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BEACON PHOTO/PAT HATFIELD
Planmeister — County Construction Engineering Director Gerald Brinton prepares to explain three alternative plans for running a 1.8-mile segment of the Spring-to-Spring Trail through Glenwood during a town meeting Jan. 14 at Glenwood Presbyterian Church.
BEACON PHOTO/PAT HATFIELD
Rallying the troops — Glenwood Civic Association President Wilma Allen, shown at a Jan. 14 meeting, said she is comfortable with the county’s latest plan for the Glenwood segment of the Spring-to-Spring Trail.
By Pat Hatfield
posted Feb 1, 2010 - 11:14:42am
On Jan. 14, Volusia County Construction Engineering Director Gerald Brinton and engineer John Harper offered Glenwood residents three alternatives for building a multipurpose trail on Grand Avenue. Residents said no to all three. They wanted a fourth alternative: no trail along Grand Avenue.
Brinton came up with a fifth option, which he presented to the Glenwood Civic Association Jan. 18.
“In just those few days, we rethought it,” he said.
The locals were adamant, he said. “They thought anything wider than a sidewalk would change the character of their community.”
Brinton added, “I can sympathize with that.” Still, he said, there needs to be connectivity with the Spring-to-Spring Trail System, set to run from Gemini Springs in DeBary to DeLeon Springs State Park — including a 1.8-mile stretch through Glenwood.
The Glenwood stretch was put on hold while county engineers tried to design something that would accommodate both the trail and Glenwood residents.
In the fifth option, he proposes installing 5 feet of sidewalk on the right of way, between the road and residential property lines. It would meander around trees.
County workers would stripe separate bike lanes on the road for bicyclists.
So, Brinton explained, there would be the median, an 11-foot traffic lane on each side, then the 5-foot-wide bike lane on the shoulder for fast bicycle riders, who are also known as “the spandex crowd.”
Between all this and the property lines — in an area about 20 feet wide, a 5-foot-wide sidewalk would accommodate pedestrians and slower bicycles.
“We think it’s a decent compromise,” Brinton said.
Earlier alternatives included:
Alternative No. 1, the concept favored by county engineers, was to take the southbound lane of Grand Avenue, and turn it into the multiuse trail for walkers, hikers, bicyclists, skateboarders and others. Cars would travel in both directions on what is now Grand Avenue’s northbound lane. That lane, which is on the east side of the median, would be converted to handle two-way traffic.
Alternative No. 2 would reverse that plan. Motor vehicles would use what is now the southbound lane, and the northbound lane would become the trail.
Alternative No. 3 would place 8-foot-wide trails on either side of the median, with curbs separating the trails from traffic. The traffic lanes would be 14 feet wide, to allow more room for vehicles to pass high-speed bicycle racers, who would tend to use the roadway instead of the narrower trail.
Brinton said the feedback he got on the new, fifth alternative was positive. He will schedule another public meeting in Glenwood before the Glenwood Civic Association meets again, at 7:30 p.m. Monday, April 19, at Glenwood Presbyterian Church at 3190 Grand Ave.
That will give the community time to formulate an opinion, Brinton said. Then, he will take plans to the Volusia County Councilfor approval.
Glenwood Civic Association President Wilma Allen said she approves of the fifth alternative, calling it a “win-win” situation.
“My first choice is still ‘nothing,’ but I clearly understand they have to do something,” she said.
The fifth alternative both protects the median and provides connectivity for the trail, Allen added.
She said there will still be unhappy people in Glenwood, but no plan will please everyone.
Glenwood residents had asked for sidewalks some years ago, Allen said, and she believes locals will use them. It will keep them from feeling like they’re walking in neighbors’ yards, as they sometimes do when walking on the grass.
“I think that Mr. Brinton and Mr. Harper have come forward with a great thing,” Allen said, and they should be thanked for their efforts.
Allen hopes everything will work out for the best for the community where she reared her family.
“It’s not just my home, it’s my heart,” she said.
Reader Comments
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road, a once beautiful little country road that has turned into a lawless part of our community. KEEP HOPE ALIVE Glenwood and take advantage of your neighbor Sherrif Ben at least on your road the law still matters!!
...Tisk tisk, boys and girls. Don't fight. If you do not have solid, personal experience running/biking/hiking/strolling along Glenwood's Grand Avenue--then you do not fully understand the ongoing dispute. It is already a natural Nature Trail, and has been used as such for generations. Also, the oddly-insistent push to fill that so-called gap in the overall project simply ignores the many real (and truly dangerous) gaps farther south along the Trail's proposed total length. Nor does it yet connect to the park at the northernmost end either...
...There is nothing especially snobbish, spoiled, deranged, and so forth about the protesting people from Glenwood, and their allies from elsewhere, who also use this natural Nature Trail. All of them simply object to a make-work construction which is both unjustified and unneeded. The best and most rational solution would be to leave the current natural trail alone. Otherwise, if the county crew feels that it absolutely must do something (even if it is wrong), then the 5th option comes closest to doing the least damage to Mother Nature's own original handiwork...Less is better, since the really big schemes of mice and men aft gang astray. (Bobby Burns, sort of)... :-)
I urge Mr. Brinton and Mr. Harper to remember this solution so that it may be used in the future for other locations.
The last important thing to remember is that participation of citizens is always an early step to take when planning a project that spends their money and effects the character of their area.
www.availclinical.com
HELLO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The county has still failed to demonstrate the need for what it calls "connectivity". There is nothing preventing anyone from using that section of road as it currently stands. I see no reason that it must be an unbroken trail other than that some politicians and bureaucrats have apparently staked their reputation on this as their project.
When it comes to opposing the continued expansion of government and wasteful spending of tax money, I will gladly wear the label of "obstructionist".
Why are these clueless officials so determined to spend huge sums of taxpayer money on something that just isn't needed? They are like spoiled children throwing a temper tantrum to get a cookie.
Sheesh.
Dudes, look to the words of ol' Ralph Waldo Emerson, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines."
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