SMR executive and residents discuss roundabout for University Parkway

Rex Jensen, CEO of Schroeder-Manatee Ranch, met Thursday with Lakewood Ranch residents at Lakewood Ranch Town Hall to discuss the planned roundabout where Legacy Boulevard and Deer Drive intersect with University Parkway. 

About 100 residents attended the meeting, and many wore red as a sign they want improvements to the existing signalized intersection, but not a roundabout. 

Jensen, however, stressed that roundabouts are safer, keep traffic flowing, can handle greater capacities, and are more aesthetically pleasing than signalized intersections. 

Instead of debating a stoplight versus a roundabout, Jensen asked the audience to give input on how they would like the roundabout designed. 

That input included, "Do residents want slip lanes that will allow easy right turns in and out of the country club without having to merge in and out of the main traffic lanes, and what type of landscaping would be preferred for the center island?"

The approach led some residents to leave about an hour into the meeting with their hands up in the air and mumbling that the meeting was a “waste of time.” 

While many residents had their minds made up, others got on board with the idea of slip lanes if a roundabout is inevitable. 

Photo by Lesley Dwyer

Jensen signed a contract with Manatee County in November to build a roundabout, and the county confirmed the contract has not been terminated. 

However, Commissioner Bob McCann said he plans to insist the commission pull the funding from the project at the July 31 budget meeting. 

“We already gave (Jensen) a stop work order and told him not to do anything else,” McCann said. “People don’t want the roundabout.” 

Jensen didn't originally want a roundabout, but county staff members convinced him it was best for the intersection and now he agrees that it is the best option.

Jensen said signal improvements and added turn lanes are not going to fix the capacity problems at the intersection because there are simply too many people trying to make left turns, whether they're leaving the country club or the Out-of-Door Academy across the street. 

While the roundabout was originally approved by commissioners in November, it became an issue at the May 6 commission meeting when McCann made a motion to direct staff to come back with a written contract to mutually terminate the reimbursement agreement, a move that angered Jensen. 

Jensen responded with an open letter, printed in the Observer, that blasted the entire board, with the exception of Commissioner Mike Rahn because he was absent, for attempting to terminate a binding contract without giving notice to SMR.

Residents and McCann were under the assumption that the roundabout would be discussed at the May 6 meeting. When it wasn’t on the agenda, residents flooded commissioners with emails, and McCann added the item to the agenda after 5 p.m. on May 5.

Photo by Lesley Dwyer

Country Club resident Carol Cooper led the charge of those who oppose the roundabout. 

She left the meeting at Town Hall with the same opinion she had when she walked in. A roundabout does not work at that intersection because there’s too much pedestrian traffic. She said the seniors living in the Country Club will struggle to navigate the roundabout as will teenagers at the Out-of-Door Academy. 

“We’re not against roundabouts. We’re against this roundabout,” Cooper said. “If they build our turn lanes and improve the signals, that’s what (the country club) needs and that’s what’s in the Capital Improvement Plan that Manatee County has on record.”

Cooper is correct. The county's CIP makes no mention of a roundabout. 

Instead, there is a project sheet that proposes spending over $3.8 million to lengthen the left and right turn lanes on all approaches, add right turn lanes to the eastbound and westbound approaches and rebuild the existing traffic signal. 

Yet on April 15, county staff presented a roundabout for the intersection as the No. 2 priority for District 5 in the CIP. Bill Logan, the county's information outreach manager, said the county's plans for a roundabout have not changed. 

Cooper said that Manatee County owns the roads, not Jensen, so the ultimate decision lies with commissioners.