119th Street extension divides neighbors

Ridgecrest residents say the work would help alleviate traffic tie-ups near the Omni Center. Those who live on 16th Avenue SW worry about crime and added traffic.

By ERIC STIRGUS

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 23, 1999

LARGO -- The county's plan to extend 119th Street from the Omni Center to 16th Avenue SW has driven a wedge between residents of the neighborhoods that would be directly affected by the project.

Residents who live near the Omni Center say the extension is needed to provide another access route.

But residents who live on or near 16th Avenue SW fear the extension will bring heavy traffic and crime into their neighborhood. Largo Mayor Thomas Feaster said he, too, is concerned and has asked the city staff to look into what effect the extension would have.

Both sides recently brought petitions with hundreds of signatures to the county after a spirited meeting last month.

"It was tough," county community development specialist Pam Bell said of the June 16 meeting. "People were very angry, and people were very upset."

Bell said she planned to meet with County Administrator Fred Marquis today to discuss the future of the project. Current plans are to extend the two-lane road 1,776 feet with sidewalks on both sides and two speed humps. Construction would begin in June 2000 and be finished three months later at a cost of $200,000.

Discussion about extending the road began in April 1997 when county commissioners asked Ridgecrest area residents what improvements were needed in their community.

Residents complained of traffic tie-ups on 119th Street between Ulmerton Road and the Omni Center, where 119th ends. The situation becomes worse, they said, when school buses pick up or drop off students at Ridgecrest Elementary School, a block south of the Omni Center.

"We're kind of trapped," said Tasker Beal, a longtime Ridgecrest community activist who lives in the Taylor Lake subdivision, adjacent to the school. "There's only one way to leave 119th, and that is south."

Residents in the 16th Avenue SW area said they understood the concerns of those in Ridgecrest, but they had greater concerns about more traffic in their neighborhood.

And noting that Ridgecrest has had a reputation as a high crime community, they also fear that crime will spill over into their neighborhood.

"The Ridgecrest area has had a longstanding problem, and currently, our neighborhood does not have direct access (to that neighborhood)," said Bruce Gaul, who met with Feaster on Tuesday about the issue.

"We feel we would do whatever we can to prevent crime from coming into our neighborhood."

© St. Petersburg Times. All rights reserved.