2015-0319 Regular City Commission Meeting

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Summary Minutes:Regular City Commission Meeting March 19.2015 City of Sunny Isles Beach.Florida proposed pedestrian bridge or even a proposed tunnel, would that be situated over the north or south crosswalk? Mayor Scholl said there is more work to be done but pending a traffic analysis it will probably be on the south side which would actually act favorably on this because if a pedestrian bridge is on the south side, FDOT will look more favorably upon it. Commissioner Aelion asked the City Manager if we at one point went to FDOT to do a study of that intersection, and City Manager Russo said yes, he does not know the exact dates but more than once. Their response was that they would not create a total four-way stop there. Fundamentally the main concern that FDOT explained to him was the main traffic flow would be impeded because of the signalization changes when you have a total stop for pedestrian traffic. Commissioner Aelion said to that end, we are talking about the largest complex in our City which is Winston Towers with 5,000 residents living there. Vehicular and pedestrian traffic come out on a regular basis and it is heavy traffic. The differential between the north and south is a point that has to be taken into consideration because people who live on the northern side of the street, the 400 building, the 200 building, etc. has to cross at one point if the crosswalk is closed they can cross without a problem but the ones from the south end, the 600 building, the 300 building, etc. will have to cross over at one point also. He agrees that it is an issue at that intersection and his suggestion is a Pilot Project and to get feedback after a 3-month period and from there decide if we want to do it on a permanent basis or not. Commissioner Levin said it sounds like such a simple solution and makes so much common sense that it is a wonder that it hasn't been done. She happens to agree with Commissioner Aelion that she thinks it should be a pilot project to see what the outcome would be and for it to be studied for a while. Vice Mayor Gatto said she likes the idea and noted that she lives in Winston Towers. She thinks that 174'h Street is being used in this way, it is a private community but 174'h Street is a conduit to not only Collins Avenue but to back streets as well. Now we are learning that hotels and condos south of 174th Street find it necessary to pull into 174th Street and make the U-turn in front of Building 600, and that is causing a lot of unnecessary traffic that we deal with. At rush hour in the morning it is very difficult to make the right or left turn when you are competing with pedestrians who are crossing the street to get into Samson Oceanfront Park and you are competing with people who are going to work. The interesting part of this is that Winston Towers is being used as a conduit, and she thinks this idea will greatly alleviate the back and forth traffic that is occurring right now in Winston Towers. Mayor Scholl said it is great when members of the community actually come forward in a sane and rational manner. He appreciates the fact that it takes a lot of effort and coordination to get your neighbors together to discuss a problem and he was not kidding when he said to Nick earlier that he thought the presentation was really strong. He knows he doesn't have to remind everybody but we don't control that road. We can vote unanimously today and say we want to do this but we have no authority to make any representations. Clearly we can state a case to FDOT which he believes we should probably do. The other good news is the City Manager is going to have a major traffic study done throughout the whole City because one of the things we have heard loud and clear in the last six (6)months is traffic. Traffic is a big issue and so the City Manager has been looking for the right consultant and we are 4