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The Dunedin City Commission voted 3-2 Thursday night to reject a $266,000 federal Safe Routes to School grant that would have funded the project, along with $234,000 in Penny for Pinellas taxes. The decision puts to rest months of debate over attempts to extend bicyclist safety measures along the corridor.
The money will be returned to the Florida Department of Transportation ahead of the Dec. 5 deadline that FDOT gave city officials to come up with a plan for the state grant. The funds were initially earmarked for another bike safety project that was shot down by residents in July. FDOT told Dunedin officials they couldn't use the grant for a similar project in another part of the city, so Dunedin had two options: Build the bike lanes or give the money back.
The decision dismayed Vice Mayor Ron Barnette and Commissioner Julie Scales, who threw their support behind the plan to add 4-foot-wide bike lanes to each side of Pinehurst, between Michigan Boulevard and San Christopher Drive. Barnette also sought additional safety measures, including color-highlighted lanes, signs and a study aimed at possibly lowering the road's speed limit.
"We have people that bicycle and if we can make it safer, I think we should," Scales said.
Added Barnette: "It's high time some of our tax money came back to the city, especially for the purpose of assisting safety."
But Commissioner David Carson said he has never seen students biking during his neighborhood visits to monitor the controversial Patricia Avenue road closure. He called spending a half-million dollars on a 1-mile stretch of bike lanes that people were unlikely to use a "waste of money."
Commissioner Julie Ward Bujalski, who has a young son, added that she'd "bet my job" that no parent would allow their child to ride in the street.
For the full article, visit the St. Petersburg Times.
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