At a March Committee of the Whole meeting, the Pensacola City Council was asked to approve a $100,000 street project that would reopen East Government Street at its Ninth Avenue terminus. The plans had been drawn; the contractor had been selected; it’s just that no one told anyone the historic Seville neighborhood that would be affected by the new traffic.
The results weren’t pretty. Dozens of angry residents showed up at the meeting to complain, and several council members, shocked at the lack of notification or neighborhood input, torpedoed the contract.
“There were some questions and concerns that, quite frankly, we didn’t do a good job of addressing last time,” said city spokesman Derek Cosson. “We dramatically underestimated how people would feel about this.”
So now the city is giving it another shot. They’ve contracted with the West Florida Regional Planning Council (WFRPC), a Pensacola-based entity that serves seven Panhandle counties (from Escambia to Bay), to hold a series of public involvement meetings on the issue and deliver a report to the city council in August.
“It’s our challenge to bring a concise story to this city, to tell them what we think is going on and what we think are viable solutions,” said Alan Gray, a regional planner in the WFRPC’s Comprehensive Planning Division, which specializes in land use regulation, disaster and hazard planning, review of large scale development, and, in this case, technical assistance to local governments.
“I love solutions,” said Gray. “I hate just focusing on a problem.”
As part of WFRPC’s $18,100 contract with the city, Gray is bringing noted urban planner Dan Burden to host the first meeting, being held today from 2:30 to 5:30 in City Hall’s Hagler-Mason conference room. Burden had a sixteen-year career as the nation’s first statewide Bicycle and Pedestrian Coordinator (for the Florida Department of Transportation) before starting a nonprofit called Walkable Communities in 1996. He has since been named one of the “six most important civic innovators in the world” by TIME magazine and now serves as executive director of the Walkable and Livable Communities Institute.
“We’re really lucky to get a guy like that down here,” said Gray. “I think he’s going to be a real asset for us at the beginning of this process, with the experience of 3,500 communities that he’s helped in the past thirty years.”
Part of the plan this time around is to change the terminology. Instead of just “reopening Government Street,” which has a connotation of more automobile traffic and a less pedestrian-friendly environment, the goal is being described as “restoring the grid” through a “complete streets” philosophy.
A 1964 aerial photo overlay of the terminus
Before Bayfront Parkway was constructed in 1980, the street grid provided consistent connectivity for transit throughout downtown — without the dead ends that frustrate many drivers today.
“You couldn’t drive somewhere and have to turn around,” he said. “We expressed vehicles through downtown, but we lost a lot of the connectivity.”
Gray has at his disposal a whole host of historic maps and aerial photos which document the decision to close Government Street, including a 1971 master plan that would have isolated the historic district from automobiles, with an outlandish bridge structure carrying traffic over the bay and the port, reconnecting with Main Street at Palafox. Obviously, this plan never reached fruition.
Complete streets is a phrase that has been mentioned in other recent city initiatives, like the changes to the Land Development Code and the creation of a Maritime Redevelopment District. Many of the complete streets concepts are even present in the CRA’s master plan and its 2010 update, which proposed a roundabout at Ninth and Bayfront that would have reopened Government Street, along with an improved road diet that would have devoted more of the Government Street right-of-way to landscaped sidewalks, which also helps to calm traffic.
“Whether it’s converting Spring and Baylen back to two-way, or whatever, the mayor really wants to implement this complete streets philosophy,” said Cosson.
While these WFRPC-hosted meetings should quell concerns over public input, those weren’t the only objections expressed by residents, some of whom were opposed to reopening Government Street in any form. Gray said these meetings will give others a chance to make their voices heard.
“There’s not just residents on this street,” said Gray. “There’s commercial interests here. There’s offices. I don’t think I’m going to have any lack of diversity in the groups that come to these meetings.”
Several speakers at the March meeting were also unhappy about the “right in, right out” design proposed by the city in March, which City Administrator Bill Reynolds had deemed as the only viable plan available. (The CRA plan’s roundabout, at an estimated cost of $500,000, was out of the city’s budget.) Many predicted that drivers would be frustrated by the limited options of that design, which would force eastbound traffic on Government Street to loop back around westward on Bayfront, resulting in illegal U-turns and dangerous median jumps.
The vehicular "goat path" onto Government Street
“That’s a huge safety concern,” Gray agreed, “[but] let’s speak about people making choices that are illegal.” He said that while touring the area around the Government Street terminus, he noticed a car trail (visible on satellite images) where people are apparently cutting through an Aragon service road to access Government via the Overgroup parking lot. It’s known as a “goat path” in pedestrian planning — the route that people take when there are no convenient facilities available.
“I said, ‘well I’ll be damned, they’ve figured out a way around it,’” Gray said. “People are choosing to break the law to come through here, which just shows there’s a strong need to come through here.”
Gray said that a design task force will look into several possible alternative options, but that his deliverables aren’t constrained by a particular budget.
“What I’m handling is the discussion of the community’s vision for this area,” he said. “This is our chance to tell the story of what we’d like to see.”
So what if all these meetings lead back to the original conclusion: that a roundabout would be ideal, but there’s no money for anything other than a “right in, right out” design?
“It may turn out that none of the short-term plans are satisfactory for the neighborhood, and we may need to put it off for two or three years,” Cosson said. “Right now it’s just not compatible with what the mayor wants downtown to be, which is kind of a walkable, friendly place.”
In addition to the July 6 meeting with Dan Burden, the West Florida Regional Planning Council will host public involvement meetings on July 12, 19, and 26, from 5:30-7:30 pm in the Hagler-Mason Conference Room. For more information, visit the city’s website or contact Alan Gray at (850) 332-7976.
11 comments
Diane Mack says:
Jul 6, 2012
There are numerous inconsistencies in the mantra from the Mayor’s office. On the one hand, he’s for keeping neighborhoods strong. If it conflicts with some other agenda, then neighborhoods play second fiddle to the agenda. The historic district is already a walkable, friendly place and, for the moment, it’s livable, too. And Mr. Gray seems to have forgotten that the planning community is trying to get away from designing and planning for the convenience of the automobile. Finally, unless he lives in the affected area, what Mr. Gray would “like to see” is of no consequence.
CJ Lewis says:
Jul 6, 2012
The 2004 Pensacola Historic District Master Plan has a lot of recommendations. This action seems intended to cherry-pick one in isolation for reasons never made clear. If there is a groundswell of support for this change, we should expect to see a long line of people testifying before the City Council, in addition to Mayor Hayward’s on-call friends who routinely show up to sing his praises in his scheduled absences. Moreover, before anything is done, it might be smart to find out if Escambia County is going to give UWF BP money for its Historic Pensacola Village project. Also, if the Civic Center is torn down in a few years that will likey change many downtown traffic patterns as will moving events from Seville Park to the Community Maritime Park. As for the $500,000 that cannot be found for the roundabout, it was given to the city employees in the form of $581,250 in Christmas bonuses they were not entitled to because the Code of Ordinances expressly forbids them receiving bonuses unless specifically authorized by the City Council. That was not done with the end result of a Weak Council openly shown to be a total lack of fiscal responsibility. The problem around here is not a shortage of money but its misspending. For example, on what planet is the expenditure of $18,100 justified to try and market to the locals in four two-hour meetings the Mayor’s plans to try and fix what does not seem to be broken. That money, perhaps combined with the money spent underwriting Mayor Hayward’s European vacation to include the Flamenco Show in Madrid, could have been better spent repairing the broken Veteran’s Memorial Park within walking distance of the end of East Government Street. The good news is that the next Mayor takes office in only 872 days. Pray for change and a restoration of trust and confidence in the city government.
SevilleDisobedience says:
Jul 6, 2012
It was only a matter of time before this got steamrolled through one way or another. Guess the Government St home owners didn’t donate as much to the Hayward campaign as the Government St business owners did. In that photo you can just go down the row to name the donors to benefit: Mitchell’s, Spencer’s, Griffith, Kerrigan… did I leave any one out? Quid pro quo, business as usual in Pensacola!
Could be much worse! says:
Jul 6, 2012
Notice and input from the citizens who invested in the area?
No such consideration for Long Hollow and Eastside residents and businesses when the city turned the park into an eyesore using it as a storage yard.
Diane Mack- what on earth was the council thinking ?
Seville should thank their lucky start the city just wants to open a street!
Shivro Leigh says:
Jul 6, 2012
Diane Mack, Sherri Myers, Dorothy Dubuisson, Maren DeWeese, and Barbara Mayall. What do they have in common?
Confucius says:
Jul 7, 2012
The Mayor went to a flamenco show in Spain???? Is this a working trip or not? Do we tax payers get to see receipts????
Bettin Man says:
Jul 8, 2012
Here’s a prediction. These planners, who admit they aren’t working with a real world budget, will present all sorts of grand ideas to the Seville residents. Bike paths paved with gold! Cobblestone crosswalks with 24/7 Boy Scout escorts for old ladies! Roundabouts, with fountains, and maybe a bronze statue of our visionary mayor! An organic market and fair trade cafe on every corner! Livable buzzword buzzword neourbanism!
A handful of residents will say “Well I guess that doesn’t sound so bad”, and the planners report to the council will exclaim “the residents of Seville WHOLEHEARTEDLY APPROVE the reopening of Government Street!” Then the Mayor’s office will say “Great! Now obviously we can’t do the entire “Master Plan” all at once, so we’ll start with the right-in right-out opening for NOW and we’ll do all that other stuff JUST AS SOON AS there’s enough money for it. Pinky promise!”
…
And that’s the last we’ll EVER hear of it.
Mark Clabaugh says:
Jul 9, 2012
That is funny I don’t care who you are!!!
Talbot Wilson says:
Jul 9, 2012
A note on the Facts—
Alan Gray went into detail about the Goat Path at the end of E. Government Street. I’m a resident and walker on the street and I’ve only seen one resident use it once and an office group use that path more often. The path in the aerial photo goes from the ECUA lift station access road to the back door of the Overgroup Offices. Nobody else has been breaking the law to make a shortcut in or out of our neighborhood.
Bayfront Parkway is a state Highway (196) that was created by Florida state tax dollars specifically to divert traffic from the Historic District and connect Hwy 98 with the west side of Pensacola. At the time it was built more than one street was closed. They included Adams, Florida Blanca, Cevallos and Zarragossa. The only entrances left from the south were Alcaniz and Tarragona. East Romana ran through a low lying public housing project.
Overwhelming opposition to opening Seville Streets—
The residents of Seville now have over 80 petition signatures from residents and business people who specifically oppose reconnecting E. Government Street and 9th avenue and oppose the initial connection of the street to Bayfront Parkway (it has never been connected to Bayfront Pkwy).
If there is too much traffic on the Bayshore and Main St because it has been narrowed (for the ballpark?), the traffic should be re-dircted to Garden Street (HWY 98) and take this main artery to pass into or through the business district or access downtown by the North South street grid.
The historic district was created by limiting automobile access and it will be killed by creating a cross-town thruway through its heart.
Save Seville and save our neighborhood…
Keep Government Street closed.
Diane Mack says:
Jul 10, 2012
At the initial workshop even attorney and Government-Street business owner Bob Kerrigan, who is pushing for the opening, stated at the microphone that if he lived in the historic district, he might not like the idea. See it for yourself on the video.
no brainer says:
Jul 12, 2012
Diane – do you own property in the Seville district or are you simply grandstanding once again? Somebody please tell me – how many residences are located along this section of Government Street? Looks like it is mostly commercial uses. Thru traffic has been circulating thru Aragon for years without a single complaint, gripe, issue.