Tuesday, November 28, 2006

PSL hopes to compromise with Martin on road plan

PORT ST. LUCIE — City Council members and Martin County commissioners will have to get along if they want to give motorists another route to and from Palm City.

City Manager Don Cooper vetoed connecting the Western Palm City Corridor to Port St. Lucie Boulevard during a discussion last week with Martin County Administrator Duncan Ballantyne.

In an e-mail to the council, Cooper said he was following a council order that neither the city nor its residents — including developers — should have to pay for the corridor's maintenance or eventual widening to four lanes.

But Ballantyne said the plans approved by the city and state for the massive developments west of Interstate 95 require developers to pay for the corridor's widening.

"I would expect that Martin County will take further action via courts," Cooper wrote in the e-mail.

Before that happens, the council wants a chance to craft a compromise.
Martin County Commissioner Michael DiTerlizzi appeared at Monday's council meeting to ask the city to cooperate on the road project.

"We weren't in a position to give you an answer tonight," Vice Mayor Jack Kelly said. "We made a deal with you five years ago. A deal's a deal. (Paying for a four-lane connector) wasn't the deal."

DiTerlizzi and Mayor Patricia Christensen agreed to meet to negotiate after a City Council meeting December 4, when council members will decide what the city's terms should be.
"I think a lot more can be accomplished if I'm there, at least, with staff," Christensen said.
Other council members want to get the city the best deal from the connection. Councilwoman Michelle Berger suggested Martin County should have to pay for part of the intersection costs, which are part of a $50 million widening of Becker Road.

"We followed through on our end of the deal (contributing $500,000 to the corridor)," Berger said. "In the ongoing effort to be a good neighbor, they should absolutely help pay for that intersection."

DiTerlizzi said that "cooler heads will prevail," and that Martin County officials had already spent years and a lot of money designing the road. He said it would be a two-lane road initially if city officials granted the connection.

"I think the connection has mutual benefits," he said.

The $30 million corridor's connection into Port St. Lucie came into jeopardy this month when the City Council approved a roundabout at Port St. Lucie Boulevard and Becker Road.

Cooper warned that the intersection of two major thoroughfares — Becker runs into a proposed mall site west of Interstate 95, while the corridor is an alternative to U.S. 1 and Murphy Road — would generate more traffic than a roundabout could handle.

Meanwhile, DiTerlizzi said the timing of the negotiations would force Martin County to further delay opening of bids for construction of the 5.6-mile road.

WESTERN PALM CITY CORRIDOR
Cost: $30 million.

Proposal: Connection to Port St. Lucie Boulevard at Becker Road.
BECKER ROAD

Cost: $40 million to $50 million.

Proposal: Expansion from two to four lanes. Roundabouts planned at Port St. Lucie, Savona and Darwin boulevards.
(By HILLARY COPSEY hillary.copsey@scripps.com )

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