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Street design — a la carte.

That’s what residents in the Bayshore and Gateway Triangle communities soon could be able to do, thanks to a new design workbook for the area. The workbook was commissioned by the Bayshore/Gateway Triangle Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Board and the Bayshore Beautification Municipal Service Taxing Unit Advisory Committee.

A six-month study by A. Gail Boorman and Associates, the landscape architect firm hired for the project, created new residential design guidelines for the communities. These include various choices of decorative light posts, metal benches and trees to revamp streets in the designated area.

“It’s designed to be a tool to empower neighborhoods to improve their streets,” said Gail Boorman, president of A. Gail Boorman and Associates.

Boorman said one of the things that her firm noticed was that the Bayshore and Gateway Triangle area had different yet unique styles. So, rather than create a template “of one size fits,” the firm decided to offer different options.

“This way they can make it uniquely their own,” she said.

At a meeting on Dec. 6, community redevelopment agency and beautification committee members saw the final draft of the new design workbook.

“We discussed the workbook and made some recommendations,” said Dave Jackson, the executive director of the Bayshore/Gateway Triangle Community Redevelopment Agency, or CRA.

The next step is getting final approval from the CRA Advisory Board and the Collier County Commission.

“Personally I was very pleased with what the consultants did,” beautification committee and CRA chairman Bill Neal said. “This will serve the community.”

Neal said that by combining the resources of the CRA and beautification committee, instead of each trying to do something on their own, more was able to be accomplished.

“It turned out to be better,” he said.

The CRA was created in 2000 to foster redevelopment in the formerly blighted areas of Bayshore Drive and the Gateway Triangle, which includes commercial and residential properties between Davis Boulevard, Airport-Pulling Road and U.S. 41 East.

The beautification committee was created in 1997 and is in charge of overseeing beautification efforts in the Bayshore area.

Lakeview Drive (Bayshore) and Andrew Drive (Gateway) are expected to be the first areas affected by the new guidelines.

For more information on the workbook and the CRA call (239) 643-1115 or visit www.colliercra.com.