PELICAN PRESS
YourObserver.com
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 2011
in jeopardy
3A
they’re coming By Rachel Hackney | Managing Editor
By Rachel Brown Hackney | Managing Editor
Radar signs expected in December on Key New radar signs are expected to help traffic adhere to posted speeds on the island.
Sarasota County
The most recent concept plan for the Siesta Public Beach improvements shows the planned stormwater pond adjacent to the Gulf & Bay Club property, in the right-hand part of the design.
An extension sought for SWFWMD grant With construction of a beach stormwater project still delayed, county staff is worried about getting an extension of a grant to cover half the cost of the work.
Sarasota County project managers planned a meeting this week with representatives of the Southwest Florida Water Management District with the hope of saving a $1 million grant planned to cover about half the cost of stormwater drainage improvements at Siesta Key Public Beach. “They’ve been upfront and said that’s not going to be an easy task,” said Spencer Anderson, program manager in the county’s Environmental Infrastructure Office. The grant must be used by March 31, he said, or the county will lose the funding. “That date is coming up real quick,” he added, necessitating the request for an extension. Nonetheless, Anderson said, “We still anticipate beginning construction (of the stormwater project) early next year,” possibly even a bit earlier than that. Referring to county staff, Catherine Luckner, president of the Siesta Key Association, had said during her organization’s Nov. 3 meeting: “They are going to miss the Jan. 1 deadline” for beginning work on the new drainage system. Anderson had hoped to pres-
ent an update to the County Commission this week on the stormwater project. However, he said staff still was working to pull together design-sequencing options for all the planned beach improvements, including the drainage project. It would be Dec. 13, he said, before the presentation would be ready. During a Sept. 14 regular meeting, County Commissioner Joe Barbetta had asked Anderson and other staff to explore possibilities for completing the beach park work in a time frame as compressed as 18 months. “The construction sequencing is very straightforward,” Anderson said. However, he said, staff was vacillating on the aspects of the design services contract for the project, including costs. “It’s just really (about) being able to put something out for advertisement (for bids),” he added. Anderson said they would discuss Barbetta’s request Dec. 13. In the meantime, he said, even though staff had been able to work out an agreement with Gulf & Bay Club condominium residents regarding the placement of the proposed stormwater pond at the beach, a few aspects of the
design work for the overall project also were under review. The pond itself will cover about twoand-a-half acres, another county project manager, Curtis Smith, said last month. The original design covered a half-acre, Smith said. If possible, Anderson said, staff would like to add more features to improve the drainage along Beach Road. The public consensus, he said, is that there are flooding issues on that road. County Commission Chairwoman Nora Patterson has told SKA members during numerous meetings over the past five years that she receives email and phone calls from residents during times of heavy rain about standing water on Beach Road. She reminds the public, she has said, that Siesta is a low-lying island; therefore, it takes a while for rainwater to drain from that road. Luckner did point out to the SKA members one optimistic note about her conversation last week with Anderson. “(County staff) said they would not need to close off any of the existing parking (for construction of the stormwater project at the beach),” she said.
Although the exact timetable is uncertain, Siesta Key should be getting radar signs by the end of the year. Siesta Key Association board member Joe Volpe made the announcement during the organization’s Nov. 3 regular meeting. Although the SKA had hosted a presentation on the signs almost a year ago, he said, it had taken time for the county to pursue the necessary steps to purchase them. “Hopefully, it’s going to help the speeding problem and safety on the island,” Volpe said of the installation of six signs. After the County Commission Oct. 25 approved the recommendation of its Traffic Advisory Council for the speed limit to be lowered from 35 mph to 30 mph on Beach Road between the Village and the Midnight Pass Road intersection, Efrain Duque, manager of the county’s Mobility/Traffic Engineering Office, said the new speed limit signs would not be erected until the radar signs could be installed on the Key. Chris Hauber, technical specialist in the Mobility/Traffic Engineering Office, said he was optimistic the signs would be in place around the Key by Dec. 31. Given that both the Veterans Day and Thanksgiving holidays fall in November, he said it was doubtful the work could be done before December. The signs had been shipped to the county, he said. However, concrete foundations have to be poured for them. “The important thing is that we actually were finally able to get them ordered,” he said. The first email he could find regarding county discussion about purchasing the signs was in March, he said. However, the first exchange about the signs between Public Works and Procurement department personnel was in mid-April. “We’ve been at this for a while,” Hauber said. During the SKA meeting, Volpe said County Commission Chairwoman Nora Patterson liked the idea of the signs so much she had suggested the county pay for them, instead of the SKA and other groups trying to pool funding for them. The total cost of the 12 signs is just under $50,000, about $4,158
Speeders beware New radar signs purchased by Sarasota County are expected in several Key locations before the end of the year: • Midnight Pass Road in the vicinity of the Commonwealth Drive intersection, near the “hump bridge” over the Grand Canal • Ocean Boulevard by the Pass Key Road intersection, facing northbound traffic • Midnight Pass Road just south of the Stickney Point Road intersection • The exit from Siesta Public Beach near the tennis courts • The westernmost Siesta Public Beach exit • One that may “float,” if county staff is able to figure out how best to install concrete foundations in other areas, so it can be moved. One factor in the signs’ locations will be lack of shade. “We do need as much sun exposure (for them) as possible,” said Chris Hauber, a technical specialist II in the Sarasota County Mobility/Traffic Engineering Office. “These are solar-powered.”
per sign. Signs will be placed in other areas around the county in addition to the Key, Hauber said. The purchasing was delayed because not all of the companies bidding on the project complied fully with the county’s request for proposals. To prevent having to re-bid the project, he added, the county had asked for clarifications of the deficient bids. The signs will flash a vehicle’s speed as it approaches. If a vehicle is speeding, the sign will display the words, “Slow down.” The signs will be able to store information about the vehicles’ speeds, which will be accessible by the Mobility/Traffic Engineering Office staff if the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office wants to study traffic trends, Hauber said. The data should make it clear how fast vehicles are moving at certain times of day, for example, he said.
Norman Schimmel
The radar signs that will be installed on Siesta Key will be similar to the models well known to drivers on Orange Avenue in Sarasota.