Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/293799
spot for handicapped parking at the very end of the street on the north side and eight par allel spaces on the south side of the road. The estimated cost of construction is $30,627.38, plus some additional expense for design work, according to a memo the county's chief engineer, James K. Harriott Jr., provided to the commission. "I think this will … actually be safe and so much safer than the situation that you have today," Patterson said in making her motion. However, prior to the final vote, the public safety factor was at the crux of an exchange between Commissioner Joe Barbetta and Robinson over views county Emergency Services personnel had voiced. During the public comments segment at the beginning of the meeting in Sarasota, Solymar resident Paul Eklund said he counted 44 cars parked along the road on March 1 and 42 on April 6, "and these are not unusual numbers." Most of the year, but especially in high sea son, Eklund pointed out, cars are parked all over the road, impeding traffic, including emergency vehicles if they need to traverse the street. In supporting Patterson's motion, Robinson pointed out that Fire Marshal John Reed had told the board that all the options Harriott had offered met the standards for safe passage of emergency vehicles. "This is not a public safety hazard, this option," she said of No. 3. Current signage indicates where parking is not allowed and warns people not to block the driveway near the end of North Shell Road. Photo by Rachel Hackney Sarasota News Leader April 11, 2014 Page 32