnership that will transform Ashley Drive and the greater North Downtown area.

The City of Tampa is requesting funds to complete Stage I of this project, that will be constructed in coordination with the planned improvements to be completed by FDOT in Stage II and will complement improvements to be completed by the Downtown Tampa CRA and private developers in Stage III.

The project leads and individual components of UNITE: Ashley Drive and complementary projects are outlined below (shown in Figure 1):

STAGE I

City of Tampa Lead (UNITE:

Ashley Drive grant request)

• Construction of new roadway connections at Harrison Street and Royal Street

• Removal of the Ashley Drive to Tampa Street off-ramp and northbound Ashley Drive flyover and installation of two new traffic signals with pedestrian features

• Construction of new and improved active transportation facilities along Ashley Drive and Harrison Street

• Implementation of traffic calming measures along Ashley Drive

• Community Engagement to incorporate placemaking and public art elements and guide equitable project implementation

STAGE II

Florida Department of Transportation Lead

• Reconstruction of the I-275 interchange to north of the Laurel Bridge

• Implement improvements to nearby Scott Street and Tampa Street that will redirect traffic off of Ashley Drive

STAGE III

City of Tampa, Downtown CRA, and Private Developer Lead

• Facilitate the re-development of four acres of land into potentially 800 units of mixed-income housing

• Construction of new roadway connections

• Upgraded active transportation facilities on local roads

Figure 1. UNITE: Ashley Drive project staging

Location & Map

PROJECT LOCATION

The UNITE : Ashley Drive project is located within Tampa’s North Downtown neighborhood and is near many of Downtown Tampa’s most valuable cultural and recreational assets including:

• The Tampa Riverwalk

• Waterworks Park

• The Straz Center for the Performing Arts

• The Glazer Children’s Museum

As seen in Figure 2 the project is also located near many of Tampa’s most significant transit and active transportation investments, including high frequency bus and future Bus Rapid Transit

1 US Census Bureau ACS 5-year 2016-2020

(BRT) routes, the Downtown Streetcar and its proposed extension, and several bicycle and trail connections. The barriers to connectivity presented by Ashley Drive restrict access to these assets and undermine the city’s largest investments in sustainable transportation.

The project is located entirely within Hillsborough County Census Tract 51.01, which is classified as an Area of Persistent Poverty (APP). Within the project census tract 24.6%1 of residents are below the poverty line, nearly double the national average. The project area also represents one of Tampa’s most diverse neighborhoods, with a 57% BIPOC population.

A more detailed description of project area demographics can be found in the Merit Criteria #1: Equity, Environmental Justice, and Community Engagement section of this application.

Figure 2. Community Resources Comparison

INDICATOR PROJECT SITE

STATISTICS

TAMPA

AVERAGE

NATIONAL

AVERAGE

Cost-burdened renters 34.1% 25.2% 16.3% Single parent households (female) 44.1% 28.3% 20.8%

Zero-car households 26.3% 9.5% 8.5% People below poverty 24.6% 17.5% 12.8% Commuting via Walk, Bike or Public Transit 12% 6% 8%

Table 1. Project Site Statistics Comparison

Sources: US Census Bureau ACS 5-year 2016-2020

Response to Merit Criteria #1: Equity, Environmental Justice, and Community Engagement

SOCIOECONOMIC AND

ENVIRONMENTAL DISPARITIES

As described in the Community History section of the application, interstate construction and urban renewal programs in the 1950s and 60s bifurcated historically Black neighborhoods, displaced hundreds of Black residents, and decimated thriving Black-owned businesses. The subsequent decades saw an economic disinvestment in Downtown Tampa as wealthy and middle-class White residents fled to the suburbs.

Although recent decades have seen an influx of investment and new development in North Downtown, the legacy of bifurcation and displacement is still felt by many residents.

The project census track 51.01 meets definition for Area of Persistent Poverty (APP) and is located in an Opportunity Zone. The study area also demonstrates several socio-economic indicators of poverty that are well above city of Tampa and national averages as listed below.

The EJ Screen Tool shows that residents in the project area are also exposed to high levels of various environmental hazards that are typically associated with highway proximity. The project area ranks in the 90th percentile or higher nationally for air toxics cancer risk, diesel particulate matter, and proximity to traffic.

See Appendix B for the full EJScreen Report.

The UNITE: Ashley Drive project will help to redress these harmful historic policies and mitigate their environmental impacts. By restoring the downtown grid, adding new roadway connections, and installing new and improved active transportation facilities, the project will dramatically improve active transportation safety and access in North Downtown. These benefits will be felt most directly by those living in the project area who are twice as likely to walk, bike, or take transit to work, and nearly three times more likely to not own a car than other Tampa residents. The project will also support the re-development of city owned land into mixed-use housing.

The increase in affordable housing stock will directly benefit renters in the project area who are twice as likely to be cost-burdened by their rent when compared to the national average.

Tampa’s robust housing and anti-displacement programs described in the Merit Criteria #4:

Equitable Development and Shared Prosperity section will ensure residents are able to stay in their neighborhood and enjoy the benefits of this project. By improving the walk bike environment and promoting the construction of more dense, multi-use housing this project will promote mode shift away from driving and towards lower-carbon travel options. This will reduce exposure to many of the environmental health risks highlighted in the EJScreen Report.

COMMUNITY PARTICIPATION

PLAN

The City of Tampa is committed to meaningful and inclusive community engagement throughout the life of this project, with particular emphasis on the vulnerable and underserved communities within the project area.

The City will establish a UNITE: Ashley Drive Community Advisory Committee with public and private stakeholders to provide input, feedback, and help guide the equitable implementation of this project. This committee will include representatives from local agency partners to support implementation and stakeholders from the underserved communities that will be the focus of these investments. This committee will meet on a quarterly basis throughout the grant period of performance to ensure stakeholder and community input. Agency and organization partners invited to participate in this community advisory committee will include: Hillsborough County, FDOT D7, Downtown Community Redevelopment Area (CRA), Downtown River Arts Neighborhood Association (DRANA), Downtown Partnership Transportation Committee, Hillsborough County School District, Hillsborough TPO, Hillsborough Area Regional Transit, Florida Department of Health, AARP, NAACP, neighborhood organization representatives, local community-based organizations, local businesses, and other groups that represent the interests of the communities of focus for these projects.

Community advisory committee meetings will create a database of concerns that can be used to circulate information on upcoming meetings and distribute project updates. A web page will be created and updated throughout the life of the project. Links to the page will be sent to partner Community-Based Organizations (CBOs) to distribute to members and social media platforms, such as Nextdoor, Facebook and Twitter. These platforms will serve as public engagement tools to send notices for virtual and in-person meetings, provide online discussion platforms, and periodically drive visitors to the web page (in Spanish and in English). The city has extensive relationships with area media outlets, including print, broadcast and radio, which will be leveraged to report on progress to the community and to notify the public of upcoming meetings.

The project will also include a community planning component that will work closely with residents, business owners, and other stakeholders to identify opportunities to determine how to repurpose public space within the project area.

MITIGATING CONSTRUCTION

IMPACTS

Throughout the UNITE: Ashley Drive project, the City of Tampa will coordinate closely with the Community Advisory Committee to identify and mitigate negative project impacts. The city will coordinate closely with Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) to ensure that any disruptions to public transit service are appropriately detoured. Since no right-of-way is required for this project, no residential or business relocations will occur. No flooding impacts or impacts to historic or sacred lands are anticipated as part of this project.

The city will continue to work with the community at different stages throughout the project.

#2: Mobility and Community Connectivity

BARRIERS TO ACCESS AND MOBILITY

By severing the downtown grid, Ashley Drive introduces significant out of direction travel to those walking and biking downtown. Residents in North Downtown hoping to access the Riverwalk or other riverside destinations must detour several blocks to either Laurel Street or Tyler Street, the only available crossings for nearly 1/3rd of a mile. This detour discourages many walk/bike trips and can present a significant barrier to those with mobility challenges.

This is true for Gloria Jean Royster, a downtown resident who walks with a cane, and must make a difficult choice whenever she wants to visit Tampa’s Riverwalk. Gloria Jean can either walk across Tyler Street, making a series of east-west crossings against high-speed vehicle traffic without the assistance of traffic signals or crosswalks (locals with a dark sense of humor call this the “Ashley Dash”), or she can walk an additional four blocks.

This disruption of connectivity also impacts transit riders downtown, as Ashley Drive separates the riverfront from Tampa’s greatest transit assets. The nearby Tampa Street and Florida Avenue corridor operate HART Route 1, one of the region’s busiest and most traveled bus routes. Future transit improvements are planned along these corridors, including an extension of the Tampa Electric Company (TECO) Streetcar line, one of the nation’s highest ridership streetcar systems, and implementation of Bus Rapid Transit service that will connect Downtown Tampa to the University of South Florida. The project is also near the Marion Transit Center, which serves as a key transit hub in Downtown Tampa, serving 13 local and regional routes. By introducing out of direction travel, and presenting a stressful crossing situation, Ashley Drive worsens the first/last-mile experience of many transit riders and likely deters many individuals from making these types of transit trips.

UNITE: Ashley Drive would restore community connectivity by re-stitching Downtown Tampa’s urban fabric and reconnecting Tampa’s historic street grid. The introduction of three new street connections will provide safe and convenient active transportation facilities that will reduce out of direction travel, calm traffic along Ashley Drive, and improve the comfort and safety of those engaged in active transportation for users of all ages and abilities. These improvements will also help to maximize the benefits of Tampa’s most significant sustainable transportation investments while supporting mode shift towards lower-carbon travel options such as walking, biking, and transit.

Gloria Jean Royster, North Downtown resident, standing on the future Harrison Street connection to Ashley Drive.

BARRIERS TO ECONOMIC

OPPORTUNITY

The InVision City Center Plan outlines a clear vision for Downtown Tampa’s growth and development. Central to this vision, is the creation of a more seamless connection between Downtown and the Hillsborough Riverfront.

The plan identifies Ashley Drive as a major barrier to this vision because its high-speed, auto-oriented design severs the connection of downtown to its most valuable natural resource.

This reality hampers the city’s riverfront redevelopment efforts, making it more difficult for Tampa to grow its downtown economy and develop much needed affordable housing.

The UNITE: Ashley Drive project will allow the city to move forward with the vision established in the InVision City Center Plan by transforming Ashley Drive into a more walkable, livable corridor that attracts businesses, developers, and new residents. It will also repurpose underutilized urban space into attractive community resources and create more opportunities for business frontages by constructing new roadway connections.

This project will not significantly impact the movement of goods. Ashley Drive is not a designated truck route and the parallel Florida Ave and Tampa Street (US 41) one-way pair provide truck and freight access to I-275 and SR 60.

By reconnecting the Northern Downtown grid, citizens will have easier access to Downtown Tampa’s cultural and recreational activities.

BARRIERS TO COMMUNITY COHESIVENESS

“Access to downtown should be re-configured to get Ashley Drive down to grade as soon as possible, acting as a City street rather than a freeway ramp and making it as easy to cross as possible. This move will allow a positive improvement in the relationship between this part of downtown and the river.”

-- Tampa InVision City Center Plan

Situated in the core of downtown Tampa and surrounded by urban neighborhoods, the Ashley Drive freeway ramp stands in stark contrast to the vibrant community that surrounds it.

The Invision City Center Plan envisions Tampa’s North Downtown Village as a multimodal, walkable area that extends the value of the Riverwalk.

It also lists Ashley Drive as a major barrier to achieving that vision. In its current condition, Ashley Drive severs access to the Riverwalk while creating major barriers to walkability. As Ashley Drive comes back down to grade at Tyler Street drivers are quickly transitioned from a limited access highway context to an urban core context, promoting high vehicle speeds and an uncomfortable, unsafe walk/bike environment.

By narrowing travel lanes, adding new intersections, and other traffic calming roadway elements, this project will allow for a longer and more thoughtful transition zone between I-275 and Tampa’s urban core. These elements will signal to drivers that their environment is changing, promoting lower speeds and a more safe and comfortable environment for vulnerable road users.

The proposed improvements will also create new opportunities for park space and placemaking activations that will further reinforce community character and help to foster a livable and walkable environment. The City of Tampa will work with the community to design these spaces in ways that reinforce the character of the community.

PROVEN FEASIBILITY

The City of Tampa worked closely with the FDOT to develop the UNITE:

Ashley Drive Project. FDOT conducted a feasibility study, which developed an initial design concept and conducted a traffic analysis. The results of this feasibility study, which can be found in Appendix C, proved the soundness of the concept, and acted as a basis for the city to further explore the transformation of the corridor.

This project will create a smoother transition from the interstate to Downtown and encourage slower, safer speeds as vehicles enter Downtown.

#3: Community-based Stewardship, Management, and Partnerships The UNITE: Ashley Drive project was developed through extensive community outreach and engagement. The concept was first developed through Tampa’s InVision City Center Plan, which included neighborhood workshops and walking tours, community knowledge exchange meetings, stakeholder group meetings, social media engagement, one-on-one dialogues, and neighborhood design charrettes. This extensive community outreach painted a clear vision of a walkable and connected Downtown Tampa and signaled the need for a reconfigured Ashley Drive.

The refined concept was shared with the community through a series of committee presentations, stakeholder meetings, and public workshops. Workshop participants reinforced the need for the project by emphasizing Ashley Drive’s role as a barrier and expressing the need for more connectivity and community-centered place making.

UNITE: Ashley Drive will continue this dialog with the public through the implementation of the Community Participation Plan outlined in the Merit Criteria #1: Equity, Environmental Justice, and Community Engagement section of the application.

PARTNERSHIPS

UNITE: Ashley Drive is part of a larger multi-agency and public-private partnership that will transform Ashley Drive and the larger North Downtown Area.

The project was developed in close collaboration with FDOT who has worked extensively with the community to develop improvements to the I-275/Downtown Tampa interchange. This project will complement the UNITE: Ashley Drive project by reconstructing the Laurel Bridge and making improvements to nearby roads to divert traffic away from Ashley Drive.

This project is a priority for FDOT, and is included in their Statewide 10-year Strategic

Intermodal System Plan. FDOT has also committed resources to the development of the UNITE: Ashley Drive project, funding the initial design concept development and traffic analysis.

The project was also developed in coordination with a nearby, large-scale community re-development effort. The City of Tampa partnered with the Downtown Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) to purchase four acres of land adjacent to the project area. The sites will be used to construct high-density, mixed income housing units and supporting community uses. The City will be releasing a Request for Proposal for this development in Fall 2022 that will require developers to propose multi-modal roadway improvements and connections. These improvements will tie into the work proposed as part of UNITE: Ashley Drive, and together the projects will transform North Downtown into a livable, walkable, and accessible community.

The UNITE: Ashley Drive project has also garnered significant support from the public, and from private and public stakeholders. See Appendix: D for project letters of support.

This grant will continue the momentum of redevelopment in North Downtown with an emphasis on affordable housing.

https://fdotwww.blob.core.windows.net/sitefinity/docs/default-source/planning/systems/programs/mspi/pdf/sis_1st5_projcatalog_2021-06-22.pdf?sfvrsn=b86f2608_4 https://fdotwww.blob.core.windows.net/sitefinity/docs/default-source/planning/systems/programs/mspi/pdf/sis_1st5_projcatalog_2021-06-22.pdf?sfvrsn=b86f2608_4

COMMITTED RESOURCES

The City of Tampa has committed significant resources to the development of the UNITE:

Ashley Drive project, and to the redevelopment of the North Downtown community including:

• Commitment of a $5,354,695.50 local match towards the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program Grant

• Purchase of $4.5 million in adjacent parcels in partnership with the Downtown CRA to facilitate the development of high-density mixed income housing and local roadway improvements

• Complementary roadway improvements nearby the project area including $1.1 million towards active transportation and safety improvements at Doyle Carlton and Laurel Street

• Community-based placemaking improvements along the Ashley Drive Corridor

City partners have also committed significant resources to support sustainable transportation and redevelopment in the North Downtown community

• FDOT awarded a $67.3 million grant to expand the TECO Streetcar system, and a separate $2.7 million grant to fund free TECO Streetcar fares for three years

• FDOT provided a $27.4 million match on an awarded RAISE grant to construct complete streets improvements and dedicated bus lanes for Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) along Florida Ave and Tampa Street

• Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) partnered with the city on a Transit Oriented Development Study that explored how to grow communities adjacent to premium transit, including in North Downtown neighborhoods

#4: Equitable Development and Shared Prosperity

A PLANNING FRAMEWORK

CENTERED IN EQUITY

Ensuring equitable development and shared prosperity is an integral component of Tampa’s land-use and transportation planning framework.

Imagine 2040, Tampa’s Comprehensive Plan, lays out a holistic vision for the city that supports the creation of a thriving, livable, sustainable and equitable place. Its strategies focus on building a more sustainable and equitable transportation system through expanded transit service, and an emphasis on affordable housing. Live Grow Thrive 2045, Tampa’s ongoing Comprehensive Plan update, builds upon these themes and strengthens Tampa’s commitment to equity and equal opportunities. It envisions an inclusive, sustainable, and resilient city; where the natural environment, historic character, and a diversity of cultures enable a vibrant setting for all, while ensuring that residents have equitable access to a high quality of life and opportunity, regardless of background.

Equity is also one of the guiding principals of Tampa MOVES, the new citywide mobility plan. The plan puts a strong emphasis on removing barriers and expanding opportunities for those that need it most. Notably, the plan establishes a project prioritization process that is rooted in equity and is shifting the city’s project prioritization process towards a model that is more responsive to the needs of underserved communities.

https://www.tampa.gov/mobility/transportation/projects/doyle-carlton https://www.tampa.gov/mobility/transportation/projects/doyle-carlton https://planhillsborough.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/Tampa-2040-Comp-Plan-September2015.pdf https://planhillsborough.org/livegrowthrive2045/ https://planhillsborough.org/livegrowthrive2045/

COMMUNITY RESTORATION/

STABILIZATION AND ANTI-

DISPLACEMENT STRATEGIES

Under the leadership of Mayor Jane Castor, the City of Tampa has made great strides to address Tampa’s affordable housing crisis while combatting displacement, by providing resources to low-income renters and home-owners and growing the city’s supply of affordable housing.

Upon taking office in 2019, Mayor Castor identified housing affordability as one of her administration’s five key priorities.

She convened an advisory committee of subject matter experts who were tasked with developing recommendations to ensure that affordable housing options remain available for all of Tampa’s citizens.

The City of Tampa has been working to implement the advisory committee’s recommendations which include:

• The establishment of a City Community Land Trust, which is currently underway

• The creation of a Rental and Move-In Assistance Program, that was launched in 2022.

• The expansion of the Dare to Own the Dream program which provides down payment assistance and loan forgiveness to income-eligible first-time homebuyers in 2022.

• The revamping of the Infill Development program, which donates city-owned lots to local minority-owned developers and non-profits to build affordable housing

These programs are targeted towards low-income renters and homeowners to help ensure that they are able to stay in their homes and neighborhoods despite rising rents and property values.

The advisory committee also highlighted the lack of affordable housing supply as the key factor contributing to the increase in rents and housing costs across the city. These trends have contributed to gentrification and displacement in many neighborhoods, where middle-income families compete with lower-income families for the same pool of available housing. As a result, Mayor Castor has established a goal to construct 10,000 affordable housing units by 2027. As of 2021 6,000 units had been built, planned, or were under construction.

UNITE: Ashley Drive will help to support the City of Tampa’s commitment to affordable housing and will help facilitate the redevelopment of four acres of nearby City-owned property into up to 800 units of mixed-income housing. The proposed roadway changes to Ashley Drive will ensure that new and existing residents alike are able to enjoy a livable and thriving neighborhood.

This grant will help the City achieve it’s goal of increasing affordable housing.

CREATIVE PLACEMAKING

The City of Tampa has developed a comprehensive creative placemaking program, that works with diverse communities to activate public space and reinforce community character. Creative placemaking in and through social equity can foster aesthetics in belonging, strengthen neighborhoods by giving them a voice, and making communities aware that they are heard by investing in and empowering community members to play a fundamental role in making and creating this civic process.

Recent placemaking initiatives have included public art installations, the creation of a parklet program, and an award-winning street mural program. In 2020 the City of Tampa installed a street mural along Ashley Drive, just south of the project area to calm traffic and transition drivers into Tampa’s Downtown core. The UNITE: Ashley Drive project will create new opportunities for creative place-making by repurposing underutilized urban right-of-way that is currently occupied by the Ashley Drive ramp-spur. The city will engage in a robust community planning exercise that will empower the community to reimagine how this space could best be used to create rich and vibrant public spaces that are in line with the community’s needs, and reflective of its rich culture and history.

GOOD-PAYING JOBS AND

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

The employment created by the direct development and construction of the UNITE:

Ashley Drive project will require the skilled expertise of engineers, contractors, and a labor force well-versed in roadway construction methods. The project elements will have immediate job creation benefits for the local economy based on construction spending.

Besides creating immediate construction jobs, these projects will also potentially draw new businesses to Tampa looking for safe, convenient transportation options, bringing in additional jobs.

The City of Tampa operates a robust Equal Business Opportunity (EBO) program that is tailored to help small, women, minority, Service-Disabled Veteran Owned Business (SDVOSB) and Veteran Owned Small Business (VOSB) and LGBT-owned businesses flourish through the provision of resources, business opportunities, and training. Tampa’s city ordinances promote equal opportunity and prohibit discrimination related to city procurement and contracting activities, while encouraging the use of small business enterprises. Additionally, the City implemented an ordinance for Apprenticeship Labor for large and all horizontal construction projects which requires at least twelve (12) percent of the labor hours must be performed by apprentices.

Painting a section of a street mural on Ashley Drive, just south of the project site, 2020 https://www.tampa.gov/news/city-tampa-receives-statewide-innovation-transportation-award-68516

Project Readiness:

Environmental Risk The City of Tampa has extensive experience conducting environmental reviews and risk assessments. The City will contract out the NEPA evaluations and ensure all applicable environmental laws, executive orders, and regulations are considered for the human and natural environment. Public involvement and a community impact analysis will be conducted and included as an essential part of the environmental review process and prior to final project design. The city will review impacts to community resources including:

aesthetics, noise and vibration, community cohesion, access to facilities and services, jobs, tax and property values, community growth and historic preservation. The city will also review air quality, water quality, and potential for impacts on endangered species and natural resources.

The project does not require right-of-way and the city will acquire all local permitting.

The city will coordinate closely with FDOT on their TB Next project (described in the Grant Request and Project Phasing section) to ensure project synergy and complementary design and construction timeframes. No additional state or legislative approvals are necessary to complete the project. The project components in the grant application meet all necessary state and local requirements with respect to transportation planning and comprehensive planning. The project will be constructed using a Design-Build contracting methodology which will include substantial public involvement. Design-Build contracting will advance the implementation of the project and is possible given the lack of complexity of the proposed project. Any additional costs that may be required in addition to the approved project budget will be incurred by the city.

MILESTONE YEAR 1 YEAR 2 YEAR 3 YEAR 4 YEAR 5

REVIEWS, PERMITS, AND APPROVALS

Grant Execution Final Design NEPA Process Public Engagement Local permitting Construction

PERFORMANCE EVALUATION

Performance Evaluation Grant Financial and Programmatic Reporting

Table 2. Project Schedule

Benefit Cost Analysis A Benefit Cost Analysis (BCA) was completed for the project. Using 2020 dollars and a 7% discount rate, the substantial positive impacts of the project are monetized at $61.5M in benefits, compared to a discounted project cost of $6.7M. As a result, the project has a benefit-cost ratio (BCR) of 9.2 (at a 7% discount). Benefit-cost ratios greater than one are indicative of a good return on a capital investment. This indicates that the project is a strategic and positive investment of city and federal funds. The above results do not consider the unquantified benefits of this transformative project and its impact to stimulate the local economy and create jobs during construction.

See Appendix A for additional details on the BCA methodology and findings.

Table 3. Summary of Benefits

BENEFITS QUANTIFIABLE MEASURE

TOTAL

BENEFIT

(-COST)

PRESENT

VALUE (7%

DISCOUNT

RATE)

Safety

Crash Savings Reduction in number and severity of crashes $3,971,648 $1,259,940 Travel Time Savings

Peak Hour Travel Time Savings

Decreased travel time due to decreased congestion with optimized signals $71,188 $16,652

Operational Savings

Decreased Auto Usage

Reduced vehicle operating costs such as gasoline, maintenance, tires, and depreciation $4,121,193 $1,332,068

Environmental Sustainability Vehicle

Emissions Savings/-Costs

Decrease in CO2, VOC, NOx, PM2.5, SO2 emissions due to decreased SOV trips and emissions reducing asphalt overlay $1,001,248 $315,745

Quality of Life

Health Benefit Mortality reduction benefit of induced active transportation $56,707,437 $17,958,251

Economic Competitiveness Real Estate Value

Increase Increase in property values due to increased access to walk and bike facilities $58,275,098 $33,916,637

Other

Amenity Comfort Benefit

Change in Pedestrian and Bicycle amenities includes sidewalk widening, signalized intersections, bicycle facility, and marked crossings

$20,849,652 $6,594,519

Noise and Congestion

Noise and Congestion benefits from a decrease in auto and truck vehicle usage $264,887 $85,618