- April 26, 2024
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Palm Coast's City Council has a delayed a decision on whether to close a road called Slow Way, opting not to finalize with a second-reading vote its earlier decision to close the road.
The council instead tabled the Slow Way agenda item and asked city staff to investigate further and report back.
The roughly 150 feet of roadway that link County Road 325 to residential Slow Drift Turn are a frequent cut-through for traffic heading between U.S. 1 and Seminole Woods Boulevard, to the frustration of some Slow Drift residents who see the nonlocal traffic — which is often speeding and includes large commercial trucks, they say — as a danger as well as a nuisance.
Residents who supported the closure turned up to speak at a council meeting on Feb. 16, the first time the council considered city staff's suggestion to shut the road. Only a few people at the meeting criticized the proposed closure, and the council voted 5-0 to close the road.
But by the time the City Council considered the issue again for its second reading vote on March 2, word had spread about the impending road closure, and multiple residents told the council that a closure would add time to their daily commute and cut them off from easy access to friends, family and shopping.
One woman said that the closure would cut her 86-year-old mother off from her mailbox. Some residents said they used Slow Way to get to the supermarket or to friends' homes without having to navigate the roundabout on U.S. 1.
One man said his mother used Slow Way to avoid the roundabout because she didn't feel safe on it.
"If you take that away from her, I don't know how she's going to get out, because she doesn't like taking U.S. 1; that roundabout is not safe," he said. "I'm all for it if you guys want to put a speed bump there if you think people are going too fast."
Councilman Eddie Branquinho said he hadn't heard those concerns before, and felt like he needed more information to make a decision. He proposed tabling the Slow Way proposal rather than voting on it.
Mayor Milissa Holland agreed, saying she wanted to know more about how the city's traffic department had decided to recommend the road closure and what other alternatives city staff had considered.
"Without that, I can’t make a decision tonight," she said. She added, "I really do appreciate residents who come out and voice their concerns."
