FAQs

The City is working with local organizations and businesses to develop alternate parking options for businesses that solely rely on the on-street parking. Stay tuned as this will be announced when it is available for use. 

During construction, some streets may say "Road Closed to Thru Traffic." These streets can still be used to access the businesses along the streets, but are closed at the highway. Drivers will not be able to enter or exit the highway from these streets, but can use for business access. 

Yes, the City of Florence City Council approved Resolution No. 6, Series 2020, on Monday, March 23rd during a Special City Council meeting. The declaration was effective upon adoption through at least June 30, 2020, and can be extended as needed. 

CITY OF FLORENCE RESOLUTION NO. 6, SERIES 2020:
A Resolution Declaring a Temporary State of Emergency within the Boundaries of the City and Delegating Authority to the City Manager. 

Yes! The City has created a Business Toolkit with printable brochures and flyers. The City also has several items available to businesses that can be requested. 

Visit the Business Toolkit at www.ci.florence.or.us/urbanrenewal/revision-florence-business-toolkit.

The Rhododendron Festival has been incorporated into the ReVision Florence project timeline. The contractor will not be performing work Thursday, May 16th through Sunday, May 19th. Prior to that time, the construction area will be cleaned up for the festival activities. 

For full details, visit www.ci.florence.or.us/citymanager/revision-florence-construction-impacts-rhody-days. 

For more information on the Rhododendron Festival florencechamber.com/annual-events/rhody-festival-2. 

The blue traffic cones indicate business access in the corridor during construction. Blue signs are also in place that state "Business Access" where the driveway access points are lined in blue cones in order to provide easier visibility. 

Alex Hodge Construction (AHC) out of Bend, Oregon, is performing the work. ODOT is managing the construction contract with AHC. 

The contractor has placed cones indicating where there are travel lane and parking closures. The corridor is an active construction site. The cones and barricades indicate areas where the public is not able to be during construction, whether the contractor is on site or not. There may be hazards in the coned off area for vehicles, bicyclists, or pedestrians. It would also be hazardous to have cars merging between one and two lanes along the corridor if the cones did not run the length of the project area. 

They have also established temporary pedestrian access throughout the project area with cones and barricades. These will remain in place as long as they are working in those area. During the project, the contractor has to maintain ADA accessible pedestrian access. It would greatly delay the project to take these down and set them up in areas where it may be possible. In general, the pedestrian access would not be ADA compliant due to the construction if they removed the temporary access. 

The original concept was to perform the construction work at night to reduce the need to close lanes on the highways. When the project went to bid the first time these restrictions on daytime work and lane closures, among other items, resulted in construction bids that were approximately $2 million above the available funds.

The City and ODOT worked to re-scope the requirements on the contractor regarding when and how the work was to be completed. In addition to the construction logistics update, the City and ODOT also combined the streetscape and paving with the hopes of achieving economies of scale between the two projects, and updated some of the project elements. With these updates, the second round of bidding resulted in the bid from Alex Hodge Construction that was within our combined project budget for the streetscape and paving. 

Allowing the contractor to close lanes during the day has reduced the cost of construction by eliminating several logistic items that would be needed to perform the work at night when it is dark. 

Throughout the project design, the landscape architect has worked to balance the visual needs of businesses with the height requirements from the Oregon Department of Transportation for clearance. The architect has driven the corridor many times to do site visits and see how the landscaping may impact the the visual clearance from the highway.

Part of the landscaping requirements outline the placement of plants to be reviewed onsite with the landscaper and landscape architect prior to actual planting. This will allow them to see the individual plants and trees in context to ensure the needs are being met.

If your have a business that has a specific concern, please contact Project Manager Megan Messmer at megan.messmer@ci.florence.or.us. 

Accessory Dwelling Units may be a minimum of 201 sq. ft. and a maximum of 1,000 sq. ft. or 75%  of the primary dwellings size, whichever is less.

Owners of small primary dwellings (500 square feet or less) can construct or place an ADU of equal size.

For example:

• The owner of a 1,200 – sq. ft. home could build up to a 900 square foot ADU
  • 75% of 1,200 sq. ft. = 900 sq. ft.
• The Owner of an 1,800 sq. ft. home could build up to a 1,000 square foot ADU.
  • 75% of 1,800 sq. ft. = 1350 and the maximum sq. ft. of an ADU is 1,000 sq. ft.

• The owner of a 480 sq. ft. home could place an ADU up to 480 sq. ft. in area.