- April 19, 2024
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+ Interchange should be beautiful
Dear Editor:
Thank you so much for the Editor’s Note about the reasons the Matanzas Woods Parkway-Interstate 95 interchange is needed.
It seems the only people complaining about this are the ones who live in that area. I live on Farragut Drive, and getting out onto Old Kings Road southbound 7-9 a.m. and 4-6 p.m. can be a five- to 10-minute wait.
This interchange topic has been on the minds of people from Flagler County for many years, and finally it has come to the point where we need it.
When is the state planning on starting this project? Do we as a community have any say so on the landscaping of the exit?
Having traveled the I-95 corridor from Homestead to Maine, all the exits look the same — except for the exit at LPGA Boulevard, which is by far the best-designed and most-attractive to the eye.
Let’s have a contest for local schools to design the exit landscaping and tell people driving north or south that we take pride in our city and don’t want to be like all the other exits on I-95.
Art Frost
Palm Coast
Editor’s Note: Mr. Frost, according county spokesman Carl Laundrie, in February the Flagler County Board of County Commissioners will vote on a contract for the planning, design and engineering of the interchange. Then, the design will be sent to the Florida Department of Transportation for approval. The county will then open the contract for bids.
It doesn’t sound like you’ll be hearing any construction out your window any time soon, but I know the project is high on the county’s list of priorities.
As far as landscaping, Laundrie said there will be opportunity for public comment. Palm Coast City Manager Jim Landon said local governments have to pay for any kind of extra landscaping you’re talking about. But, he added, the city will plan to ask for the type of gateway monument signs that are currently at the I-95 entrances at Palm Coast Parkway and State Road 100.
+ ‘Do you hear what I hear?’ No interchange!
Dear Editor:
Here we go again. Something for the residents, but that we don’t want or need: an interchange at Matanzas Woods Parkway and Interstate 95.
In general, liberal-minded politicians, regardless of party affiliation, tend to think they always know what is best for the people who hired them and who they work for. They neglect to ask their constituents what their wishes may be before acting for them.
Supposedly, the interchange will be an aid to us if we ever need to evacuate. That cannot be proven unless it is built and we have to evacuate.
Now, how about this as an example: Tractor trailers coming onto Matanzas, taking a left on Belle Terre Parkway and zooming on down to the various shopping centers along that roadway to make deliveries, ending at the Town Center.
I can also imagine our good friends, the bikers, who are a smart lot, surely figuring out the advantages of coming off I-95 on Matanzas, perhaps taking a left onto Bird of Paradise or Belle Terre Parkway and rolling on down to U.S. 1.
Between the trucks and the bikes, do you hear what I hear?
Let’s see, how about this one: Strangers coming off of I-95 into a residential area, an area that houses five schools between Matanzas and State Road 100. Hmm … doesn’t sound good to me.
Maybe there would be the need for a gas station and perhaps a fast food restaurant tucked in the interchange also.
Now what about the impact on the current residents in the area all along Matanzas? (I say current, because there won’t be any future residents; the noise and traffic are not going to be conducive to new housing construction or to selling existing housing.) The folks living along Belle Terre Parkway are in that predicament now since the widening of the parkway.
That was a project that was in our best interests, also.
Let’s not be fooled by the powers that be telling us, “Hey, no way. These things can’t happen.”
We know better. It can happen. Do we want to take that chance?
Mary Lipa
Palm Coast
Editor’s Note: Ms. Lipa, you mentioned the “liberal-minded politicians” who are behind the interchange. For the record, three of the five County Commissioners are democrats, and two are republicans. The City Council members run as nonpartisans. Both the city and the county has been strongly in favor of the interchange.
You also said it cannot be proven whether an interchange is needed for an evacuation. County spokesman Carl Laundrie said Flagler County recently completed something called an “Interchange Justification Report.”
He wrote via e-mail: “According to state review and traffic models, building an interchange at Matanzas Woods is justified by traffic alone, and emergency evacuation is an added bonus. They are not looking at Flagler County today; they are looking at the future. The University of Florida’s projections for Flagler County in the next 25 years indicate the population will be 198,000.
“Aside from all that, a visit to Palm Coast Parkway on any given day around noon will prove the point. Despite all the improvements, as the city grows, Palm Coast Parkway will become more and more choked with traffic.”
A TALE OF TWO CITIES
+ Palm Coast ‘a ruination of its former being’
Dear Editor:
Hurrah for Mr. Albano. He certainly represents the sentiments of many Palm Coast residents who came here for what it was before it became what it is.
Of all those I have talked to since, I can find very few who did or will admit to voting for Palm Coast to become a city. All the blue smoke that was blown by the advocates for it has turned to smog. The problem now, as I see it, is that, like our federal government, the situation is now so out of control that it is probably too late to alter the path to ruination of its former being; the only option for many of us is to attempt to find another Shangri-La.
Henry F. Perdue
Palm Coast
+ Palm Coast is, in fact, a resort destination
Dear Editor:
Mr. Albano, I must respectfully and heartily disagree with your letter of Jan. 20 that Palm Coast is a “whistle stop, not a resort.”
I arrived in 1994 to work for ITT. Palm Coast was very much a resort destination.
We had four top-notch golf courses, a resort hotel, a top-rated tennis facility and 15 miles of beach. Three more golf courses were soon built, along with luxury Intracoastal Waterway and oceanfront homes and condos.
I sold new home construction for 15 years. The potential purchasers I met were very pleased with the nature, tranquility and friendliness of Palm Coast. Many had had second homes in south Florida for years, and when it came to relocating to Florida as a primary residence, they were very happy to find Palm Coast.
Our city has grown and matured but has continued to be a lovely place to live and raise a family.
I think we are the perfect combination of permanent residents and resort living.
Nanci Whitley
Palm Coast
