A month and a half into the Flagler Shore project, opinions are mixed about shutting down lanes of Flagler Drive to create more space for pedestrians and cyclists, but the Downtown Development Authority wants to hear all of those thoughts.
"It’s an experiment, so everything we do we have to try it out, so we tweak those things with the feedback of the people," said Sherryl Muriente, manager of urban placemaking for DDA.
The eastern lanes of Flagler from Lakeview to Banyan were closed October 7 and they’ll stay that way until March 1.
“I feel a good sense of community and it brings people together and creates a really safe place for people to enjoy our beautiful waterfront," Gemma Torcivia said.
Muriente said the DDA recently removed painted shipping containers that were being used as barricades and put plants in their place because people didn't like how they couldn't see the waterfront from where they were driving on Flagler.
She said more people are now using the space since it first opened up. People stopped by to enjoy lunch from food trucks Wednesday afternoon.
"This is a place for everybody. So we do know how to do the traffic counts, we do know how to do the closing of a road, etcetera, but what makes it special is what people want to do with it," she said.
However, some people want the road back and they think more effort needs to be put into other areas of the city first.
"Businesses already struggle, especially on Clematis, but also on CityPlace and now, we’re directing the population into an entirely other area where there’s not any businesses here," Scott Shrader said.
Several studies have suggested Flagler Shore could include more places for people to get together and spend time by the water.
"This test is really trying to get us informed into the logistics of how do we actually transition the space? Is it viable or not?" Muriente said. "Because those are all written studies and this is an actual test that’s in real life.”
People can email their thoughts to flaglershore@wpb.org.
They can also attend a public meeting on December 16 from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. at ER Bradley’s about the project.