A1A project keeps police busy

FLAGLER BEACH — Flagler Beach police will be getting some help enforcing traffic laws in and around the State Road A1A repair project.

City Manager Larry Newsom told the City Commission on Thursday that the state Department of Transportation has a contract with the Florida Highway Patrol to handle law enforcement in construction areas and that there will soon be an increased police presence in the area.

[READ ALSO: Year-long State Road A1A detour in Flagler Beach begins]

He said many motorists are not stopping at stop signs on Central Avenue, where some traffic is being diverted, and speeding is a problem in some areas.

According to Police Chief Matt Doughney, the city’s 14-member department made 1,438 traffic stops there since Feb. 1.

“Almost 11 percent of our time has been dealing with nothing but traffic problems related to this construction project,” he said Thursday.

The severity of the issue was evident in one incident that occurred earlier that day. A motorist was stopped after driving 46 mph in the 25 mph zone, passing vehicles while construction workers were present.

“The bad news for him was the ticket was $465,” Doughney said.

Beginning Wednesday, FHP will be onsite four hours a day, three days a week.

The three-part project is being done to protect the road from future storms and permanently repair a 1.43-mile segment that was heavily damaged in Hurricane Matthew but has only undergone temporary repairs to date.

Meanwhile, the city is tracking all time and resources it devotes to the project. The resulting costs will be submitted to FDOT for possible reimbursement. As of Thursday, the police department alone had spent more than 241 hours enforcing speed and stop-sign violations.

In other business, the commission:

— Gave the city’s Economic Development Task Force its OK to explore the possibility of constructing a trailhead at the corner of Flagler Avenue and State Road 100.

This would connect to a future boardwalk the task force hopes to convince Flagler County to build across Betty Steflik Memorial Preserve between the trailhead and the gazebo at the center of the park.

The park is on county-owned land, but there is an existing trailhead near the city’s library that is on city property.

— Directed staff to explore the possibility of granting a waiver to the city’s sign ordinance allowing small, temporary wayfinding signs for businesses in the S.R. A1A construction area.

Mayor Linda Provencher said restaurants had asked neighbors to put signs in their yards pointing the public toward their establishments but the city made homeowners remove the signs. Currently, the city does not allow such off-site advertising.

But Provencher argued that the construction project is impacting business in that area.

“Those restaurants are really hurting down that way,” she said.

— Agreed to allow pet owners to access the beach at South 8th Street during the A1A project. Pet owners using that access point must then take their pets south of South 10th street as no pets are allowed between that point and North 10th Street.

The accommodation is being made because there is currently no access from South 10th Street.

Also, Newsom reported that the Legislature did not grant the city’s request for $1.2 million this year to be used in an ongoing upgrade to the wastewater treatment plant. Last year, the Legislature approved $500,000 for the project.

Newsom said both Rep. Paul Renner and Sen. Travis Hutson had worked to get the project into the budget, but that it had been cut in committee.

Newsom said the city will look for alternative funding but expressed hope that when legislative committees begin to meet again for next year’s session, the project will benefit from Renner’s being the next speaker of the House.