PERMANENT CLOSURE OF SCHOOL AVE
at Sarasota High School
On August 19, 2019, the City Commission approved the PERMANENT CLOSURE ("vacation") of School Ave from Hatton to TamiSola. Ordinance No. 19-5286
That portion of School Ave is no longer a public road; it is now part of SHS campus.
That portion of School Ave is no longer a public road; it is now part of SHS campus.
SOME BACKGROUND CONTEXT
School Ave (Hatton to Tamisola) was closed in September 2018 to the public, including drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, for extended hours, weekdays 6:30am-10:00pm during school year on school days only. Prior to that agreement, for about two decades it had been closed to cars only, only on school days during school hours.
THE "WHY?"
This was done to heighten security for students, amidst the major project of "hardening" all Sarasota County schools, in the context of mass-shooting trends in the US in the 21st Century. The reasoning is that an open-to-public street bisecting the SHS campus (or more accurately, the campus growing to encompass two sides of a public street) is the most glaring security challenge for the School District. One major aspect of campus hardening is to restrict all access to monitored single-point access during school hours.
They examined alternatives to street closure but selected the closure of School Ave as the most effective and cost-effective solution. The case was made that closure on school days only was insufficient to ensure student safety, and that 24/7/365 closure was required to provide adequate security.
This was done to heighten security for students, amidst the major project of "hardening" all Sarasota County schools, in the context of mass-shooting trends in the US in the 21st Century. The reasoning is that an open-to-public street bisecting the SHS campus (or more accurately, the campus growing to encompass two sides of a public street) is the most glaring security challenge for the School District. One major aspect of campus hardening is to restrict all access to monitored single-point access during school hours.
They examined alternatives to street closure but selected the closure of School Ave as the most effective and cost-effective solution. The case was made that closure on school days only was insufficient to ensure student safety, and that 24/7/365 closure was required to provide adequate security.
WHY THE OPPOSITION TO THIS CLOSURE?
Closure of a segment of School Ave is controversial for Alta Vista and Arlington Park, as well as abutting neighborhoods due to the impact of automobile traffic pattern shifts resulting from closing one of the only two North-South through-streets within the neighborhood (particularly with two new impending housing developments adding about 350 units within a few blocks of this road segment). Additionally and as important, if not moreso, closure to pedestrians impairs the walkability of the neighborhood, requiring pedestrians to elect an additional 1/2-mile detour via Shade Street or to utilize the profoundly-unpleasant sidewalk along the pseudo-highway that is Tamiami Trail.
The School Board will be enhancing pedestrian ways along the east and west sides of the campus. See MURT page.
Closure of a segment of School Ave is controversial for Alta Vista and Arlington Park, as well as abutting neighborhoods due to the impact of automobile traffic pattern shifts resulting from closing one of the only two North-South through-streets within the neighborhood (particularly with two new impending housing developments adding about 350 units within a few blocks of this road segment). Additionally and as important, if not moreso, closure to pedestrians impairs the walkability of the neighborhood, requiring pedestrians to elect an additional 1/2-mile detour via Shade Street or to utilize the profoundly-unpleasant sidewalk along the pseudo-highway that is Tamiami Trail.
The School Board will be enhancing pedestrian ways along the east and west sides of the campus. See MURT page.
On a related note, as part of the School Ave permanent closure for security reasons, one essential component was installing more secure fencing around entire SHS perimeter: This has not yet happened (Oct 2020). May 2020 update from School District: "The board will allocate the funds for the fencing project on July 1. We will start design work sometime in late July." At the 2019 City Commission meeting, School District HAD presented timelines for project beginning in August 2019, with all phases completed in 2019 except actual construction planned for Jan-Aug 2020.
