Tybee Island’s long-planned Butler Avenue median project will soon move forward, only without the median.
Officials have redrawn the streetscape plans for the stretch of Butler through Tybee’s main business district. They removed the palm tree-lined median that was to be built between 14th and 16th streets and shifted the focus to sidewalk improvements.
The city will bid out the project later this month with work scheduled to begin later this year.
“There was a lot of support for the median from some people, but there were others who didn’t think it was in the best interest of Tybee,” Mayor Jason Buelterman said. “This will be nice because it will benefit the businesses along that corridor in much the same way similar improvements along Tybrisa have those businesses.”
The new plans are a near “copy,” said Buelterman, of the streetscape improvements made along Tybrisa between Butler Avenue and The Strand in 2008. The sidewalks will be widened by one foot on each side of the street to allow for trees to be planted and brick pavers to be inlaid in the sidewalk.
“It’s going to make that stretch more pedestrian friendly and hopefully bring more people down there,” Buelterman said.
The proposed median had been a contentious issue since Tybee was awarded a $125,000 state grant to improve Butler Avenue in January 2008. Butler long featured a tree-lined median — similar to Savannah’s Victory Drive — along its full length. The median was removed in the early 1960s.
Many Tybee residents and area business owners expressed concerns about the restored median. Issues ranged from access and traffic flow to vegetation maintenance and the impact on the island’s many parades.
“This will beautify that stretch without putting the trees down the middle,” said Harry Spirides, owner of the Ocean Plaza Beach Resort at Butler Avenue and 15th Street. “That’s a win-win.”
Funding was the median’s ultimate undoing. The city bid the project last fall and received just one qualified proposal, and it exceeded the project budget by $270,000. So City Council shelved the project last October.
The revised project should elicit bids more in line with available funds while still accomplishing the main goals of the project: Safety and beautification. Vehicle lanes will be narrowed from 12 feet to 11 feet to accommodate the wider sidewalks, resulting in traffic calming, and the removal of the false driveways and curb cuts along the stretch will make for a more level grade for pedestrians.
The pavers and trees will give the stretch what City Manager Diane Schleicher calls the “you know you have arrived” feeling of a downtown area.
The city has the funds available to cover its portion of the project, the mayor acknowledged. The state grant requires a minimum 20 percent match from the city, and a portion of Tybee’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax revenues are designated for the Butler Avenue improvements.