In 2005, Burns Square held a self-funded charrette with Urban Planner Ramon Trias and Michael Carlson (local architecture firm creating the Downtown Master Plan 2020 with DPZ). We also hired Michael Wallwork, PE, as the engineer to study the layout of our pedestrian space in Burns Square. Among other important things, we confirmed our roads were wider than necessary and our sidewalks are not a desired width. He also studied and came up with a few alternatives for the intersection of Orange and Pineapple Avenues, one of them being a roundabout.
At the beginning of 2007, Sarasota County put off a large storm water drainage project that had been planned for the Little Five Points area until April 2008. The project is extensive and projected to last 7 months. The county will be tearing up the intersection of Orange and Pineapple and digging deep holes for new storm water drains. The Burns Square Property Owners felt it was prudent to study this intersection again, to see if we could improve the list of problems it currently has while this construction was taking place. We had a few preconceived ideas but had never focused on the roundabout idea. We decided in May to hire experts to help.
In June, Bill Dennis, Charter Member of the Congress of New urbanism and highly sought-after planner, came to Burns Square for 4 days to study and improve our plans from 2005. (You can see his list of accomplishments on his website www.bdennis.com.) He studied the intersection and played with several design options, finally asking why we did not pursue the roundabout the traffic engineer suggested back in 2005. Ultimately, that was the design he suggested, just as Mr. Wallwork did in 2005, to provide an optimal solution for the geometry of that intersection. (see blog post June 2007 BURNS SQUARE MAPS ITS FUTURE)
In July, the Burns Square Property Owners Association went before the commission to ask for approval for the SurTax Funds to be used to improve the intersection of Orange and Pineapple Avenues by installing a roundabout. We also requested the project be started or completed in conjunction with the Sarasota County storm water project to minimize neighborhood impacts from construction. We presented photographs of the intersection before and after with a roundabout and a whimsical "Carmen Miranda Fountain". (see July blog post ROUNDABOUT APPROVED 5-0 FOR SURTAX FUNDING)
In August, the Burns Square Property Owners immediately hired Michael Wallwork to create a conceptual design to make sure a roundabout would work and create a better pedestrian experience. We presented his conceptual design in September to the City Engineering department to see what they thought and a few weeks later presented them to Sarasota County and Boyle Engineering. All the engineers felt the conceptual design would work.
Immediately after the City and County reviewed the roundabout conceptual design, a neighborhood meeting was scheduled. As a result of those meetings the city engineering department asked for additional funds to work with the concerns that have been expressed and to explore the feasibility with the county. The city commission approved those funds on November 19th.
We know there have been concerns and issues raised. We are excited about this opportunity for further study to guide the rebuilding of this intersection, following completion of the storm water project, into one with greatly improved function and aesthetic appeal. If you have questions or concerns or are simply interested in the outcome of this process, please stay involved. If you have specific questions for us, please feel free to ask.
Thank you, Denise Kowal, President
Burns Square Property Owners Association
8 comments:
This is a great idea too. I drive by that intersection every day.
I spent the entire summer, from early June to early September, in Stuart, FL and specifically, in Historic Downtown Stuart. They have 3 roundabouts there.
I was painting murals on a new building there and used those roundabouts at least 4 times a day.....sometimes more than that. I thought that they worked great, even when traffic got heavy.
One of the roundabouts is affectionately called "Confusion Corner", but I believe that what causes confusion is that a train track runs right next to it and it's that that causes congestion when the gates close.
So I would be in favor of one.....for what it's worth....
Skip
A few weeks ago I got a letter from the Burns Square organizers. Thank you for going out of your way to keep the area informed of the planning going on. Seems like you all are doing some great things for this area. Keep up the work and thank you again.
How can anyone vote a straight NO for the roundabout? What ever happened to MAYBE just to see if we can make it better? It is a great idea.
Great Idea and good luck getting the improvements done.
Thank you for all the work you all do to improve our area. Susan and Craig
Good Luck with this project. It appears to be a winner for the entire area.
A roundabout would be great asset to the neighborhood as it would allow people to circle back and look for parking or just to enjoy the neighborhood once again. It would also be an attractive asset and would cause people to slow down. People speed far too fast now.
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