Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 03-14-06 ‎(regular)‎ — reading text

be sent to these organizations. And that' s my motion. Mayor: OK, is there a second on Mr. Minich' s motion? JT: I'll make the second. Mayor: Mr. Tucker seconded Mr. Minich' s motion. JT: The reason I find this very palatable is because it does basically what I've asked for at one of our Council workshops. At that time I said no bridges east of Brooks Bridge, which would eliminate the Hollywood Bridge Corridor, would eliminate actually anything east of Brooks Bridge. Now I know young Mr. Smith has come forward with an idea where we can run one a tad bit to the west and I have no problem with that, that' s the traffic engineers, and find out where the footprint is. So I don' t find anything objectionable to this. If my colleagues do then please tell me because I have the tendency to support this because it protects your area east of Brooks Bridge, it protects the Hollywood corridor, and it still, any of Brooks Bridge corridor locations suggested by Figg. Well they' ve, the Bridge Authority has already removed the Wright Parkway, so I'm going to vote for it because it certainly might give some of the people a chance to sleep better who live east ofBB to know we are thinking ofthem but we really can' t keep it from happening. Mayor: Let Mr. Minich speak since he made the motion. MM: And you know part of it is, I call it traffic solution, you don' t have to use the word bridge all the time. There' s other things we can look at that will our maybe in the short term. problem You' re right, everybody has talked about the replacement ofBB and that will have to happen at some point in time. When I said a toll bridge in the BB corridor I didn' t say a bridge, it could be another bridge. But it also has to suit our needs in downtown Fort Walton Beach, and not let them tear up downtown Fort Walton Beach for a bridge. So I think we need to let them know as part of the public input now that these are the things they should start looking at, these are the parameters they should start working toward. And I think by us sending it to them it speaks what we want for the city. I think the Hollywood corridor needs to go away. I think if it goes away you can' t put a toll bridge at BB because you' ve got to pay one way or another. And the rest of it, they' re just non- starters, and I think that we should minimize our impact on downtown Fort Walton. And I think that as a city we should speak with that voice. Mayor: Dr. Pullen, did you have something? WP: Ijust have a question, we' re making this motion to send a letter or a resolution, and send it to whoever. . . MM: Either one of the two, I think we should send it to the ECBA, the TPO before their next meeting, the day after tomorrow, and then to whoever, send it to the governor, all of our elected officials above us, that this is what we accept. And it may not be the absolute best traffic solution there is, but it will be one acceptable to us, it will be a little give and take. Mayor: Would you include the Transportation Corridor authority also as an addressee? MM: Yeah, sure... WP: Then my question was, we should do this as a letter because it goes faster. . . JH: The idea of a letter, resolution is fine, but it is the voice of 8 people. . . MM: No.. JH: Yes it is, and I'm not disagreeing with you. But we should not lose sight of what the greater step is, and this is to get this in a resolution in March of 07 so we can send more than just the vote or the voice of 8 people. . . Mayor: You mean a referendum? JH: A referendum, sorry. . .this is a step and its fine and I don' t disagree. But we' ve got to get that referendum imposed for Fort Walton Beach. Mayor: Anyone over here? Just as an aside, I thought that was one of the flaws ofthe Figg Engineering analysis, is that they did discuss a replacement bridge for BB. They included BB as it was throughout the whole process, and then these other bridges would be built in 15 years or so, and then oops, OK, now we have to go in and replace BB. So I think the idea of replacing BB is in there someplace and that' s where we don' t have to use a toll bridge because the bridge replacement funds are different than highway funds t replace the bridge. . . and maybe later on when you' re talking about alternative solutions, early on as this, intelligent transportation system. . . MM: That' s exactly, that's one of them; And if I may Mr. Mayor, to Mr. Hartwell, its not just the voice of 8 people, we represent the City. JH: I'm aware of that. . . MM: Let me finish, and I think this will give the public, and I've been to all these meetings the that are past year, and I'm hearing what they' re saying, and the people I hear, these are the issues bothering them. And this may give the public also kind of a framework that they can work from that' s acceptable to them. I've heard some ideas that are a bit farther out like double decking down through Fort Walton Beach, that certainly wouldn' t work and we wouldn' t support, so I think its coming out and making a statement as to what we can support. I also talked the other day with the City Manager an she' s going to talk with the CDS Director and come up with some other parameters, not parameters but issues that would be important to us as what wouldn' t disturb us. . . JT: One final. if. basically, we are saying there will be no bridges in the Fort Walton we do this Beach unless they are west of Brooks Bridge? Mayor: I don' t think it says that. . . JT: Well, if you take away the Hollywood Bridge and the Brooks Bridge Corridor, there' s only one area left. . MM: Let me explain. Number 1 says the Hollywood Bridge Corridor entirely. Number 2 says a toll bridge, a toll bridge in the BB Corridor. Number 3 says any of the two suggested bridges that Figghas suggested. So I'm not there can' t be a bridge in the BB Corridor, I'm saying saying it can' t be a toll bridge. And shouldn' t be the ones they are proposing. And the other portion of that, if we come up with a bridge for the Brooks Bridge Corridor, it has to meet number 4, that it won' t tear up our downtown, it will have minimum impact. Mayor: Dr. Pullen? WP: Comment. What Figg suggested for Brooks Bridge was everything, place everything east of it, so we are wiping that out. MM: Yeah. Or just both of them, they do, they go through my neighborhood, they go over Chris' house, one of them lands at the banlc . . Mayor: Anyone else? Ms. Shanahan? JS: I'll speak later. . . Mayor: OK, please vote. OK, it does pass. . . Mayor: As an aside, I've been invited to a WSRE public broadcasting forum on Thursday night, and they want to talk about proposed bridges. Also on the panel will be Kathy Foster, member of the ECBA, a gentlemen named Gabe Woods" local businessman, and Ms. Teresa Garmon. So what I will take with me is what we talked about tonight, what we agreed to. Mike' s opinion is already out there, in the paper, so I will go over there and talk about what we talked about tonight. Anything else on the bridge? OK...  An Open Letter to The People ofOkaloosa County, The E. C. B.A., and Figg Engineering. Today is March lOth, 2006, and yesterday I attended the E.C.B.A.' s meeting to choose a designated corridor for our new bridge. This was in my humblest opinion, a continuing joke. One that you,people of the county and cities there ~ are going to pay dearly for. Quite frankly, I'm sick of all that I have seen and heard, and that has been a lot,leading no where. There are 180,000 some odd people in this county. Their future, Your future, is being decided by the input of less than one tenth of one percent of the population, and ultimately, a board of five unelected, but appointed people. Wake up people, before it is too late. I designed and proposed an alternative route over two years ago, had most of it printed in the Daily News, and presented it to the bridge authority. The response, very positive, was over whelming. I again, at the first charrette, put forth this design and admit while receiving some negative comments, most of which were from the point of encroachment on Air Force island land, again received very positive response. The corridor that was laid out,crossed the sound at Hurlburt' s front gate, combining a project that was already in the works to widen and add turnout lanes to 98. The additional site requirements to add the bridge at that location, were, and still are, minimal, and required no other displacement of any buildings that the Air Force had not already planned to move to accommodate the widening plan,that plan also included over passes to accommodate through traffic and eliminate the light at the gate. The main reason for choosing this site for the cross sound span was that it was the first point at which East bound traffic was bottle- necked creating the first of several problem areas on 98, West bound traffic was relatively unimpeded after this point. The construction of the bridge could be done without any disruption of traffic flow at all.The secondary thought of diverting traffic at this point, was, that it was, and still is, the best place to divide local traffic from through traffic moving past Fort Walton to Destin and other points East. The third reason being that the landing of the old ferry made excellent bridge landings, Once on the island, an elevated causeway would connect with the existing Santa Rosa Blvd. carrying traffic to be rejoined with 98 East of Brooks Bridge. A second span crossing at Wright Pkwy. would serve as a local feeder and a secondary span to join Ft. Walton and the Island. This was never meant to be the Main S~ dumping traffic onto Wright Pkwy. carving up a few schools and neighborhoods, put additional load on to an the Mary Esther Cut- off, Beal Pkwy. intersection. Carrying traffic to where? The outlay that the Figg Engineers added is senseless, and was in no way, shape, or form.,in the original plan we put forth. The intersection of that bridge at 98 was to be a very simple standard four way stop light.Not the monstrosity that, again, was added by Figg Engineers. It was originally meant to have as small a footprint as possible, not steamroll over everything in its path, and create another area of congestion, not to mention destroying everything from 98 to the Cut-off. Now we come to the point that the route meets Santa Rosa Blvd., this has been the source of major upheaval and where the original plan hit a major roadblock. Here I will concede that the original plan could have been better refined to