Commission agrees changes “can’t wait”

The Wilton Manors City Commission voted 4 to 1 to rescind an ordinance that would put to a public vote in November a plan for the city to obtain control of Wilton Drive from the Florida Department of Transportation. Wilton Drive is officially known as S.R. 811. The commission felt that they could not wait until November to address the problems of safety, parking and beautification.

Obtaining control of Wilton Drive is the first of several steps to decrease speed, reduce the number of lanes from two to one in each direction, increase parking and landscape the main road through the city as proposed by Wilton Manors Main Street. This will be the first major renovation to The Drive since 2000 when it was widened and the landscaped median strips were added. At that time, trees were added to the medians which were removed shortly afterwards by order of the FDOT who declared the trees a safety hazard.

WMMS’ plans call for the renovation of Wilton Drive to take place in three distinct phases, the first of which would be the restriping of the road and rearranging the parking from the current parallel to head-in configuration. Before any changes can be made, the city must have control of the road.

The city will now study the feasibility of obtaining the road from the FDOT and the costs involved including road maintenance. The state had already planned to resurface Wilton Drive in 2013.

Wilton Manors is currently operating under a $1-million budget deficit.

Instead of a public vote, a town meeting will be held on June 15 to discuss the plans with the public and get their opinions.

—BK