ANNA MARIA – The second Reimagining Pine Avenue meeting took place at city hall on Monday, July 12.
A third public information meeting is scheduled at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 20. The final study report and recommendations are tentatively scheduled to be presented to the city commission on Thursday, July 29, but according to Mayor Dan Murphy that date could change.
Once that final presentation is made, the city commission, with Murphy’s input, will decide which recommended safety and traffic solutions to pursue and include in the 2021-22 fiscal year budget that begins Oct. 1.
Contracted traffic engineer Gerry Traverso is conducting the $50,000 study of the expanded Pine Avenue corridor that also includes Spring Avenue, Magnolia Avenue and the connecting portions of Gulf Drive and South Bay Boulevard.
Unlike the first public meeting on July 1, the July 12 meeting featured no discussion about transforming Pine and Magnolia Avenues into one-way streets – an idea that raised concerns from many who attended the previous meeting.
“The purpose of this meeting is to gather data from you guys. You live here. You work here. You are the ones dealing with traffic, going to the businesses and driving around. I want to hear from you the things we might have missed,” Traverso said as Monday’s meeting began.
He then provided a quick recap of some of the observations and concerns previously discussed. These included intersection sightlines obscured by vegetation, parked cars and other obstacles; the lack of parking and people parking “anywhere and everywhere;” the lack of sidewalk continuity and delivery trucks stopping and blocking the Pine Avenue travel lanes.
Traverso again noted the study area is shared by a wide variety of users that includes automobiles, delivery trucks, construction vehicles, golf carts, scoot coupes, scooters, bicycles, pedestrians and more. And he again noted there’s a limited amount of space to implement improvements.
Public discussion
During the public discussion that ensued, Rick Lewis produced photos of a main street in Indianapolis that features two-way travel lanes and a wide sidewalk next to a protected bike lane.
“I think it could be modified to fit our needs. You have to have a bike lane that’s protected. Fix Pine and maybe that will fix the other roads,” Lewis said.
Robert Kinghan believes the area near The Center is the most dangerous in the study area. He noted the Magnolia Avenue sidewalk ends at The Center and there’s heavy vegetation at the corner of South Bay and Magnolia.
“When you get to the corner there at South Bay you cannot see. Something needs to be done about that corner,” he said.
Stacie Bulley said the presence of garbage cans, garbage trucks and landscaping vehicles make Magnolia Avenue more difficult to navigate.
“I’m not going to use Magnolia anymore. I’m just going to go up Pine,” she said.
In contrast, Shari Dowling said she tries to avoid Pine Avenue at all costs, but she’s now encountering more traffic on other nearby streets.
Janet Riley lives along Magnolia Avenue and she said, “That is exactly what’s happened. Traffic has increased immeasurably.”
Riley said the four-way stop signs installed at the corner of Magnolia Avenue and Gulf Drive in the past were a “godsend,” but they also created more traffic on Magnolia. She, too, mentioned the congestion caused by parked landscaping vehicles.
Former City Commissioner Chuck Webb said, “Gulf Drive and Pine Avenue are thoroughfares. Magnolia and Spring were never designed to be thoroughfares and that impacts the residents in that area.”
Webb said about one-third of the vehicles that pass through the Magnolia Avenue/Tarpon Street intersection run those stop signs. He said a speed bump was installed in front of his home on Magnolia about 15 years ago and it worked well until it was removed due to complaints made by other residents.
Traverso said speed bumps are one of the few things that slow vehicles down. He said gradually sloped speed tables also accomplish the same objective.
Frannie Kaluza said she sees more people parking along Magnolia Avenue and walking to the beach.
“You have a good problem: you live in paradise,” Traverso said. “Everybody wants to come here to the beach.”
Kaluza implied that living in paradise is becoming less appealing and Kinghan said, “Milton had a poem called ‘Paradise Lost.’ ”
Jean Murray said she sees more parking taking place in the easements along Pine Avenue and she wondered whether the vacant lot at the corner of North Shore and Pine could be used for overflow parking.
When asked about parking in general, Traverso said the existing off-street parking can be maintained, but that may prevent the installation of additional bike lanes and sidewalks. He also said the business owners he spoke with don’t want their existing parking capacity reduced.
“There’s a 50-foot right of way and there’s a number of alternatives you can do. There are always tradeoffs,” he said.
Participating by phone, resident Bob Carter asked Traverso about the study priorities.
Traverso said safety is the number one priority, followed by traffic and operational efficiency.
Joe Richmond asked if the Sheriff’s Office is going to enforce pedestrian and bicyclist violations associated with any study-related safety improvements.
“No doubt enforcement has got to be a part of the solution. We’ve got some issues with enforcement. We’ve got a lot of room to improve,” Murphy responded.
Kinghan asked Traverso what impact paid parking has on traffic and congestion.
“If you have parking, you will have more cars coming,” Traverso said.
Nancy Gravely asked about the installation of mid-block pedestrian crossings to address pedestrians who randomly cross the street without paying attention to oncoming traffic. Traverso said managed mid-block crossings are part of the study.
Joan Voyles asked about shifting the Pine Avenue travel lanes. Traverso said shifting travel lanes slows traffic down, but speed is not the primary concern on Pine Avenue. The goal there is to make the traffic flow more efficiently.
Pat Olesen said the solutions need to be convenient for residents. Barbara Zdravecky said the study results are not going to make everyone happy and the solutions will require a community effort.
