CORE
VALUE
CORNER
Collaboration key to advancing project
Public involvement is a critical but potentially divisive process on projects , as the City of Lakeland , Florida , found out when unveiling its South Florida Avenue Strategic Master Plan to residents and stakeholders . Part of the plan calls for instituting a road diet on a 1-mile stretch of South Florida Avenue and reducing the busy thoroughfare from five lanes to three . A pilot project is under way , and it will soon be time for the City Commission to either deem it a success ( and ask the Florida Department of Transportation to implement , fund , program , and construct a permanent three-lane cross-section ) or declare it unsuccessful ( at which point FDOT would then decide which configuration the roadway should take .)
Ayres ’ urban planner Binoy Panicker joined the City and DOT staff at a well-attended public meeting over the summer , bringing with them detailed renderings of the roadway showing what it could be . Transportation engineer Michael Noesen joined Panicker at a subsequent presentation to the
Lakeland Community Redevelopment Agency Advisory Board where “ he was able to tie the strategic master plan with a bow and deliver it to the Advisory Board ,” said Brian Rewis , Lakeland ’ s director of community and economic development .
“ Working as a team – and as partners – has been crucial on this project . We understand and trust each with wonderful synergy throughout the planning and design process , thereby achieving the desired outcomes .”
Binoy Panicker
Urban Planner
“ Not only was he able to make this presentation , but we were able to use that as a nexus to ask of the Advisory Board if there was interest in taking a position on the success or lack thereof of the pilot study . They elected unanimously to take a position supporting the current threelane cross-section … and approved a letter that has since transmitted to our City Commission , advocating for adoption of the three-lane cross section ,” Rewis said .
Similar efforts have also been taken by the Lakeland Downtown Development Authority , Historic Lakeland , Inc ., and other organized groups who also feel the pilot study was successful , Rewis said , mentioning how Panicker and Noesen also joined City leaders in an earlier meeting with FDOT District 1 staff to talk through the plan , resulting in the DOT ’ s support as well .
Throughout the process , Rewis said Ayres , and , in particular Panicker as his primary point of contact , was responsive and accommodating .
“ He just has been what I would consider a real partner ,” Rewis said . “ We met several times , we talked by phone pretty often , and every time I knew that Binoy would be receptive . But also he knows what he ’ s doing , so his input was very valuable , and it was truly collaborative on all parts . We hired Ayres to do a thing . We got that thing and then some .”
– Jennifer Schmidt
16 | TRENDS Ingenuity , Integrity , and Intelligence .