by J. Brooks Terry
Staff Writer
Barely checked tempers and an hour’s worth of debate did little to advance a lagging piece of legislation Wednesday, as a City Council committee decided to defer a bill that would permanently close a portion of Landon Avenue in San Marco.
At one time said to be widely supported, the bill endured elevated scrutiny last week when Council member Suzanne Jenkins said she would, “never support it.”
“I don’t even want to think about how closing Landon Avenue will affect traffic through there,” said Jenkins. “Some of my constituents use that road to take their children to school and I’m sure there are several others who do, too.
“Now you’re going to divert all those people onto Hendricks Avenue. How stupid is that?”
Later learning that Landon Middle School serves as a hub for the City’s magnet program, Jenkins said closing the road was, “a very bad idea.”
Jenkins, Landon Middle School principal Jackie Christopher and School Board director of transportation Karen Coleman said they weren’t even aware the road could be closed by as early as this year.
Sponsor Art Shad said School Board member Kris Barnes supported the bill, though she was not present at the meeting.
“There are nearly 40 buses that use that road everyday,” said Coleman. “Closing it would have a terrible impact on transportation, and I strongly oppose doing that.”
Local political consultant Bruce Barcelo, whose office is located in the area, also spoke against the closing.
“I didn’t know of any closing,” he said, “but now that I do I can say that it is an astonishingly bad idea. It’s inconvenient and unsafe to the public.”
Barcelo added a closing would adversely affect property values surrounding Landon Avenue.
“There is no reason why other legitimate traffic calming measures cannot be used through there,” he said.
A visibly flustered Shad and Florida Department of Transportation rail office representative Jan Bordelon defended the bill.
“The portion of Landon Avenue we’re talking about is the area on either side of the railroad tracks,” said Shad. “It’s on an elevated curve and the neighborhood surrounding it has been very vocal about it being unsafe for a long time.”
Shad said he had been getting calls about closing the road since his first month in office last year.
“In fact, the road is much thinner than what is acceptable by today’s standards and could not even be built now,” he said.
Bordelon agreed.
“Florida Statutes actually allow the Department of Transportation and the Railway Administration to review all public railway crossings to help determine whether or not they are redundant and it they meet code requirements to close,” she said. “And of course we always try to work with the communities as much as we can and help in any way possible.”
Shad and Bordelon said school transportation schedules and emergency response times would not be affected, but the committee was not convinced.
The committee is expected to make its decision in about two weeks.