by TRC_Admin | Jun 15, 2021 | Roundabouts
Photo: Kane Kaiman
“They’ll be coming round the island when they come.
Funding for the construction of roundabouts at some Anna Maria Island intersections could be available in 2030, according to the Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization’s 2020-45 long-range plan.
Roundabouts could come sooner depending on the timing of the Florida Department of Transportation ‘Complete Streets’ project studies and municipal undertakings in Holmes Beach.
According to the cost-feasible outline of the MPO’s long-range plan, three island intersections could receive roundabout construction funding in 2030:
Cortez Road at Gulf Drive in Bradenton Beach
East Bay Drive at Manatee Avenue in Holmes Beach
Gulf Drive at Manatee Avenue in Holmes Beach”
— Kane Kaiman, The Islander
Read entire article
Additional roundabout projects:
Scenic or not?
Florida Tech
Roundabouts, 30 mph speed limit proposed for Babcock Street near Florida Tech campus
North Port
Roundabout we go: North Port’s solution at busy intersection
Sebastian
“>Proposed FDOT roundabout on County Road 510 draws concerns about traffic confusion
Osprey
“>$3M Roundabout Will Relieve Dorman & Boyette In 2023
Daytona Beach UPDATE: No on roundabout
Daytona Beach’s A1A and ISB intersection no longer targeted for a roundabout
by TRC_Admin | Jun 15, 2021 | Nature, Trees
Photo: Mangrolife FB
“Jonah Basi may be 16 years old and a junior at St. Thomas Aquinas High School, but he’s got a big vision for what he wants South Florida to look like in the future.
‘I want to see huge green mangroves all along the seawalls that I know are contributing to that cleaner water,’ he says. ‘A blue waterway that’s reflecting the sky and not reflecting the toxins and everything that’s in it. And a waterway that’s not filled with trash.’
And he’s not waiting for anyone else to do it. Basi, who founded the nonprofit MangroLife, is getting his hands dirty and being the change he wants to see in the world.
‘This is the most important fight there is for me,’ he says. ‘This is the topic of my college application essays. This is all I talk about.’
Heartbroken to see the constant garbage and pollution clogging the Fort Lauderdale waterway behind his family’s new home, he decided to do something about it — not just collecting trash, but seeds of life.
Propagules are the seeds produced by red mangroves. Basi finds them floating on the water, and since last fall he’s been planting them, first along the seawall behind his home, then growing them in tanks and replanting the seedlings in pots as they grow.
‘But those ones, instead of keeping them on our property we’ve always had the intention to transplant them,’ he says.
And that’s how MangroLife was born. Baby mangroves, nurtured by Basi in his backyard until they’re big and strong enough to be replanted where they’re needed most — along the shorelines and seawalls, near ailing waters desperate for the good they bring.”
— Louis Aguirre, Local 10 News, Fort Lauderdale
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by TRC_Admin | May 22, 2021 | Codes, Derelict Structures, Environmental, Floating
Photo: Allen Eyestone, Palm Beach Post
“…Palm Beach County is one step closer to expanding a local law that bans floating structures from anchoring in county waters, with some exceptions.
If passed, an update to the Cindy DeFilippo Floating Structure Ordinance will apply to floating structures anchoring or mooring in all waters within the county, including those under the jurisdiction of a city or town.
County commissioners will take a final vote on June 15.
A floating structure isn’t a boat or other watercraft, which the state defines as a ‘vessel’ and requires registration.
Rather, it is a ‘floating entity … not primarily used as a means of transportation on water but which serves purposes typically associated with a structure or other improvement to real property,’ according to the state. These can include functions such as a residence, restaurant or clubhouse. ”
— Hannah Morse, Palm Beach Post
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by TRC_Admin | May 22, 2021 | City Signs, Codes, Controversial, Legal
Photo: Daniel Sutphin, Sun
“A new Punta Gorda law is in the works that could restrict indecent or obscene language on residential signs and flags — and even a person’s clothes if worn in public places.
‘We get complaints about people putting up — whether it’s a flag or sign or (wearing) apparel, whatever — that has the F word on it,’ said City Council Member Nancy Prafke…
The city began reworking its current sign code in January 2020 due to an abundance of Realtor signs in public areas.
During the 2020 U.S. presidential campaign, more issues came to light with residential flags and signs, the amount of them, and even the language some featured that could be deemed as offensive.
At Wednesday’s meeting, the City Council approved the first of two readings of the city’s new ‘Sign Standards’ code that would try to control some of these issues…
With the new code, however, the city plans to restrict offensive language, defining it as ‘fighting words,’ ‘indecent speech’ or ‘obscene.’
The City Council also amended the new code to include apparel should a shirt, hat, or other piece of clothing display language in a public place that could be found to be in violation of those definitions.
‘So, when you’re driving down the street and someone has a sign (with offensive language) in their yard,” said City Manager Greg Murray, “that can be enforceable but if it’s inside a place like Fishermen’s Village (it’s not because) you’re on private property.’
Murray went on to say that if a person was wearing an ‘offensive’ shirt in a public place like the city’s Harborwalk along Charlotte Harbor, they would be in violation of the new code.
What are “fighting words?
In the new code, the city defines this as words or graphics which ‘by their very utterance’ have a direct tendency to incite immediate breach of the peace by the person to whom, individually, the remark is addressed.
Fighting words include, but are not limited to, defamatory remarks made to private citizens; and epithets (or labels) based on the person’s race, color, religion, disability, national origin, ethnicity or sex.
What is ‘indecent speech?’
In the new code, the city defines this as language or graphics that depict or describe sexual or excretory activities or organs in a manner that is offensive as measured by contemporary community standards.
What is ‘obscene’ language?
In the new code, the city defines this as language or graphics that depict or describe sex or sexual organs in a manner appealing to, or intended to appeal to, the average viewer or reader’s visceral sexual (prurient) interests, and taken as a whole, lacks any justification from a political, literary, artistic or scientific value.
What is a sign?
In the new code, a ‘sign’ is defined as any device, structure, item, thing, object, fixture, painting, printed material, or visual image using words, graphics, symbols, numbers, or letters designed or used for the purpose of communicating a message or attracting attention.
City Attorney David Levin told the City Council that this definition could ‘arguably include something being worn.’
Mayor Lynne Matthews thought a more clear definition was needed.
‘We should include something specific about apparel of any kind,’ Matthews said. ‘It needs to be added specifically because anything you leave to subjective opinion goes by the wayside.’
What’s next?
The amended ‘Sign Standards’ ordinance still has to come back before the City Council at a future meeting before anything becomes official.
As far as how the new code will be enforced, Assistant City Manager told The Daily Sun that it is currently ‘under staff review.'”
— Daniel Sutphin, Sun
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by TRC_Admin | May 22, 2021 | Trees
Photo: Volusia Country
“It worked last year. Why not do it again?”
“Last week, the Florida State Parks Foundation reached its goal of raising $100,000 in one year to plant 100,000 new longleaf pine trees in our state parks. So why not run it back? The foundation announced Thursday that it is launching a new challenge to raise another $100,000 for 100,000 more trees by Earth Day next year.
‘This campaign has really resonated with the public, and so we have extended it for one more year with the goal of planting another 100,000 seedlings by April 2022,’ foundation president Gil Ziffer said in a press release…
The country’s longleaf pine population is now just a fraction of what it once was, because of development, the use of its wood for timber and storms. According to the foundation, the trees help support more than 30 endangered and threatened animal species…”
— Cooper Levey-Baker, Sarasota Magazine
Read entire article in Sarasota Magazine
Long Leaf Pine Preserve
