Southside Village businesses protest traffic plans

In November, the engineering firm leading the construction of a new lift station near the Hudson Bayou held a community meeting to discuss one of the project’s most significant impacts: the closure of the Osprey Avenue bridge for up to a year.

At that point, McKim and Creed had already arrived at a preliminary plan for rerouting traffic heading northbound on Osprey. Residents had expressed significant concern about cars cutting through their neighborhoods. As a result, the proposed detour directed drivers onto Hillview Street, cutting through the commercial Southside Village district before continuing north on U.S. 41.

Since assuming control of the Lift Station 87 project in 2013, McKim and Creed project manager Robert Garland has repeatedly stressed the value of communication as work progresses. The proposed traffic plans were no different, crafted in direct response to feedback following a short-term closure on the Osprey Avenue bridge at the beginning of 2015.

“Our objective is to demonstrate to the residents and citizens that we’ve been listening,” Garland said.

But with the closure scheduled to begin Aug. 1, businesses in Southside Village say they haven’t been invited to participate in the conversation.

They, too, have significant concerns about the impact of the closure. They have questions about whether Hillview is well-suited to handle a significant increase in traffic, about whether customers will stay away once the detour is in place and about how special events on Hillview Street will be impacted by the new traffic pattern.

“The city talked to everybody else, but they never bothered to come down and discuss it with us,” said Eddie Morton, owner of Morton’s Gourmet Market. “To see what our feelings were, to even let us know what their idea was.”

“It makes sense to direct traffic on Hillview — that’s a business corridor.” — Robert Garland 

City officials said there have been efforts to get Southside Village businesses involved during the planning process. Mitt Tidwell, the city’s utilities director, said the city sent postcards regarding the Nov. 17 public meeting to all addresses in the Southside Village area. As the closure has been publicized during the past seven months, Tidwell said any input from merchants would have been welcome.

Tidwell explained the thought process behind choosing Hillview for the detour. To facilitate traffic turning leftbound onto U.S. 41, the city wanted to select a street with a signalized intersection at U.S. 41. That left three choices: Hillview, Waldemere Street and Bahia Vista Street. From those options, staff determined Hillview was the best suited to handle the detour traffic.

“Bahia Vista is a narrow residential street that often has on-street parking by landscape companies,” Tidwell said in an email. “Waldemere is the entrance to the emergency services at Sarasota Memorial Hospital, and we do not want to cause any delays for emergency vehicles or patients reaching the hospital.”

Garland has mentioned making an effort to ensure businesses aren’t negatively impacted by the construction. That has mostly pertained to businesses closer to the site of the closure; Garland talked about placing wayfinding signs ensuring drivers that certain places are still open to the public once work on the bridge begins.

In advance of a July 26 public meeting to discuss the traffic plans, Garland said he didn’t see any issue with the proposed use of Hillview as a detour.

“It makes sense to direct traffic on Hillview — that’s a business corridor,” Garland said. “We’re increasing the visibility of the businesses on that corridor, which should enhance business.”

Morton found out about the detour a few weeks ago, when the city began posting signs alerting drivers of the impending bridge closure. He disagrees with Garland’s view of how directing traffic onto Hillview will impact Southside Village businesses.

“When people think of detours, they think of a lot of extra traffic,” Morton said. “When you’re pushing people to a certain area, that’s not a plus. It’s an inconvenience for people.”

Knickole Barger, co-owner of Knick’s Tavern and Grill, thinks the current traffic plan will result in gridlock on Hillview. She says the street isn’t a good fit as an arterial road. For most of the distance between Osprey and U.S. 41, there are just two lanes, with both parallel and angled parking spaces on either side of the street. The presence of a roundabout and unlit pedestrian crossings makes things even more complicated, Barger said.

“Basically, they’re shutting down the neighborhood for a year.” — Knickole Barger

She, too, thinks that congestion will be bad for business in the area.

“People aren’t going to want to deal with the traffic,” Barger said.

Barger is asking city staff to address another issue associated with the detour. Southside Village has historically served as the venue for at least three major fundraising events: Morton’s Firehouse Chili Cook-Off, Giving Hunger the Blues and the Southside Village Holiday Stroll.

Last week, Giving Hunger the Blues organizer Peter Anderson received an email from city staff, informing him that the event could not be held on Hillview because of the detour. Anderson is now finalizing a new venue for Giving Hunger the Blues.

Barger said marketing work has already begun for all three events, all of which may not be allowed to go forward in their traditional location now.

“Basically, they’re shutting down the neighborhood for a year,” Barger said.

Katherine Knowles, an employee in the city’s special events office, said the department is still trying to get a handle on what engineering staff has planned for the Osprey bridge closure. She said staff wants to work out a solution for the Southside Village events but that the detour poses a challenge — one the special events office wasn’t fully aware of until recently.

“We didn’t know how extensive the street detours were going to be,” Knowles said. “We had no clue until, like, three weeks ago.”

“We didn’t know how extensive the street detours were going to be. We had no clue until, like, three weeks ago.” — Katherine Knowles

In advance of the July 26 meeting, Southside Village businesses said a road like Waldemere would serve as a much better alternative for the detour, minimizing the impacts on the commercial district. Although the tentative traffic plan has been in place for at least eight months, Garland said the Lift Station 87 project team is still open to changes, where possible.

“We’ll continue to listen to residents and businesses and incorporate as many suggestions as we can,” Garland said.

Considering that meeting is being held less than a week before the closure, there’s some skepticism among businesses about the potential for change. Still, it represents an opportunity to make the case that the traffic plans need to account for the impact on Southside Village — an opportunity merchants they should have had a long time ago.

“To me, there was no thought whatsoever except ‘Let’s just keep cars out of the neighborhood,’” Morton said. “That was the only thought that went into this thing.”

This article has been updated to incorporate comments from city Utilities Director Mitt Tidwell.