{"id":11930,"date":"2021-06-09T16:56:20","date_gmt":"2021-06-09T20:56:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=11930"},"modified":"2021-06-09T16:56:29","modified_gmt":"2021-06-09T20:56:29","slug":"residents-petition-city-commissioners-to-help-ease-traffic-woes-at-lakeland-christian-school","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2021\/06\/09\/residents-petition-city-commissioners-to-help-ease-traffic-woes-at-lakeland-christian-school\/","title":{"rendered":"Residents petition city commissioners to help ease traffic woes at Lakeland Christian School"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">South Webster Avenue&nbsp;homeowner Jennifer Aguilar, 37, presented a petition to city the commission on Monday asking for&nbsp;help controlling&nbsp;traffic flow around Lakeland Christian School.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It was signed by homeowners from South Webster and Unitah avenues, Forest Park and West Queens streets.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/videopress.com\/v\/MOF3u9B3\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<script src=\"https:\/\/videopress.com\/videopress-iframe.js\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;If this doesn&#8217;t serve as a red flag, I don&#8217;t know what else will at this point except for someone being killed by the traffic,&#8221; Aguilar said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Aguilar said school commuters are exiting Lakeland Christian School&#8217;s parking lot, turning or cutting across Forest Park Ave. to travel south on S. Webster Ave before turning east onto West Queen Street.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A March 2021 traffic study conducted\u00a0by the City of Lakeland shows about 100 to 140 cars travel along S. Webster Ave. daily on weekends, as Aguilar pointed out. Traffic on the road increased\u00a0to between 700 to 800 vehicles per day on weekdays, an increase of roughly 400% when school&#8217;s in session.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Several hundred commuters take shortcuts through neighborhoods that are not safely designed to accommodate that,&#8221; she said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Over the years, Lakeland has installed several traffic calming measures on the street including speed humps, a 10 mph speed limit,\u00a0and no parking signs.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/img_4938.jpg?resize=1024%2C768&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11932\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/img_4938.jpg?w=1024&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/img_4938.jpg?resize=300%2C225&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/img_4938.jpg?resize=768%2C576&amp;ssl=1 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;The speed bumps and signs have proven to be ineffective, exposing the larger culprit now requiring attention,&#8221; Marco Aguilar said. &#8220;We have traffic that exceeds our local road&#8217;s capacity.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Residents complained Lakeland Christian School&#8217;s traffic has had a devastating effect on the safety of their 18-foot wide streets. They have come together around a website,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/fixtheflowlakeland.wordpress.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">fixtheflowlakeland.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;One of the main reasons we moved to this neighborhood, was our kids are going to Lakeland Christian School,&#8221; Marco Aguilar said. &#8220;We tried walking there, it was impossible. It was very dangerous.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Many children walk&nbsp;through the community&nbsp;daily to Dixieland Elementary School and Southwest Middle School, according to Marco Aguilar, at times of intense traffic with no sidewalks, crosswalks or curbs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lisa Mathison, a West Queens Street homeowner for 20 years, said she feels it\u2019s like &#8220;taking your life in your hands&#8221; to attempt to back out of a driveway against the onslaught of traffic. Mathison said she&#8217;s also had&nbsp;several pets killed by drivers.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"alignright size-large is-resized\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/unnamed-2.jpg?resize=309%2C563&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-11931\" width=\"309\" height=\"563\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/unnamed-2.jpg?w=416&amp;ssl=1 416w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/06\/unnamed-2.jpg?resize=164%2C300&amp;ssl=1 164w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 309px) 100vw, 309px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Other issues include claims of damaged mailboxes and trash cans,&nbsp;broken sprinkler heads from illegally parked cars and vehicles&#8217; side mirrors being broken from close encounters.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Despite numerous calls to Lakeland Christian School, Lakeland Police Departments, the city&#8217;s Public Works, and Community and Economic Development departments, residents said little has been done to address the issue.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Matt Green, chief financial officer of Lakeland Christian School, said the private K-12 religious school has worked extensively with city staff in effort to find solutions to traffic issues with city staff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;We at LCS have worked hard to be a good neighbor,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Understanding that there are inconveniences that happen living around a school like this.&#8221;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lakeland Christian&#8217;s enrollment has held steady at about 1,000 to 1,100 students since 2004, according to Green, despite having received approval to expand up to 1,200. It does not offer any bus service to students.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Green said he believes directing all the schools commuters&nbsp;to head west on Forest Park toward Harden Boulevard could create further traffic&nbsp;issues.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It&#8217;s not a safe intersection,&#8221; he said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">There is no traffic light at the intersection of Forest Park Street and Harden Boulevard to regulate&nbsp;traffic flow onto the roadway. Green said the school has made concessions by shutting off entrances to the school leading onto Queens Street during the 30-minute window around student arrival and dismissal.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;It&#8217;s not just a daytime problem,&#8221; Gary Pearson, a Unitah Ave. homeowner said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pearson was backed by others who said sporting events and other school activities often create traffic issues into the evening hours.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Lakeland City Manager Shawn Sherrouse said city staff has come up with a proposed solution to install a &#8220;Do Not Enter&#8221; sign on S. Webster Avenue, limiting&nbsp;the roadway to local traffic only for a 30-minute timeframe around Lakeland Christian&#8217;s arrivals and departures. This measure would be enforced by Lakeland police at first, according to Sherrouse, to provide further assurance.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Jennifer Aguilar said she was concerned that it would limit resident\u2019s access to their own homes, creating further issues. City staff has not attempted to discuss their proposed traffic solution with the community, according to Aguilar.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Commissioner Sara Roberts McCarley, serving as Mayor Pro Tem on Monday, asked Sherrouse and other city staff to have scheduled a meeting with concerned citizens and Lakeland Christian School staff by the next city commission meeting.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Summer is the perfect time with not so much traffic for everyone to sit down and converse about this,&#8221; McCarley said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Webster Avenue&nbsp;homeowner Jennifer Aguilar, 37, presented a petition to city the commission on Monday asking for&nbsp;help controlling&nbsp;traffic flow around Lakeland Christian School. It was signed by homeowners from South&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11932,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"0","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","default_image_id":71799,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11930","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11930","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11930"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11930\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11930"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11930"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11930"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}