Last Gasp for Residents Affected By ‘Safe Routes’ Sidewalks

Safe commutes for children walking or biking to school is the goal of a four-year project that has at times seen tensions between those impacted and those driving the initiative. (Adobe).

Just five Key Biscayne residents banded together in an upper room of the island’s civic center Dec. 2, the last resistance to a school safety project some felt was a done deal.

The Safe Routes to School project, which has been granted $867,000 in state funding, requires sidewalks, signage and other modifications to be constructed on streets surrounding the Key Biscayne K-8 Center to improve pedestrian safety. At the previous Town Hall meeting Nov. 10 over two dozen affected residents asked questions of project engineers and Village officials.

In the intervening weeks staff toured the route multiple times with volunteers, officials, school board members and parents to review engineering decisions. Over 20 site visits were conducted by Public Works department engineer Javier Rey Brookes to take on resident feedback.

Project plans are now close to complete and the ribbon-cutting is expected before the end of 2020.

But clearly some still felt their concerns were either unheard — or unmet. 

Residents from the north side of W Enid Drive pressed their point that sidewalk constructed on the south side would impact fewer driveways. But project engineer Leonte Almonte reiterated that data confirms it is safer for children to cross driveways than the four intersections that bisect W Enid on the south side.

“I promise you we looked at it from every angle,” said chair of the Education Advisory Board Kristen Guess. “It may not be the perfect answer for people on the north side, but it’s the perfect answer for the study,” she said, referring to official engineer reports.

Guess took the floor from a circumspect Village Manager Andrea Agha, who apologized again for a staff gaffe earlier in the process, in which an official letter was sent to affected residents informing them — incorrectly — of their rights before any consultation took place. 

The faux pas seems to have had a lasting impact, with some in attendance Dec. 2 questioning the role of the Village Council in the process. 

“I don’t remember being asked about this ‘years ago’,” said Mike Schmale, a professor at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science who queried both the placement of sidewalks and the use of concrete. “Will Council weigh in on the final plan?”

Mayor Mike Davey, who sat in on the meeting, said later that Council had weighed in already by voting to proceed with the project.

Agha reminded everyone that Council would vote again come spring on the selected contractor for the work.

Director of Public Works and Building, Zoning and Planning Jake Ozyman said that final “100 per cent” plans are due to be submitted to the Florida Department of Transport on Dec. 16, with the selection process for a contractor to be completed by March or April.

Agha said the team aims to be technologically savvy in approaching the project as a ‘design-build’ when seeking contractors. The project will potentially overlap with others such as stormwater drainage and undergrounding of utilities, however Agha confirmed it would go ahead as planned first, so as to “keep moving forward.”

Guess thanked Village staff for their diligence in addressing residents’ concerns and answering questions — including many Dec. 2 on the finer points of the work. 

But after almost five years working to improve safety for pedestrian schoolchildren, Guess was keen for residents to see the benefits of the state-funded initiative. At the same time she reiterated that other communities have not been so thoughtful in their dealings with affected residents, who she said in reality “do not have a say” in terms of this particular grant.

“Is it regrettable it’s going through your right-of-way?” she said to the group, “Yes. But I’m grateful for your generosity.”