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Traffic-calming approved in heated debate

Officials agree to install devices to slow traffic in North Bay Hills as speeding puts neighbors at odds.

By EILEEN SCHULTE
Published May 17, 2006

SAFETY HARBOR - The posted speed limit throughout most of the mammoth North Bay Hills subdivision is 25 mph.

Yet when some motorists turn onto a long straightaway within the neighborhood called Egret Terrace, it becomes, as one resident put it, "the Autobahn."

Pinellas County sheriff's deputies issued 145 citations last year alone. Mailboxes are routinely knocked over and at least one dog was killed by someone practically flying down the street.

Some residents say it's only a matter of time before a child is struck.

On Monday, city commissioners took steps to slow traffic down. They voted to install seven "split" speed humps at strategic locations that speeders use to get to State Road 580 and Philippe Parkway. Split speed humps allow wide-track vehicles such as ambulances and fire trucks to straddle, eliminating delay.

The seven humps would be spread over Egret Terrace, Swan Lane and North Bay Hills Boulevard.

Commissioners also decided to put a three-way stop sign at Egret Terrace and Allen Avenue. Also, stop signs would be installed on North Bay Hills Boulevard, where the road intersects with Scoter Cove, Pelican Place and Flamingo Circle. Existing signs that force drivers to stop on Scoter Cove, Pelican and Flamingo would be removed.

The speed hump issue has pitted neighbor against neighbor, with some saying speed humps will reduce property values and others countering that children's lives are at stake.

More than 100 residents turned out for a City Commission meeting Monday to argue the issue. The debate became hostile at times.

"I was disappointed that some neighbors refused to recognize there is a problem," said City Commissioner Kara Bauer. "But I'm happy we were able to come to some kind of compromise, to make as many people happy as possible."

Leanne Hamilton-Smith is a mother of a 6-year-old girl who lives on Egret Terrace. On the day of the commission meeting, she said she was almost hit by a speeding car when she went to her mailbox to get her mail.

Although she's grateful commissioners voted for traffic calming measures, she said they didn't go far enough.

"People use Egret (Terrace) as a speedway and they're only going to put in three speed humps there?" she said. "That's a joke."

But one of her neighbors in the subdivision disagrees. Anne Harper thinks Hamilton-Smith and others are exaggerating the speeding problem. She has called for a poll of the whole neighborhood to find out how many residents actually want the traffic calming measures.

"The way I was raised, you punish the people that are wrong, not everyone," Harper said, referring to speeders. "This is really an intrusion into our neighborhood and we don't get a say."

She said many parents in the neighborhood let their children play in the street, and that the kids should have "a bit better respect for cars."

She called the speed humps "very unsightly."

The comment made Hamilton-Smith furious.

"Tell me a kid splattered all over the road isn't unsightly," she told a reporter.

Eileen Schulte can be reached at 727 445-4153 or schulte@sptimes.com

[Last modified May 17, 2006, 01:29:12]