Orange County Commissioner holds town hall meeting in Maitland

Normally the Maitland Public Library is a nice, quiet place, but Monday night was an exception.

Packed into the library’s activity room — where tables and walls were lined with people — local residents took an hour-and-a-half to voice their concerns to Orange County Commissioner Emily Bonilla (District 5) about the possibility of Maitland Avenue being reduced from four to two lanes.

But before the night could even start off with discussion, confusion spilled through the crowd as many thought the meeting was solely about Maitland Avenue — it wasn’t. The meeting was an opportunity for Bonilla to hear from her constituents about general issues.

“I’ve been having these town halls all across the district and the purpose of them is to hear the concerns of the citizens and also see how we can work together to solve them,” Bonilla said to the crowd.

Instead of residents lining up at a microphone, Bonilla posed three questions: “What concerns do you have in your community?;” “What do you believe the Commission can do for you?;” “How can you, help me, take care of your concerns?”

From there groups at tables would take 20 minutes to write down their answers in a brainstorming session, which based on the constant murmurs was not what those in attendance wanted.

As the voices grew louder and as questions pinged across the room, Bonilla handed the mic over to Renzo Nastasi — the transportation planning manager for Orange County.

For the next hour-and-a-half Nastasi was bombarded with questions — all focusing on the “road diet” plan for Maitland Avenue.

“Three to four years ago we were approached by the city of Maitland and they asked if the county would be willing to transfer the ownership of the road — everything from maintenance to anything associated with the roadway — from the county to the city,” Nastasi said. “Given that Maitland Avenue is completely surrounded by the city, it made sense to us that we were amenable to transforming the road.

“I should note that these requests are not unique, they’re not rare,” he said. “This is standard practice for us.”

At the moment, there is a drafted agreement between the county and the city, meaning that the next step is for the city to take action — if it passes it will go back to the Orange County Board of County Commissioners for consideration.

While the transfer of the roadway wouldn’t cost money itself, the city would take on costs for maintenance and upkeep.

Of all the questions asked, costs was one of the least discussed items, while issues like traffic and safety were the most discussed concerns — which were shared by every resident in attendance.

One man in attendance spoke about his medical practice and the possible issues of increased traffic on the busy road — which sees around 22,500 vehicles a day.

“As you’ve heard from people who spoke up — many of whom have businesses or medical practices all along Maitland Avenue — they’re all highly concerned that what is already a slow traffic street would become impossible for their needs and for transporting patients,” said Maitland resident Mark Estrin, who was at the meeting with his wife.

Estrin also said that when you look at all the apartment complexes developing in Maitland, the matter of congestion on the roadway will just get worse.

Another popular complaint seemed to center around the issue of safety, but Nastasi said that while those concerns were noted, the two-lane option would be safer than the four-lane option.

“There’s a lot of debate in regards to ‘is a four-lane safer than a two-lane? And what about accidents?,’ so intuitively you would think that a two-lane road with a lower speed would be safer than a four-lane road posted at 45 miles per hour — those are just the facts” Nastasi said. “If you have lower speeds, and narrower roads it’s a safer road.”