2023-09-13 TRAFFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE MINUTES
AD HOC TRAFFIC ADVISORY COMMITTEE
MEETING MINUTES
Tuesday, SEP 12, 2023 06:00 PM VILLAGE HALL
1. CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order at 6:00 PM
2. ROLL CALL
Present: Timothy Crutchfield
Deepak Ganju
Nicole Hedmark
Nora Olaso
David Stein
Also present:
Christopher Miranda, Public Works Director
Esmond Scott, Village Manager
David Golt, Chief MSV Police
Christine Herbert, Captain MSV Police
3. PUBLIC COMMENTS
Alyson Theale - NE 105 and 4th Ave. Thomas - 1056 NE 4th Ave – spoke about:
Fourth Ave Highway per page 17 of the traffic study – 1500 cars per day drive by that
area.
Miami Country Day School, drop-off and speeding away after St. Rose drivers are
speeding, running stop signs, and using their phones while driving.
Police have a squad car in the mornings, which is helping. On 4th Ave. South, there
is a "no left turn" sign, but people still turn, causing horn honking. Police are also
assisting with this issue.
Suggested additional stop signs or speed bumps.
Susan Server - 566 NE 107th Street - spoke about:
School triangle of doom. During school hours, Miami Country Day creates traffic by
parking on 107th Street, forming a line of waiting cars. "They wait on my driveway."
Pick-up times are not being respected. Occurs between 2:30 pm and 4:30 pm.
The right-side lane of NE 6th becomes a parking lot, blocking the intersection.
Dana Vignale - 9521 NW 1st Court - spoke about :
Promoting walking and safe routes. She submitted her notes by email to Chris for the
record. Recounted that her 10-year-old daughter was nearly hit by a car recently.
Highlighted three areas of concern:
Pedestrian crosswalk at 104th and 105th on NE 2nd Ave. Suggested the use
of flashers.
NE 4th Ave NW corner of St. Rose: Suggested turning it into a one-way street
during school drop-off to accommodate bikes.
No crossing guards. Suggested speed bumps due to kids walking, biking, and
parents not paying attention.
Mentioned issues with drivers running the light on 103rd. Suggested a "Don't Dare
Speed in Miami Shores" campaign to encourage more students to walk and bike,
though there's a perception of danger.
Norene Morelli - 54 NE 94th Street- spoke about:
speeding on NE 94th Street and suggested installing speed bumps.
Mentioned that Chris reported no speed bump between North Miami and NE 1st but
yes between NE 1st and NE 2nd.
She would like to see North Miami Ave traffic problems (the portion crossing MSV)
addressed. It’s dangerous and drivers’ speed.
Mayor George Burch:
Discussed various topics:
FDOT meetings. Suggested members on this team should attend and
consider the $250K award to Miami Shores. Recommendations on how to
best invest it.
Concerns about the circle at NE 2nd 91st Street, which lacks sidewalks for all
residents. Mentioned El Portal.
Issues with road striping, specifically the lack of markings on the sides and
center. Noted the absence of a center line striping.
Addressed concerns about lawn care workers blowing leaves onto the street
and potential storm drain problems.
Raised concerns about alleys, where residents do not respect property lines,
impeding public works' ability to pick up trash. Mentioned vegetation blocking
alleys and hindering public works.
Noted that the rising water table may impact road bases, and the cost may
need to be absorbed by residents. Used the example of 105th from Biscayne
to the bay.
Jessica Pluhar - 5 NE 105th Street and North Miami Ave - spoke about:
traffic concerns about cars crashing into her property and cars. Mentioned that cars
end up in her backyard, where her kids play, very often.
issues with the merge at 105th and NMA, where a four-lane road narrows to two
lanes. Mentioned reckless driving and accidents.
Requested a complete redesign of the road. Commissioner Hardemon and Mr. Scott
support the idea. Mentioned the change requires a $250K budget allocation which the
council needs to consider.
4. AGENDA ITEM 6a - Crosswalk at NE2nd Ave between 104th and 104th
Mr. Crutchfield pointed out that the crosswalk at NE 2nd Ave, between 104th St and 105th
St, southbound traffic lane, has no signage to highlight it. Mr. Miranda advised MSV can’t
remedy this because it’s a County road. No further action was identified.
5. PRESENTATION BY THE MIAMI SHORES VILLAGE POLICE CHIEF
Chief Golt started his presentation by pointing out MSV has been identified as one of the
safest cities in the country. He delivered a presentation of statistics and shared information
about cameras to enforce speed limits. Chief Golt will be the MSPD liaison for the Traffic
committee.
- Traffic Tickets and accidents in Miami Shores – 2835 tickets issued YTD (August). These
include Criminal, Moving, Non-Moving, and Pedestrian violations. 296 accidents reported
YTD (August.) He also shared the location of accidents, severity (injury), and crash type.
Copy of presentation on record.
2) Staff assignment to traffic enforcement – Two officers total are assigned to traffic. However,
Chief Golt did point out that all his officers do traffic enforcement if they witness a violation.
He believes this is enough for the MSV volume today.
- New law allowing speed enforcement by a camera in school zones, during school hours.
Miami Shores working to identify a vendor who would be used for this purpose; The vendor
would install and service the cameras as well as monitor traffic. Any violations captured would
be sent to a Miami Shores Police Department staff member, who would then validate the
accuracy of the citations and send approval back to the company to issue the tickets. The
camera will capture any vehicle tag speeding above 10 miles per hour. Speeding is
considered 10 miles above the speed limit in Florida.
Officers working traffic control at Miami Country Day School are doing so on their own time
and are paid by the school. Miami Shores is not funding that work.
Chief Golt introduced Captain Christine Herbert.
6. PROCEDURES (previously shown as “development and adoption of the mission
statement”)
A. Mr. Crutchfield reminded everyone of the Sunshine Law, stipulating any related
conversations need to be on record. Mr. Miranda is the intermediary.
B. Minutes timeline: The first draft will be produced within two weeks of the meeting and
submitted to Mr. Miranda. Mr. Miranda will modify, approve, and publish.
C. Agenda timeline: All agenda items should be submitted to Mr. Miranda by the Monday
before the meeting.
D. The committee needs to develop a mission and scope statement along with a plan of
topics to organize the focus. What do we want to accomplish? – What are the optimum
fronts to tackle and how do we map this out?
Possible topics discussed:
The traffic study activities. Do we need a new study?
School Zones Issues.
Pedestrian Issues
Speeding and accidents. Hot zones. Main intersection. Issues
Dedicated Bike Lanes on Grand Concourse and other locations in the Village.
Traffic circles, are they an option? for which intersections?
7. UPDATE ON ROADWAY PROJECTS
Mr. Miranda provided an update on roadway projects and answered questions posed by the
committee.
The committee discussed the following topics:
Need to discuss and decide if we should propose funding a new traffic study whilst
continuing with some activities of the present one.
Action: Provide a copy of the multi-model Study, which was focused on how to move bikes
and pedestrians in the village.
Actions: Provide a list of outstanding future projects proposed by the study.
8. APPROVAL OF PREVIOUS MINUTES (September 12th, 2023)
Postponed until next meeting. Moved by Mrs. Hedmark, Second by Mr Crutchfield.
9. ADJOURNMENT
The meeting adjourned at 8:00 pm.