he residents of Lake Patricia are not going down without a fight over proposed Gratigny Parkway ramps.
At the August 18 council meeting, residents flooded the council chambers to voice their concerns about the proposed project at Northwest 67th Avenue.
More than 20 residents spoke during public comments and sent in comments against the ramps.
Lake Patricia resident Sam Budlong has been organizing his neighbors to come speak in council chambers against it. Budlong led the packed room in a chant of “power to the people”.
Residents in the Lake Patricia and Lake Katharine neighborhoods are worried about the increase in traffic the ramps would cause.
Many residents spoke about the possibility of drivers speeding through their neighborhoods to avoid the school zone located on Northwest 67th Avenue at Miami Lakes K-8 Center.
There was also concern about the noise that the ramps would bring to residents who live along the Graham Dairy Canal, where the Gratigny is, as well as the environmental impacts to the body of water.
Mayor Josh Dieguez felt it was important to consider the project to address traffic issues in the town.
“I understand the concerns, but it would be irresponsible not to seriously consider this potential option,” he said.
He said the Greater Miami Expressway Authority’s (GMX) traffic study for the project painted an incomplete picture of traffic infrastructure needs.
“The numbers are off on these studies, they’re way off,” he said. “Why? Because they’re accounting for conditions today.”
Dieguez said the numbers don’t include projects that are not in the permitting process yet or projects that could be expanded under Florida’s Live Local Act, which allows developers to expand the number of apartment units in an already existing project if they wanted to redevelop it.
Councilman Alex Sanchez suggested removing one of the ramps as a compromise solution.
The removal of what is labeled as “ramp b” would eliminate an off-ramp and keep just on ramps from the Miami Lakes side.
Dieguez asked Town Manager Edward Pidermann to ask the GMX to redo the traffic study and to find out if they would move forward without ramp b.
Dieguez expressed concern that if the project were to be stopped again, it would cause GMX to drop the project entirely in the future.
Sanchez ran on a platform of traffic mitigation and wants the off ramp removed to avoid cars speeding onto Northwest 67th Avenue and through the school zone.
“This isn’t falling on deaf ears,” Sanchez said.
Sanchez said that a great deal of school traffic involves parents and students driving into Miami Lakes.
“We have ‘A’ schools in Miami Lakes, which drives individuals from other areas,” Sanchez said.
Those cars, he said, need somewhere to go. The town needs to look at the bigger picture.
“We need to see this as a macroscope, not a microscope,” Sanchez said.
Councilman Ray Garcia said he was fully against the entire project and would like to see it not go forward as presented.
“It is just way too much infrastructure for that little space,” Garcia said.
Garcia mentioned the effects it would have on the Lake Patricia Shopping Center as well as the school zone he helped expand.
“To me, it’s not the area to put it in,” Garcia said.
He said if they didn’t already have ramps at Northwest 57th Avenue, he could understand the need for the project.
Councilman Angelo Cuadra Garcia echoed similar sentiments and said he felt that if it wasn’t broken, there was no need to fix it.
Councilman Steven Herzberg he is against the off-ramps but would support on-ramps with updated numbers.
“I’m not going to vote for a project without the numbers,” Herzberg said.
He felt as it’s currently presented, it doesn’t look like it helps with the traffic issues the town has on the west side.
“If we move forward with the mayor’s item, is GMX going to come back to us?” Herzberg asked, referring to the request for a new traffic study.
Vice Mayor Bryan Morera said he was more than open to listening to the residents and, like Dieguez and Sanchez, is against the off-ramps.
Maximo Alvarez, who owns the nearby Exxon gas station, said it would hurt his business having to close an entrance to accommodate the off ramp.
The council voted to request GMX do a new traffic study and respond to the suggested loss of ramp b. Councilmembers Cuadra Garcia, Garcia and Juan Carlos Fernandez dissented; Dieguez broke the 3-3 tie in favor.