General Membership Meeting, Thursday April 23 – Bayview Drive Improvements Vote

calendar_April_23The General Membership Meeting for the Coral Ridge Association is this Thursday, April 23, at 7:00 p.m. at Coral Ridge Yacht Club. This meeting is 1 of 2 General Membership Meetings a year (the other is in October) where matters are put to a vote before the general membership.  This Thursday, we will vote on the priority of possible traffic improvement projects for both Bayview Drive and 26th Street.

In 2003, Coral Ridge commissioned a traffic and beautification study for both Bayview Drive and 26th Street.  At the conclusion of the study, the Association was presented with a Master Plan for traffic calming and beautification in Coral Ridge.  Over the years, we have implemented a small portion of the Master Plan: the Bayview Drive entrance at Sunrise Boulevard, speed bumps on 26th Street, and most recently, the removal of asphalt at Bayview Drive and 13th Street.  The other recommended improvements have not been completed due to a lack of funding, the scale of some of the improvements, and the inability of the Association to raise the significant dollars it would take to complete the Master Plan.

Fast forward to 2015 and the Galleria Mall Project.  In February 2015, the Developers of the Galleria Mall Project met with the Association Board to preview the revised Galleria Mall Project, hear our concerns about the project, and discuss the upcoming Open House previews.  One of the biggest concerns discussed was the impact of traffic in Coral Ridge, and the likely increase of cut through and commercial traffic on both Bayview Drive and 26th Street.  In response to this concern, the Galleria Project Developer has been working with our Association and the City of Fort Lauderdale to identify appropriate traffic calming projects that we, the residents of Coral Ridge, would like to see in our community.  As part of this process, we provided the Developer our 2002 Master Plan.  They have worked with our original plan, and have made some suggested improvements.  Here are initial renderings of possible projects.

More importantly, the Project Developer has been working with the City of Fort Lauderdale to identify and help acquire funding for many, and hopefully all, of our requested projects.  However, we have been asked to rank the projects in order of priority so the project can be scaled to the ultimate level of funding obtained.  We will vote on the priority of the traffic projects at this Thursday’s General Membership Meeting.  We encourage all of the members to attend so we can achieve the broadest possible consensus regarding the priority of the proposed improvements. The proposed improvements include:

  • Middle River Drive and 26th Street / 26th Street and US 1: an engineering review of the intersection, possible roundabout or elimination of the signal, improvement of the intersection at Middle River Drive to address traffic flow and back up. Possible reconfiguration of the straight and turn lanes on westbound 26th Street and US 1, to reduce backup on westbound 26th Street;
  • Bayview and 26th Street: roundabout for traffic calming and control;
  • Bayview Drive and Middle River Drive: possible roundabout for traffic calming and control, alleviate school congestion, and mark entryway to residential neighborhood to discourage cut through traffic;
  • Bayview Drive and 18th Street: possible roundabout for traffic calming;
  • Bayview Drive canal ends from 14th Street to 18th Street: pocket park/landscaping/traffic calming; and
  • Bayview Drive and 13th Court: elimination of massive asphalt area – same as our NCIP project at 13th Street.

Other agenda items include:

Crime Update  Treasurer’s Report  Introduction of Board Members to the General Membership
13th Street Construction Update
Review of the Bayview Drive MPO Grant Application
Advertiser Award
Overview of Board Insurance New Business

We look forward to seeing you at the meeting at the Coral Ridge Yacht Club, 2800 Yacht Club Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304.

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