KEYSTONE HEIGHTS – Residents seemed comforted during a Lake Region Prosperity Partners meeting on Thursday, Sept. 28, to know how the city is working ahead to manage growth.

City Manager Lynn Rutkowski said the Florida Department of Transportation and North Florida Regional Transportation Management Center is talking with the city about relieving congestion at State Roads 100 and 21.

At the same time, she said everything in the city has been mapped technologically so responsible departments can pinpoint and quickly resolve problems.

Rutkowski also said the city is reviewing plans to build a recreational park behind Hitchcock’s Plaza and is studying the feasibility of a new municipal building.

“Traffic in Keystone Heights has increased, which is not bad,” she said. “We’re starting to plan on what we’re going to do in the future. Keystone Heights is growing, and it’s growing in a very strategic, very fantastic way.

“We’re looking at new innovations to bring businesses in to support our town atmosphere. Keystone Heights has a heart and soul, a very love-your-neighbor, love-your-community atmosphere. We can never lose that. So all the things that we do are very strategic and cute.”

Residents have long been critical of the main intersection in town. Traffic headed north on SR 21 is often delayed by three or four light changes at SR 100. An abandoned Asian restaurant is also a blight and restricts drivers’ vision to the east on SR 100.

Rutkowski told members the city has gained attention nationally and internationally for its progress in becoming a “smart city.” Engineers with Manzana Consulting have mapped every inch of the city, compiling locations of every tree, building and garbage can that can be monitored electronically.

“That way, we can work smarter, not harder,” she said.

Publications from as far away as Venice, Italy, and Seattle, and as close as Washington, D.C., Tampa and Miami have studied the benefits of using sensors, not human resources, to monitor the city.

“That’s been our goal for the past three years in the city,” Rutkowski said. “How can we keep our taxes, keep our millage rate where it’s at, and not have to charge additional taxes and offer the services and keep up with the demand, keep up with the cost of living and the increased costs across the board? So we’ve been working with this. I’m proud to say Keystone Heights is the leading edge with this technology.”

Keystone Heights will also be recognized for its smart city initiatives at this month’s Northeast Florida League of Cities meeting.

“We’ve been busy for the past couple of weeks to question the visuals or capturing all of our vertical assets,” Rutkowski said. “We’re putting a two-dimensional digital twin to see more issues, our areas of concern, instead of deploying individuals to ride the streets now.”

The North Florida Transportation Planning Organization awarded the smart city grant.

Clay County Utilities Authority, St. Johns River Water Management District and Clay Electric Cooperative also are part of the smart city program.

Rutkowski finished by members that the city is exploring ways to replace its dilapidated town hall and building Sunrise Park behind Hitchcock’s Plaza on SR 100.

The proposal includes replacing the town hall “because we can’t patch the roof anymore. When you come in, you have to flip the light switch on three or four times until they turn on, and even then, only half are working.”

She said the city wants to build a sports complex with two batting cages, two tennis courts that can also be converted into four pickleball courts and at least one basketball court.

Rutkowski said that the city still has about $400,000 left over from American Rescue Plan funds that would be used toward the complex.

“So everything you need will be in one spot,” she said.

To consolidate services, Keystone Heights hopes to find partners like the tax collectors and sheriff’s offices to offset the costs of a new municipal headquarters. The city council and staff are exploring an expansion behind the town hall that would remove the old tennis and basketball courts.

“You can live here; you can work here,” Rutkowski said. “You can shop here and be entertained here because this is the best place in Florida.”

The Clay Chamber hosts the Lake Region Prosperities Partners meeting on the last Thursday of each month at the Keystone Beach Pavillion.