County Addresses Residents' Fears In 44th Ave. Extension

County leaders agreed Tuesday to look into some of the concerns of a group of residents who say the coming 44th Avenue East extension project will create traffic and safety issues around their homes.

The Board of County Commissioners voted 7-0 to have staff further explore a handful of options for a stretch of the project near the Highland Ridge, Oak Trace and Wallingford subdivisions. Those options include:

• Reducing the planned speed limit from 45 mph to 35 mph.
• Reducing the roadway from four to two inside lanes.
• Providing an allowance for the affected homeowners associations to put up fencing and landscaping to mitigate the noise.

The considerations stem from the concerns of residents whose properties are located along the beefed-up section of 44th Avenue East from 30th Street East to 45th Street East. They say they are worried the road will create noise and exhaust pollution and lead to more drivers cutting through their quiet streets.

"The 44th Avenue extension would slice through and abut our established communities and compromise, I believe, our neighborhoods," said Robert Woodburn, a former board member of the Highland Ridge Homeowners Association. "This road would sideswipe a number of our homes and intrude on backyards measured only in feet from this project."

Several residents of the affected neighborhoods spoke against the project at Tuesday's county commission meeting. Commissioner Robin DiSabatino, whose District 4 includes the neighborhoods in question, said she has heard complaints from "dozens and dozens" of residents.

Commissioner Joe McClash motioned for the further considerations by staff as a way of addressing those concerns.

"The reality is, the roadway is going in, and I think you see commissioners trying to do the best they can to reach some kind of mitigation for the residents," McClash said.

Commissioner Larry Bustle voted in favor of the measure but expressed his displeasure, calling it "a thick bunch of dais engineering."

"We're changing the staff's recommendation, and I don't like that," Bustle said. "If we want the staff to do the best job for us, we need to let them do their job, and we shouldn't be telling them how much speed or how many lanes of road are needed."

McClash shot back, saying, "It's not dais engineering, it's what we do every day: look out for the citizens in this community. If it was all just as simple as a black-and-white plan, you don't need to elect us anymore."

One concession that doesn't seem to have much traction is the residents' calls for the county to build a wall to block off the roadway's effects.

Donnie Holcomb of project engineer HDR said a barrier wall along the disputed stretch of roadway would cost approximately $2.1 million and would require a noise study to determine the height of the wall, at an additional cost of about $40,000. Landscaping would cost about $35,000, Holcomb said.

The project, on the books since 1987, would ultimately turn 44th Avenue East into a major east-west connecting road that brings Cortez Road West out to Interstate 75 and into Lakewood Ranch. However, the only portion that is fully funded covers a stretch from First Street East/U.S. 301 near DeSoto Square mall to 45th Street East.

"Everything is ongoing, on time," and budgeted at about $58 million for that fully funded portion, according to Sia Mollanazar, the county's deputy director of engineering. More than $8 million of that has already been paid out to contractors and engineers for the first phase of the project, Mollanazar said.