You have to crack a few eggs to make an omelet.
But keeping people happy before it’s done is another task.
Holmes Beach Police Chief Bill Tokajer told The Islander June 17 that he and city engineer Sage Kamiya had recently visited several local businesses to ease concerns about the impact of construction from the upcoming “city center” improvements.
Plans for the city center project involve adding roadway markings, bicycle lanes, sidewalks, crosswalks, street lighting and landscaping to a stretch from the intersection of Gulf and Marina drives to the 5600 block of Marina Drive.
City officials have discussed such improvements for years and voted in April to approve a $2,753,784.55 contract with Sarasota-based C-Squared CGC Inc. to complete the work.
However, Tokajer said some business owners were concerned six months of work would damage or shutter their businesses, so he and Kamiya set out to ease their minds.
“We’ve explained what we believe the detours would be and the durations, so that’s given them some peace of mind,” Tokajer said.
“We’re doing everything we can to direct people and to make sure there’s as little impact as possible to our businesses, while at the same time making sure that we take care of the long-range needs of the infrastructure of the city,” Tokajer said. “So that’s given them some peace of mind.”
“They were thinking they were going to get no business for six months and nothing could be further from the truth,” he added.
Precautions to avoid such shutdowns include:
- Moving, stage-by-stage construction to limit lingering impacts on specific areas;
- Shifting detours and road blockages to correspond with construction;
- Marking detours with business names and creating access roads to redirect vehicle traffic.
“Some of the businesses might lose some drive-by traffic, but it will not be for a six-month duration,” Tokajer said. “As they do the work and they get the work in front of those businesses complete, we hope to open those areas up to road and foot traffic as soon as permissible.”
Joe Hutchinson, owner of Azure, 5508 Marina Drive, and Vintage Beach, 5500 Marina Drive, told The Islander June 17 he was one of the concerned business owners.
However, Hutchinson praised the city’s efforts to address those concerns, including conversations with Mayor Judy Titsworth, Kamiya, Tokajer and “a couple commissioners.”
“They’ve been really great about trying to get access to our businesses and stuff in the best way they can do it,” Hutchinson said. “They want this to be the least impact on businesses as it can be, considering the scope of what they’re going to do.”
“It’s just a project that needs to happen and we’re just going to have to deal with it as businesses,” he added. “We’ll see how it goes when it happens.”
People who want to learn more about the city center project can call city hall at 941-708-5800 or visit 5801 Marina Drive.