In dead of summer, Vero Beach council plans to cut lanes on Indian River County main road
News from Florida and across the country is loaded with unbelievable stories about questionable government behavior. I just wish it stopped at the Indian River County line.
The good news is Vero Beach City Council isn't doing anything as egregious as most of the things we see daily on the wires and on TV.
But, as I wrote in December, it’s “almost unfathomable” the council plans to blow up “an effective traffic pattern through downtown that has served Indian River County well for 30 years.”
After all, a council in 2021 reached a reasoned compromise in the long-debated, polarizing issue of whether to narrow the two one-way stretches of State Road 60, also called the Twin Pairs, from seven to four lanes.
The compromise ― adding crosswalks, narrowing driving lanes, widening bicycle lanes and lowering the speed limit when the Florida Department of Transportation repaves the road for an estimated $6.7 million in fiscal 2027 ― came after studies showed the road was safe and speeding wasn’t a major problem.
Council member Linda Moore changes her mind
That compromise is what Linda Moore, a downtown restaurant owner running for council, told our editorial board she preferred on the campaign trail. After being elected, she flip-flopped, becoming the swing council vote to eliminate lanes.
The flip-flop is among a number of concerning events at City Hall ― several related to the main east-west road through a rapidly growing county. The road connects Vero Beach to Interstate 95 and the Atlantic Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.
Unfortunately, peers did not listen to council member Tracey Zudans, whose admonition in January was prescient: Instead of getting into a divisive debate over the road, focus on the one issue she and Moore were elected to shepherd ― redeveloping the three corners, home to a sewer and former electric plant, the city owns along the Indian River Lagoon.
Instead, Zudans’ peers have drained city staff’s time on an array of issues, including petty ones like where golf carts can be used and what the Rotary Club fountain downtown should look like. The issue du jour is art painted on city streets.
This council, in a city whose population is only 17,000, wants a master plan for a downtown that’s been around 100 years and hopes to use land on railroad tracks across from its cemetery for workforce housing. That’s in addition to more useful projects like keeping its marina from further dilapidation, moving its sewer plant off the lagoon and sending treated stormwater to John’s Island for irrigation.
'Council to-do' list never-ending
More: Big change in Vero Beach: Moore now wants parking, fewer lanes through downtown
Lost opportunity: Want to save $150K on Twin Pairs in Vero Beach? This'll convince people quickly
Can you guess what they are? Beware! Two words will doom Vero Beach work to get more people living downtown
More: Twin Pairs: Vero Beach City Council trying to fix a problem that does not exist
From 2015: There’s a simple way to improve Vero Beach’s Twin Pairs
The "council to-do" list, on top of various litigation and zoning issues that have come to a head after years of neglect, goes on and on.
A small city staff can only do so much. (Heck, the city has gone more than 14 months without a concessionaire serving food at Jaycee Beach Park.) Plus, city residents, many of whom moved here because they liked what they saw, have only so much appetite for significant change.
As I wrote in February, downtown, is more vibrant than it's been in the 38 years I've been here. It will thrive more when it regains residents displaced by large government buildings and churches starting in the 1970s.
“To be successful, the zoning issue must be considered independently of the Twin Pairs,” I wrote. “Debate over dramatically altering the pairs, as has been proposed numerous times over the past 30 years, and now, would doom the potential for zoning changes” that would add residents downtown.
Sadly, even Mayor John Cotugno, a well-intentioned gentleman trying to make a difference, seems to have naïve blinders on with regard to narrowing the Twin Pairs.
Mayor: Public trusts council on Twin Pairs
“We really only had two people come up and speak, one for and one against,” he told radio host Bob Soos of a council decision last month to award consultants $114,830 more to continue the narrowing study. “I’m going to take this as an indicator that people are trusting the City Council in making the right decision because usually … people will show up to City Hall when an issue affects their public safety or their quality of life.
“They don’t show up for the mundane stuff,” he continued, noting the preliminary study showed “no adverse impacts.”
The study showed the road, if narrowed, could handle the volume of traffic.
No surprise there.
Instead of doing traffic studies in peak season, they were done after many snowbirds had left. And the city, claiming the state wouldn't let it, declined to place barricades over the winter to show narrowed conditions. Heck, traffic snarled when only one lane of State Road 60 west of downtown was barricaded for 43rd Avenue widening last year.
And how many of you feel safer driving or walking on a road with more open space versus one with denser traffic and vehicles parked alongside the road?
A new twist on cutting speeds along the state road
Such congestion was not reflected in the consultant study, which might be a little more understandable if it included peak-season, data-based animation showing projected traffic flows.
At June’s meeting, there was another twist in the narrowing discussion. Former council candidate Linda Hillman, noting her husband was struck by a car in May on the Twin Pairs while riding a bicycle at 16th Avenue, asked about putting a traffic signal or stop sign at the intersection.
I proposed a crosswalk there (and elsewhere) years ago, so folks could walk from the courthouse across the street more safely, but a traffic signal or stop sign? Additional overkill?
Either way, an organized group, and now a majority of council, promotes the narrowing. The numerous folks opposed ― the ones who write letters to this newspaper every time there is a serious threat to narrow the roadway ― had better get organized if they hope to stave off this major change.
Cotugno told Soos the city has a deadline to approve the project.
“We can’t afford any major delays,” he said. “Everybody’s in alignment.”
First, though, the city would hold two or three public meetings outlining the consultant’s findings, Cotugno said.
Such meetings, on dates to be determined, could be held during the dead of hurricane season when many property-owning snowbirds are up north and many full-time residents are on vacation. Previously this year, the city has played musical chairs with its meeting times, leading to confusion.
None of this is the best way to make decisions. It is, however, a good way to ramrod through a lightning-rod project that has divided the community for decades.
I would not expect this group of council members to engage ― certainly not deliberately — in such tactics. Nowadays, though, you never know. We'll soon find out just how prudent and transparent this council is.
This column reflects the opinion of Laurence Reisman. Contact him via email at larry.reisman@tcpalm.com, phone at 772-978-2223, Facebook.com/larryreisman or Twitter @LaurenceReisman.
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This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Vero Beach to cut State Road 60 from 7 to 4 lanes in dead of summer?
