The Oldsmar City Council rejected residents’ request to install speed humps on Peppertree Drive Tuesday night.
A proposal to install speed humps on Peppertree Drive in Oldsmar was cut down under unusual circumstances on Tuesday night, leading some residents to angrily storm out of the city council chambers and another to consider leaving the city altogether.
The emotional outburst occurred after the council, which was short one member due to Vice-Mayor Eric Seidel being ill, deadlocked on a motion to install the speed humps near a dangerous curve on the street, which is heavily used as a shortcut between Curlew and Tampa roads.
Despite the fact that every resident on the street had signed a petition in favor of installing the traffic calming measure, the results of a recent traffic study, combined with opposition from Mayor Doug Bevis and Council member Dan Saracki, led to the proposal being squashed.
“Speed tables absolutely do not work,” Mayor Bevis said after relating a story of how he was hit by a car and seriously injured in his youth.
“They come up to the speed table, they slow down, they go over the speed table and then they punch it, and they typically run the stop sign then because they’re trying to make up time.”
“I tend to lean more towards a sign with the speed limit,” he added.
“I drive down the street all the time,” Saracki said. “I suggested (to residents) that we should maybe put in a flashing light…that says ‘slow down, slow down.’”
But the explanations and suggestions weren’t good enough for Beverland, who got emotional when speaking about the dangers of driving—and living—on Peppertree.
“If the majority of the people who live on the street…thinks that they need a speed bump, and they sign the petition—which they did—then I’m going to support a speed bump there,” the longtime local lawmaker said.
“Not only that, but there was a young girl, when I was mayor, that was killed on Peppertree,” he added, referring to a tragic accident that occurred in the area roughly a decade ago. “And that’s enough for me to vote for a speed bump.”
Beverland made a motion to install the speed humps, and it was seconded by Council member Gabby McGee. But their votes were quickly countered by the two ‘nay’ votes of Bevis and Saracki.
Saracki then turned around and made a motion to add flashing speed limit signs on the street, but with the mayor unable to second the motion, and the other two lawmakers opposed to it, that motion died as well.
With Seidel absent and unable to break the deadlock, and because no one made a motion to continue the item to a later date before it was voted on, the proposal was officially denied.
“No lights,” Saracki said.
“No nothing,” Bevis added.
The sudden conclusion served as a breaking point for some of the Peppertree residents in attendance that have supporting this issue for more than a year.
One person slammed the pushbar to open the door, and another flipped Bevis the bird while hurling a profanity in the mayor’s direction on his way out. Pinellas County Sheriff’s deputies closely followed them out, but no further trouble was reported.
After the meeting, the parties involved expressed their thoughts about the controversial decision.
“I have a heavy heart right now,” longtime Peppertree resident Carolyn Albertson said. “I’m totally discouraged.”
“The landscape of Peppertree Drive has changed in the last year, for the good, with more families with children moving in, and I’m troubled we might have lost that with this decision tonight.”
Indeed, Shannon Karczewski, who moved to the area last summer and was one of the first proponents of the speed hump proposal, said the decision has caused her to rethink her opinion about living in the community.
“I’m ready to put my house up for sale,” she said. “That’s how upset I am right now.”
Later, both Beverland and Bevis elaborated on their earlier comments.
“I’m disappointed with what went on in there tonight,” Beverland said outside the chambers. “We had a chance to do the right thing by these people, and we didn’t do it.”
“Every time when these things have come up in the past, we’ve sided with the residents,” he added. “Why they didn’t vote to do that tonight is beyond me.”
“It’s unfortunate we couldn’t get a consensus, because now we have nothing,” Bevis said by phone on Wednesday. “It’s unfortunate, because you don’t want to seem like you’re not concerned for people’s safety.”
“But I couldn’t vote for it because I don’t believe it solves the problem,” he added. “I think the flashing speed limit signs are much more effective, and I didn’t want to vote for something I don’t believe in.”
As for the issue being dead due in part to the unforeseen absence of the vice-mayor, Bevis said they could come up with another solution in the future.
“It’s too bad the motion was made before we voted, but I don’t know if the issue is dead,” he said. “Maybe we can do something simple, like painting a stripe down the middle of the street. Who knows.”
“We never like to completely close the door on something. So we’ll have to see what happens.”
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