- October 27, 2024
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A dirt road less than 200 feet long has stymied Palm Coast’s City Council for months. Now it has a solution — maybe.
"The minute we close one [road], how are we going to tell this person no?"
— EDDIE BRANQUINHO, city councilman
The council first heard about the road — and some residents’ desire that the city close it to keep high-speed traffic out of their neighborhood — in February. The council initially voted to close the road, which is used as a cut-through between County Road 325 and Seminole Woods Boulevard.
But at the next meeting, when the council was scheduled to hold its final vote on the closure, a larger group of residents showed up and said they wanted the road kept open: Closing it would lengthen their commutes.
The council tabled the topic, asking staff to bring back more information. The council tabled it again at a meeting in April.
At a meeting July 6, the council tabled Slow Way again, but this time, it has a plan: City staff will work with Flagler County staff to place signs directing truck traffic and through-traffic not to use the road, and the city will wait six months to see if that solves the road’s traffic problems.
It was City Councilman Nick Klufas’ idea to try the signs before making a final decision on whether to close the road.
“If we were to do signs,” Klufas said, “then by the time we have a new mayor in office, we would be able to look at this and see whether or not the signs alone were able to contribute to a decrease in the traffic on Slow Way, to a point where both sides are satisfied.”
Councilman Victor Barbosa asked city staff about the possibility of adding guardrails at Slow Way’s intersections to protect neighboring yards and a street sign that’s been repeatedly knocked flat by careless drivers.
A city staff member said a guard rail would cost more than putting up a gate.
Councilman Eddie Branquinho said a resident had contacted him saying that if the city closed Slow Way, the resident wanted a road near him closed too, for similar reasons.
“This is the kind of can of worms that we are opening,” Branquinho said. “The minute we close one [road], how are we going to tell this person no?”
Danko proposed waiting to decide until the city’s next mayor is seated.
The council ultimately returned to Klufas’ suggestion to move forward with signs for now and revisit the issue later.
It voted 4-0 unanimously to table the proposed closure.
