Tag: tampa palms

Plan To Reduce Tampa Palms Blvd. To Two Lanes Scrapped

*ampa Palms Blvd. has been labeled a failing road, and is getting repaved starting sometime next year, but bigger plans to reduce it to two lanes and add roundabouts have been shot down.*
***(Photo Charmaine George)***

Plans to convert four-lane Tampa Palms Blvd. — which circles through the Tampa Palms community — into two lanes have been soundly rejected.

After revealing its preliminary Complete Street Project plan at a Sept. 28 virtual presentation and Q-&-A session, the city received near-unanimous opposition from residents. They filled out hundreds of questionnaires for the city demanding that Tampa Palms Blvd. not be downsized to accommodate things like bike lanes, additional school pickup lanes for Tampa Palms and Chiles elementary schools, roundabouts and other safety features, some of which they felt could be accomplished with four lanes.

“I read in total disbelief what the City of Tampa has proposed for Tampa Palms Blvd,” said one questionnaire. “To quote former tennis icon John McEnroe: ‘YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!’”

Tampa planners heard the complaints and have decided to change course.

“We are preserving the four lanes,“ says City of Tampa chief traffic management engineer Vik Bhide, “and we will make (smaller) modifications.”

The $3-million repaving of Tampa Palms Blvd., currently funded in next year’s city budget, will go forward in two segments — the south loop (or Segment 1), which runs from the north intersection of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. to the south intersection through Tampa Palms Areas 3 and 1), and the north loop, or Segment 2, which runs from the south intersection of BBD to Ebensburg Dr. in Tampa Palms Area 2.

Some of the modifications mentioned by Bhide include narrowing the lanes in an effort to lower driving speeds, and making improvements at some of the intersections by installing Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs), also known as pedestrian-activated warning devices.

Bhide also says that more pedestrian crossings will be introduced, and there will be an effort to address the traffic challenges around the schools during the busy morning drop-off and afternoon pick-up.

Roundabouts, which cost about $800,000 and aren’t funded at the moment, “are off the table,” as residents seemed extremely opposed to them.

Asked if he was surprised at the quick repudiation of the initial plans, Bhide said it was all part of the process.

“We tried to work with the community and what the community provides with their feedback,” Bhide says. “And we also rely on hard facts and data.”

That data, according to Cal Hardie, P.E., the City of Tampa’s capital projects manager, indicated that both segments of Tampa Palms Blvd. being repaved are great candidates for a “road diet,” due to the number of daily trips on the road.

Hardie said anything under 10,000 is considered a great candidate for reduction, and 10,000-15,000 is considered a good candidate, and Tampa Palms Blvd. currently falls in that range.

But, the residents were clear — “Do not take away any of our lanes!”

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City’s Plan For Tampa Palms Blvd. Raises Some Eyebrows

Tampa Palms Blvd. is getting repaved, thanks to nearly $3 million in the City of Tampa’s 2022 budget, and planners would also like to put the failing roadway on a… well, diet.

That was the suggestion at a Sept. 28 virtual presentation and Q-&-A session, as the city kicked off the public input portion of the planned redesign of Tampa Palms Blvd.

Cal Hardie, P.E., the City of Tampa’s capital projects manager, said the best solution to the main concerns raised in past meetings about Tampa Palms Blvd. — namely pedestrian safety and speeding along the arterial roadway — would be to reduce it from four lanes to two lanes, while adding other safety enhancements.

“There is a need for traffic calming and there is speeding along the corridor,” Hardie said. “The fact that you can’t enforce the speed limit makes us look for other means of controlling speeds. With that in mind, we developed a concept to take out a travel lane (in each direction).”

According to a recent study, the average driving speed in the corridor is 47 mph, and 43 mph in school zones. The current speed limit is 40, which would be reduced to 35 mph under the new design.

The loss of a lane didn’t seem to sit too well with some of the residents on the virtual meeting call, where they were able to ask questions and make other suggestions.

Most of those who submitted questions offered other their own solutions, like keeping the four lanes and just narrowing them, worried that reducing the roadway to one lane would cause bottlenecks.

“The prospect of taking (a lane) away from Tampa Palms Blvd. seems to be something of a stretch,” said District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera, who represents New Tampa. “But I’m certainly here to listen.”

Hardie said traffic calming could be accomplished by narrowing the existing lanes, “but it’s not nearly as effective as actually removing a travel lane.”

Tampa Palms Blvd. is being resurfaced in two segments – the south loop (or Segment 1, see map on next page), which runs from the north intersection of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. to the south intersection through Tampa Palms Areas 3 and 1), and the north loop, or Segment 2, which runs from the south intersection of BBD to Ebensburg Dr. In Tampa Palms Area 2.

Both segments are great candidates for a “road diet” according to Hardie, based on current ADT (average daily traffic) numbers. Segment 1’s ADT number is 9,515 daily trips, a number expected to rise to 11,611 by 2040.

Segment 2, the shorter of the segments, has 3,455 daily trips and is projected to have 4,216 by 2040.

Hardie says anything under 10,000 is considered a great candidate for reduction, and 10,000-15,000 is considered a good candidate. Because Tampa Palms is mostly developed out, those numbers aren’t expected to fluctuate or change much, he added.

Hardie unveiled a rather expansive plan, called a Complete Street Project, that goes far beyond just repaving the cracking road from Ebensburg Dr. to the south intersection with BBD, and then continuing on to the northern intersection.

The portion of Tampa Palms Blvd. north and east of Ebensburg Dr. to BBD was previously resurfaced in 2012 and is not included in the project.

A two-lane Tampa Palms Blvd. will reallocate right of way space for buffered bicycle lanes, enhanced crossings, additional school pickup lanes for Tampa Palms and Chiles elementary schools and even include roundabouts at the northern and southern intersections at Compton Dr.

Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs), or pedestrian-activated warning devices, would be installed at the highest volume crossings at Amberly Dr. (west & east of BBD), Treeland Ct., Tampa Palms Trail and the northern intersection of Compton Dr.

The intersections at BBD themselves would remain untouched.

Hardie is aware that there will be resistance to the initial plan.

“This is the beginning of our public input,” he said. “This is not the not final design. This is basically our first stab at what we think is possible, based off some of the feedback we initially received. This is just the beginning of the dialogue.”

And, by the way, none of it is funded, he added. Only the resurfacing and restriping of Tampa Palms Blvd. is accounted for in the city’s Fiscal Year 2022 budget at this point. Hardie said more meetings will be planned in early 2022, before the resurfacing begins.

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Tampa Palms Blvd. Repaving In Line For A Budget Boost

When City of Tampa Mayor Jane Castor presented her $1.8-billion fiscal year 2022 budget to the Tampa City Council on August 5, it did not include any money for one of Council member Luis Viera’s sought-after projects — the repaving of Tampa Palms Blvd.

Viera, who represents District 7 (which includes most of North Tampa and all of incorporated New Tampa), was crestfallen. But, while he understood some of the budget constraints, he didn’t give up hope.

With the urging of community activists and Tampa Palms residents — many of them the same folks who fought for the funding for the New Tampa Recreation Center (NTRC) a few years ago — as well as plenty of Viera’s own door pounding, Mayor Castor announced on August 24 that an additional $3.3 million would be added to the budget to repave and rejuvenate Tampa Palms Blvd.’s south loop.

“That is a really, really, really big thing,” Viera says. “It’s a big win for our area.”

For the south loop, or segment 1, the price tag is $2.3 million. The north loop, which runs from Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. to Ebensburg Dr., will cost is $1 million.

The final public meeting on the budget is scheduled for Tuesday, September 28.

Money for the Tampa Palms Blvd. repaving was originally expected to come from the $500 million raised via the All for Transportation one-cent surtax. However, the penny surtax was struck down by the Florida Supreme Court in February, ironically a day after Viera met with Tampa Palms residents at a town hall.

“I promised the residents that night that if the penny sales tax failed that I would fight really hard for it in this year’s budget,” Viera said. “Flipping it into the budget when it wasn’t originally there was a big ask.”

Viera pushed for the money, with an assist from local activists — who made phone calls and sent emails to Mayor Castor.

One Tampa Palms resident, Mike Marlowe, wrote to Castor on Aug. 21 that his community had been promised repaving of the road “which now looks like a quilt instead of a roadway” — last year. He added that in 22 years of living in New Tampa, he has “never seen the road this bad.”

A week later, Brandie Miklus, the city’s infrastructure and mobility program coordinator, responded to Marlowe with the good news — that the city’s mobility department was moving forward with resurfacing plans.

In her address to the City Council, Castor seemed determined not to let the Florida Supreme Court decision freeze her efforts to improve the city’s infrastructure needs.

“I won’t sugar coat how big a blow it was to lose the All for Transportation money that was so overwhelmingly supported by our constituents,” Mayor Castor said. “I will provide a path to forge ahead on our own, one that includes a citywide mobility plan.”

Castor’s budget includes $22 million for road safety and maintenance. “We’ve all heard the calls from our community to make our streets, sidewalks and trails safe and to improve our road maintenance,” she said.

A refreshed Tampa Palms Blvd., which Viera says is presently “a failed road,” is currently in the design phase (the money for which was in last year’s budget), with actual construction occurring in two phases and expected to begin within the next year.

According to Miklus, it will include resurfacing, multimodal and safety improvements, traffic calming, enhanced crosswalks with Rectangular Rapid Flashing Beacons (RRFBs) and separated bicycle lanes.

After years of complaints about being ignored by the City of Tampa, this could be a year in which New Tampa’s cup runneth over, as a number of New Tampa projects are in the city’s plans to receive money. In fact, after the first public hearing on Sept. 13, Viera was pleased enough to say this year’s budget could be the best for New Tampa in recent memory, if not ever.

The budget has $1.67 million scheduled for the long-awaitd inclusive playground, which will have play elements, wheelchair access and autism-friendly features, to be built near the New Tampa Recreation Center (NTRC).

The FY 2022 budget also includes $650,000 to begin the planning and design of Tampa Fire Rescue Station No. 24, which will be located in the K-Bar Ranch area. Another $11.5 million is expected to be allocated in the FY 2023 budget for construction of what would be New Tampa’s fifth fire station.

Until then, Viera says he also is working on the construction of a possible road off Morris Bridge Rd. that would allow for quicker access into K-Bar Ranch to help reduce some of the response times of the two fire stations on Cross Creek Blvd., both of which rank among the slowest in the entire Tampa Bay area.

Viera also said the budget includes $50,000 to design New Tampa Blvd.’s future renovation ($50,000), hopefully leading to its repaving in the next year or two. Like Tampa Palms Blvd., New Tampa Blvd. was initially slated for improvements using All For Transportation money.

As backers of the NTRC know, just because the money is in the budget for a project doesn’t mean it can’t be moved or taken out.

The budget has to be approved by Friday, October 1.

tampa palms tampa palms Blvd.

Court Ruling Puts Kink In New Tampa Plans

A gathering of roughly 30 mostly Tampa Palms residents showed up at Compton Park on Feb. 24 for an outdoor meeting with City of Tampa officials to discuss speeding along Tampa Palms Blvd., but the conversation turned to plans to repave the road and add some traffic-calming measures — perhaps two roundabouts or some traffic lights — with money collected from a 1-cent tax amendment passed in 2018.

Most of those in attendance seemed pleased with the plans for safety improvements for Tampa Palms Blvd.

But, before their coffee even had time to cool off the following morning, those plans had come to a screeching halt because the money to pay for them is now in limbo.

On Feb. 25, the Florida Supreme Court voted 4-1 that the 1-cent transportation tax amendment, which passed with 57% of voter support, was unconstitutional because it restricted where and how the money could be spent. District 4 Hillsborough County Commissioner Stacy White, who filed the lawsuit, argued that All For Transportation (AFT), the group that led the fight to pass the amendment, dictated how local governments could spend the money, usurping the authority of the county commission.

The transportation tax already has raised $500 million intended to fix many of Hillsborough’s transportation woes, as well as improve the City of Tampa’s bus service.

More than $50 million of that amount was earmarked for City of Tampa projects, including the Tampa Palms Blvd. improvements, as well as enhancements like the much-needed repaving of New Tampa Blvd. in West Meadows.

“The ruling is a big hit to our community,” said District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera. “When it comes to the most pressing issue of traffic and congestion, we are running so far behind. This is just devastating.”

Viera says he will support putting a replacement tax on the ballot in 2022. He has also scheduled a town hall with Tampa Mayor Jane Castor for April 21 from 6-7 p.m. at the New Tampa Recreation Center, for those who want to ask what’s next for the needed roaded improvements in New Tampa.

Cal Hardie, a transportation engineer for the City of Tampa, told the Compton Park gathering that the design of the changes for Tampa Palms Blvd., which cost $600,000, was already paid for and under way. But, the actual construction, which would cost $3-$4 million and include restoration of the road’s surface from the Wellington subdivision to Bruce B. Downs Blvd., bike lanes, safer crosswalks and traffic-calming mechanisms, was reliant on the transportation tax monies.

Similar work would be completed on New Tampa Blvd. as well, perhaps at the same time, Hardie added.

Without that money, Hardie said the City of Tampa would have to look into finding federal funds, which can take longer, or multi-modal transportation impact fees, but suggested “the coffers are pretty dry.”

Hardie said the traffic calming on Tampa Palms Blvd. could come in the form of two roundabouts at the north intersection of Tampa Palms Blvd. and Compton Dr., with another roundabout another closer to Tampa Palms Elementary.

The cost of a roundabout is roughly $450,000-$500,000, Hardie said, which is not that much more than the price tag for a traffic signal, which is around $350,000.

“A roundabout reduces accidents 60 percent more than a traffic light,” Hardie said. “It also reduced accidents 80 percent more than a stop sign.”

But, that is up to the designers and the public, who will get their say in public meetings once the plans are completed.

And by then, maybe the money to complete the construction will materialize.

Viera assured everyone at the meeting that if the Supreme Court knocked down the tax, he would pursue other funding.

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TPOST Residents Share Concerns About New Apartments

More apartments are coming to the Tampa Palms area, and Kevin Hawley knows there is little he can do to stop them.

But, the Tuscany at Tampa Palms Homeowners Association (HOA) president is still going to try.

On Oct. 28, he organized a meeting — socially distant, of course — in a cul-de-sac in Tuscany in the hopes of formulating a plan to convince developer Warren Kinsler of New Tampa Inc. to not build 400 apartment units at 7970 Tampa Palms Blvd., just west and across the street from the Emerald Pointe Townhomes.

However, New Tampa Inc., which bought the property in the Tampa Palms Open Space & Transportation (TPOST Community Development District in 1994, already has the entitlements to build them, going back to 1985, when the property was first annexed into the city.

Still, Hawley’s meeting, which included Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera (who represents District 7, which includes most of New Tampa) and various HOA board members from neighboring communities Chelsea, Buckingham and Stafford, stirred the debate. Hawley said more than 30 residents attended.

“Our concern is that it (the apartments) will have a negative impact on Tampa Palms Elementary, which is already beyond capacity, and a negative impact on traffic, where we already have problems on Tampa Palms Blvd.” Hawley says. “There also is concern about the possible impact on property values, and some also voiced concerns about environmental impacts.”

A City of Tampa Variance Review Board meeting for the property had been scheduled for Oct. 13, creating the stir. However, that meeting did not need to be held because the planned development has an allowance for 40 percent tree retention, and “they actually have 50 percent retention,” according to Abbye Feeley, the Director of Tampa’s Development & Growth Management Department (formerly known as the Planning and Development department).

“The notices (for the variance meeting) went out prematurely,” she added.

Feeley said the area has already gone through the first round review to ensure that it is compliant with all of the codes that govern it, and the city is waiting for the developers’ resubmission. Feeley says little can be done to stop Kinsler from building the apartments.

“Unfortunately, the builders of these villages (like Tuscany, Chelsea and Buckingham) never properly briefed their buyers about the developer’s rights and plans for the whole area,” said Maggie Wilson, the vice-president of the Tampa Palms Owners Association (TPOA).

The TPOA represents the owners and residents of 3,000 single family homes and 1,500 apartments in Tampa Palms. TPOST 3, which was once part of the Tampa Palms DRI before being purchased by Kinsler, already has more than 1,000 homes in its various villages and apartment communities.

When asked by Hawley to join him in opposing the apartment project, the TPOA declined.

“They are the big dog,” Hawley says of the TPOA. “I reached out to them, and they said this has been zoned this way for a long time and they decided as a board not to oppose it,” says Hawley, a USF faculty member and Tampa Palms resident for 18 years.

With no way to stop the project, Hawley is hoping for at least some traffic mitigation from the developer, or some way to “soften the impact.”

Hawley doesn’t think that entitlements and plans developed two decades ago necessarily still make sense today, and would like to see other things considered for the property that better meet the needs of the area.

He even has his own suggestion — instead of yet another apartment complex, why not build something for older residents in their 60s and 70s? “That way, there will be less impact on the schools,” he says, “but it would still bring in more residents to support local businesses and restaurants.”

Viera said he will meet with Hawley and the residents in a few weeks, and intends on bringing some planning officials from the city to also participate.

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