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Residents near Starkey oppose widening roadBy LISA GREENE
© St. Petersburg Times,
But many neighboring residents object to the plan, telling county commissioners Monday the project would make the busy road more dangerous and add noise and inconvenience to their lives. The project is scheduled to start in 2006. Chuck and Elaine Watson have lived on the 8500 block of Starkey Road since it was dirt. By widening the four-lane road to six, 28 feet will be left between the road's edge and the Watsons' front door. "This part of the county is all but built out," Chuck Watson said. "I don't know where the increased traffic is going to come from." But county engineers said the road already is congested and that the widening is needed. Farther north, where Starkey becomes Keene Road, residents in Clearwater's Skycrest neighborhood have opposed a similar widening project without success. The Starkey plan is going forward as well. But commissioners did make some changes Monday. Staff members suggested two possible plans for building stormwater retention ponds -- one from a landowner willing to sell and the other on Starkey's east side just north and south of 94th Avenue, removing 37 homes in the process. But local residents objected. Tom Bires told commissioners that not knowing the future of his home is hard to take. "I don't know whether to repair for the next year or the next 30 years," he said. After hearing the objections, commissioners axed that pond plan. "To uproot 37 families -- it's not acceptable," said Commissioner John Morroni. Commissioners also asked their staff to look at ways to make that section of Starkey safer when it is widened. They were concerned that narrow front yards would force residents to back out of their driveways into six-lane traffic. "It's going to be more than an inconvenience," said commission Chairman Calvin Harris. "They might never be able to leave home." Residents of other subdivisions and condominiums off Park and Starkey said they are afraid the wider road will make it hard for them to get in and out. Paul Costanzo, a Park Street condominium resident, said county engineers have had little interest in his neighbors' request to consider a traffic signal at their entrance. "We will have to cross four lanes to go south," Costanzo said. "But their attitude was, "There's nothing we can do about it."' Lake Diamond Estates resident Dan Hurley said the plan called for medians that would force residents driving north on Starkey to make a U-turn to reach their neighborhood. "This road plan truly makes no sense," he said. Commissioners also briefly discussed another road plan -- the $6.5-million plan to widen Bryan Dairy Road from Starkey to 72nd Street N. Construction on that also would begin in 2006.
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
To give Pinellas commuters faster north-south routes, the county plans to spend $19-million to widen Park Street and Starkey Road between Tyrone Boulevard and Bryan Dairy Road.
