A redesign of the area of Monticello Avenue is one step closer to coming to fruition.
During its regular monthly meeting Thursday, Williamsburg City Council authorized for Interim City Manager Andrew Trivette to execute an interim agreement with Henderson Inc.
Henderson is tasked with redesigning and constructing Monticello Avenue from Richmond Road to Treyburn Drive in tandem with the Midtown Row mixed-used redevelopment. They are also constructing the Midtown Row project, which is anticipated to be completed by 2020.
“The Midtown development is designed to be much more urban than what’s there now,” Trivette told City Council Thursday.
Trivette said the redesign of the street is the city’s portion of the redevelopment project.
Changes to the road include right-of-way widening, the installation of parking, landscaping, and the addition of a multipurpose trail, cycle track, new signalization, sidewalks, LED street lights and pedestrian safety measures, agenda documents show.
The interim agreement allows Henderson to do design work for the project without implementing a full comprehensive agreement for the whole project.
The interim agreement was deemed the best way to proceed at this point because of “some uncertainty with utilities and certain aspects of the design,” according to agenda documents.
The road project on Monticello Avenue was spurred by the Midtown Row development, which includes building a mixed-use shopping, entertainment and residential area and revitalizing the Williamsburg and Monticello shopping centers.
Led by Maryland-based developer Broad Street, Midtown Row has brought Earth Fare, Bonanza Social Kitchen, 9Round, Great Clips and more.
The more than $4 million earmarked for the Monticello Avenue redesign road project was originally allocated for the Capitol Landing Road renovation.
In August 2017, City Council voted to essentially swap the priority of the Monticello Avenue and Capitol Landing Road projects.
The Capitol Landing Road Redesign had originally been scheduled for fiscal year 2018, and the Monticello Avenue project for 2020. After the vote, the design work for Capitol Landing Road will take place in fiscal year 2019, with construction scheduled for 2020.
