Ugly Port Orange Medians in The News ?

Which one of these pictures is from Port Orange ?
(click on pictures to enlarge)

Picture courtesy of City of Palm Coast                                        Picture courtesy of Port Orange D.P.W. (on 9/10/13)

 
From: Newton White [mailto:NWhite0@cfl.rr.com]
Sent: Tuesday, October 22, 2013 7:20 AM
To: Allen Green; Kennedy, Dennis; Burnette, Don; Bastian, Drew; Ford, Bob; Kisela, Greg; S W at yahoo
Subject:  Information on Palm Coast Medians
 
Recently I visited family in Palm Coast and saw the recent improvements to the medians on Belle Terre Parkway. I wrote to inquire about what, who and how they did it.
There is a wow factor in the appearance and at their city center when you exit 95 I would urge that you take a look at what they have done it seems to be successful and far more appealing than our efforts to date and maybe a little more cost effective as we consider what to do with our medians and public spaces.
Newton White
  
City of Palm Coast                                                                        City of Palm Coast 

 
——– Original Message ——–

Dear Mr. White,
Per your request, attached is a cost analysis sheet for a typical median project that was done last year.  This segment on Belle Terre Parkway extended from Whiteview Parkway south to Ponce DeLeon Drive, a distance of approximately 3,200 feet or 0.6 of a mile from intersection to intersection.  Sod used was Empire Zoysia and materials and labor furnished by our own Public Works Department  worked out to about $1.67 per square foot of median area.  This did not include an irrigation pumping station as that was already installed in a previous phase at a cost of approximately $52,000 but this was a large pumping station designed to serve several miles of medians producing 300 gallons per minute and including automated screen cleaning backwash and filtering.
Also attached are some selected photos of some of our medians.  Shrubs typically used are bulbine, parson’s juniper, Indian hawthorn, firepower nandina, society garlic, loropetalum, pink muhly grass, crown grass, variegated flax lily, perennial peanut and dune sunflower.  Trees include live oak, elm, crape myrtle, Eagleston holly, Sylvester date palms, Sabal palms, sweet gum and “Summer Red” Maple.
As far as maintenance costs, our City feels strongly about the impact of median landscaping as visitors enter our City from I-95, U.S. 1 and State Road 100.  First impressions are important and if those impressions are of vast expanses of weedy or tall grass, weedy bed areas, dead trees and plants, those visitors will not be inclined to remember us in a favorable light.
Whereas if what they see is a “Wow factor”, they might consider stopping here more often, or even better, relocating their home or business here.  Folks are not as likely to throw trash on the road when they see things kept up well.  It is not cheap to maintain our median landscapes, but it is money well spent in our opinion as an economic development tool.  Maintenance costs will vary depending upon the plants, sod, soils and who is maintaining them.  Basic services such as fertilization run $450 per acre/year and pest control about the same cost per acre per year. Hope this answers your questions for now.