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entrances to cities and counties, became the preferred design template in place of a project -wide distribution of landscaping improvements. In the case of the south US 1 project, landscape improvements were clustered near the southern limit of the project where US 1 crosses into St. Lucie County but were not provided along the median, all in keeping with FDOT's revised guidelines. To provide south USI median landscaping improvements and a welcome sign at the South County line, staff now proposes that the County secure professional design services and seek grant funding. ANALYSIS To obtain funding for median landscaping improvements, staff proposes to obtain professional design services, then submit an application in September 2017 for state grant funding. The grant, known as the Florida Highway Beautification Grant, is a state-wide competitive grant. In order to improve the chances of obtaining the grant, a 100% grant match (totaling $100,000) will be needed from the County's Tree Ordinance Fund. That fund consists of monies collected from private developers as mitigation for removing trees on development sites. In accordance with County Code Section 927.11(1)(d)(3)(c) money from the fund can be used for `relocating trees or for planting trees on public -controlled lands', such as the roadway medians of south US 1. Each year, the maximum Beautification Grant award to any one recipient is approximately $100,000. Paring a successful grant application with the county's match, a total of $200,000 may be available for the addition of median landscaping. Since the Beautification Grant is a highly competitive state-wide grant, with a maximum of ten recipients per year, it is possible that grant funding will not be obtained. If so, the project will be limited to the $100,000 county contribution for landscaping. In either case, it is anticipated that the median landscaping project will be completed by mid -2018. In addition to a grant match, the Highway Beautification Grant application requires a landscape plan completed by a registered landscape architect. As such, county staff requested a proposal from its general planning consultant, Kimley-Horn & Associates, Inc., for completion of a landscape plan and design of a county welcome sign for placement within the project limits (as part of a separate construction project). It is anticipated that the welcome sign design may be used for signs at other entry way locations. The attached proposal from Kimley-Horn & Associates, Inc. includes the consultant's completion of a landscape plan meeting all technical specifications for landscape located within roadway medians, permitting of landscape installation through all applicable agencies, such as the Florida Department of Transportation, and the design of a county welcome sign to be constructed within the project limits as part of a separate county welcome sign project. Once designed, construction of the welcome sign could proceed ahead of the median landscaping improvements. C:\U.m\GRAMC—INppDwV.oc.l\Temp\BCL Tc .Io ,.\ yp 7,gRCL@D1p5FE O@BCLCaD 05p88C. . 2 P126