Low-speed vehicle advocates and detractors are all turned around.
Florida Department of Transportation community liaison Tanya Merkle muddled the department’s stance on the operation of low-speed vehicles on the island’s state roads — including Manatee Avenue, Gulf Drive and East Bay Drive — at a Feb. 14 Island Transportation Planning Organization Meeting at Holmes Beach City Hall.
At the meeting, the ITPO — an advisory body comprising the mayors of Anna Maria, Bradenton Beach and Holmes Beach — also discussed future Gulf Drive crosswalk and complete streets projects.
During public comment at the meeting, Holmes Beach resident Stuart Bardwell asked Merkle to share the DOT’s position on the operation of LSVs on state roads.
Since October 2021, a sign has been posted by the Holmes Beach Police Department on State Road 64/Manatee Avenue with a message reading: “No golf carts or LSV on Manatee Avenue, East Bay Drive.”
Bardwell — who said he can no longer reach Publix on East Bay Drive and some other shopping destinations on the island’s main thoroughfares in his low-speed GEM car — told The Islander Feb. 15 the restrictions are based on an email from a former DOT community liaison who “misunderstood” golf cart and low-speed vehicle regulations.
In October 2021, Merkle’s predecessor, Jesten Abraham, sent an email to Holmes Beach Commissioner Jayne Christenson stating: “As it stands today, neither low-speed vehicles nor golf carts are allowed on state roads. Any exceptions to this are noted in the Traffic Engineering Manual, chapter 5, and Florida Statute 316.212.”
But chapter 5 of the Traffic Engineering Manual and the cited statute pertain to golf carts, not LSVs.
According to another statute — 316.2122 — similar in number and not mentioned in the email, the DOT can prohibit the operation of low-speed vehicles on roads under its jurisdiction.
Following receipt of Abraham’s email, the HBPD — which received complaints about people driving carts and LSVs across the Anna Maria Island Bridge — placed the sign and began enforcing restrictions.
However, at the meeting, Merkle said the DOT defers to the statutes and local ordinances regarding the usage of LSVs on state roads within municipalities.
According to statute 316.2122, low-speed vehicles — which must travel 20-25 mph on level ground and be registered, titled, insured and equipped with headlamps, turn signals and other safety accessories — can be utilized on roads with speed limits of 35 mph or less.
The speed limits in Holmes Beach on State Road 64/Manatee Avenue, State Road 789/East Bay Drive and Gulf Drive are posted at 35 mph.
And there is no ordinance in Holmes Beach prohibiting the use of LSVs on city/state roads.
Bardwell said he attended the meeting to get verbal confirmation from Merkle after failing to get the department’s stance in writing.
Following the meeting, the seven-year Holmes Beach resident sent an email to Holmes Beach Commission Chair Carol Soustek summarizing Merkle’s response and requesting the commissioners discuss the issue at their next meeting.
“Now the municipality can take the responsibility and say, ‘We made the decision to ban LSVs and we’re not pointing the finger at FDOT,” Bardwell said.
Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer told the Islander on Feb. 15 that Merkle’s statements at the meeting contradicted the DOT’s previous stance on the issue and that he had reached out to the department for clarification.
As of Feb. 18, the DOT had not replied to Feb. 15 inquiries from The Islander about the department’s stance on LSVs on the island’s state roads.
Moving to crosswalks, complete streets
At the Feb. 14 meeting, Merkle said the DOT would be meeting with Longboat Key officials in the coming weeks about crosswalk construction projects on Gulf of Mexico Drive and Gulf Drive — from Longboat Club Road on Longboat Key to Manatee Avenue in Holmes Beach.
In January, Merkle said the DOT would accept bids for the projects in mid-May.
At the meeting, Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie said a complete streets study of Gulf Drive in Holmes Beach was “just recently moved up” on the calendar but neither Merkle nor the DOT’s communications team responded to Feb. 15 inquiries from The Islander about the timing of the project by Feb. 18.
A complete streets study of Gulf Drive in Bradenton Beach is slated in the DOT’s October draft tentative work program for 2025.
Holmes Beach Mayor Judy Titsworth, absent from the Feb. 14 meeting, chairs the ITPO and represents the island on the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization Board in rotation among the island municipalities.
The next ITPO meeting will be 2 p.m. Monday, May 9, at Holmes Beach City Hall, 5801 Marina Drive.
I believe a 25 mile speed limit will draw every golf cart on the Island on to our main roads and clog up traffic. For most vehicles that aren’t here to sightsee and need to carry on business or travel in a timely manner, the roads are not here to relax and sightsee but to get to their destination. For people that use the golf carts 25 miles per hour is the top speed and most people will not even go 25 miles per hour. Just because a speed limit is 25mph, many folks will go 15, their preferred speed limit in a cart. I don’t think asking folks to use side streets in their golf cart is as big an inconvenience as asking folks in cars or trucks to possibly end up going 15mph behind a
golf cart because that is what most people are comfortable driving in a cart. Just because you can go 70mph
in your car doesn’t mean you will go 70mph. I think 25mph will cause a lot of frustration for cars and trucks and create more accidents than allowing golf carts to be in the same standing as cars and trucks.