Cyclists bemoan indecision on Lake Monroe loop gap
Charley Gonzalez is a retired Sanford resident who spends most mornings riding his bike near Lake Monroe.
Like many avid bike riders in the area, the 67-year-old eagerly awaits the completion of the planned Lake Monroe Loop, a continuous 27-mile paved trail around the scenic lake that straddles the border of north Seminole and south Volusia counties. The uninterrupted pathway would allow bicyclists and even pedestrians to travel between downtown Sanford and south Volusia without worrying about cars and trucks zooming by within inches.
“I won’t have to keep looking behind me for cars,” Gonzalez said about the trail while standing by his bike at Lake Monroe Park. “Sometimes I ride in the opposite direction in the street, so I can see cars coming. I know you’re not supposed to do that. … I won’t have to do that
anymore.”
However, Gonzalez and other bicyclists are frustrated that Seminole County officials are spinning their wheels on coming to a final decision on the construction of a 3.6-mile bike path running from Sanford to State Road 415 that is needed to complete the loop. Officials are in a quandary about whether to build bike lanes on a stretch of Mellonville Avenue in the road or go with a cheaper alternative, doubling the size of the existing sidewalk to 8 feet wide.
Bicyclists are eager for action, Seminole Commissioner Brenda Carey said.
“They would like us to stop talking about it and make a decision,” Carey said at a recent meeting. “We’ve been talking about this project for two years.”
Commissioner Lee Constantine also expressed frustration.
“We’ve been struggling with this for a long time,” he said. “We seem to keep coming back, and there are more questions and more concerns.”
There’s no disagreement over another major gap in the loop.
A $25 million project by Sanford to extend its Riverwalk Trail about 3.4 miles westward along the southern shore of Lake Monroe to an existing trail at Wayside Park is scheduled to start this summer and be completed next year.
But the sticking point with finishing the loop is a planned county section between Sanford’s eastern terminus of its Riverwalk Trail at Mellonville Avenue and an existing Volusia trail on State Road 415 at the St. Johns River bridge.
At issue is whether Seminole should build a bicycle lane or a wider sidewalk along Mellonville Avenue to connect with a proposed trail running along Celery Avenue eastward to the S.R. 415 trail. At several county meetings, commissioners peppered county staff for more details on the two options.
County staff recommends a wider sidewalk after a consultant’s report showed an 8-foot-wide sidewalk along Mellonville could cost up to $350,000. An on-street bike lane, however, could reach as much as $2 million, according to the report. The overall project, with wider sidewalks along Mellonville and the new bike path along Celery Avenue, would cost about $3 million in total, according to county staff.
But some residents say a wider sidewalk would mean cutting down large trees along Mellonville, a street known for its green canopy.
“I have a huge [live oak] tree in my front yard, and I don’t want to see it gone,” said Lois Roe, 73, who has lived on Mellonville for 32 years. “These big trees here are beautiful, and it would be a shame to lose them for a wider sidewalk.”
Other residents say an 8-foot-wide sidewalk is too narrow for bicyclists to share with pedestrians, especially if someone pushing a stroller.
“It would be safer if you just had pedestrians,” said Jos Grover, 40, who lives on Mellonville. “But it wouldn’t be safer if you have a mix of bicyclists and pedestrians. An 8-foot sidewalk is just a glorified sidewalk. If you talk to true cyclists, they will still bike on the streets. They are not going to ride on 8-foot-wide sidewalks.”
Grover, who has lived nearly her entire life in Sanford, said Seminole should set an example for the rest of the region by transforming Mellonville into a “complete street,” a thoroughfare designed to safely accommodate pedestrians, bicyclists, motorists and bus riders.
“I’m really frustrated because we have the power in Seminole County to be an example to other cities,” Grover said. “Instead, they are taking this draconian approach of ‘let’s just build a wider sidewalk.’”
Matthew Cushman, an engineer with CPH Engineers, a Sanford firm hired by Seminole, said turning Mellonville into a “complete street” would require “significantly” widening the road.
“There’s no way to do it within the existing roadway limits,” he said.
County commissioners are scheduled to discuss the $3 million trail project again in June. If a decision is made, construction could take two years, and the Lake Monroe Loop would be finished by mid-2020.
Jay Silverstein, an avid bicyclist from DeBary, looks forward to that day.
“That would be awesome once it’s done,” the 35-year-old said on a recent morning. “I could ride into downtown Sanford and visit one of their restaurants.”
“They (bicyclists) would like us to stop talking about it and make a decision. We’ve been talking about this project for two years.”
Seminole Commissioner Brenda Carey