Naples City Council discussed Wednesday the need for a downtown traffic analysis in response to consistent increases in traffic due to new development and population growth.
The discussion of hiring an independent consultant for the study began in December at a Planning Advisory Board meeting during a presentation of a site plan for the Naples Square Commercial South project. The board suggested Council consider spending money on analyzing traffic impacts of this development. With additional developments such as the new Gulfshore Playhouse theater and Whole Foods and Restoration Hardware planned for downtown, Council directed staff in January to send out letters of interest for professional services for the study.
After receiving six letters of interest back from different consultants, Council considered pursuing a $350,000 contract with Fort Myers-based David Plummer & Associates on Wednesday. Originally, the company sought $800,000, but the city declined the use of microsimulation software and decreased the scope of the study.
“I can tell you that this has taken a little while to get back to you because the original proposal and the original scope was pretty enormous, and the dollar amount was pretty enormous. We wanted to try to spend some time to negotiate and work down the number until there was no more juice to be squeezed,” City Manager Jay Boodheshwar said.
The extent of the study will include sub areas both east and west of U.S. 41 within downtown, accounting for 30 intersections. This includes Goodlette-Frank Road and the Bayfront community to the east and west including the Ninth Street South corridor from Broad Avenue South to Fifth Avenue South.
David Plummer & Associates was involved with the traffic study as part of phase one, having gathered core traffic data during peak season traffic. It is now a question of whether the city wants to spend an unbudgeted $338,000 for the full analysis.
City council member Raymond Christman said it isn’t worth doing the study to try and predict the future of Naples traffic.
“Twenty-year modeling, come on. Ten years, come on. It’s meaningless trying to make projections out that far in terms of the kind of dynamic environment that we live in where those predictions are really not possible to make,” Christman said.
Naples Traffic Engineer Alison Bickett said models looking far into the future are important to be considered for this study to examine the long-term effects of intensive development and population increase. She added that this study could have potential to change how Council handles policy decisions and incorporates land codes.
Council member Terry Hutchison mentioned Florida Senate Bill 250, which will impact Collier County beginning July 1 and restricts it from adopting more restrictive or burdensome amendments to its comprehensive plan or land development regulations before October 2024. Hutchison said this bill will make it difficult to look into the future to see how developments will shape the future of Naples.
“We’re not going to be able to make decisions about if a large development is coming in. Let’s say we get the traffic study data, and it says we’re at capacity. Yet here comes a project that’s going to add to that and be a tipping point. We’ve just been preempted, in my opinion,” Hutchison said. “I want to circle back to our attorney. Spending money on traffic studies intended to help us make informed decisions on land development might be questionable.”
Focusing on impacts of specific developments rather than a bigger-picture analysis would be more impactful, Christman said.
Staff was directed by Council to further work out the scope of the study with the proposed consultant and bring an update and appropriation request to the May 17 meeting. Further, Council will participate in a workshop to better understand how levels of service are determined for local roadways and how a traffic analysis will benefit the city.
