STONE HARBOR – At the Stone Harbor Council meeting, Aug. 1, The Reeds at Shelter Haven made a presentation to the governing body on its desired expansion of the popular hotel destination’s loading area on Third Avenue.
The loading area is largely used for the hotel’s valet parking operation, but it also serves as the point for early morning trash pickup and as an unloading zone for truck deliveries when space on 97th Street that also serves other merchants is not available.
The real problem the Reeds is trying to solve, according to its presenters, is the ticketing of guests who are stacked up in illegal parking areas behind other vehicles for valet parking, leave their cars for the service, and find they have been hit with a summons.
At that Aug. 1 meeting, the issue of whether the borough would approve the expansion plan for the loading area was referred to the council’s Public Safety Committee, which is chaired by Council member Frank Dallahan. The mayor indicated that the issue would come up for a vote in “two weeks.”
Fast forward two weeks to the Aug. 15 council meeting and there was no item on the agenda and no vote.
Police Chief Thomas Schutta was asked about the expansion during his monthly report to council on the operations of his department. Schutta made clear his recommendation was not to proceed with an expansion of the loading zone until after a planned reconfiguration of the 96th Street and Third Avenue intersection by the county.
The intersection is part of a county roadway and a set of changes are planned to improve pedestrian safety. Schutta said his main concern with the loading zone expansion was pedestrian safety in a heavily congested area.
Schutta’s argument was that the borough should wait to see what impact the intersection changes have on pedestrian and traffic activity along Third Avenue before approving any expansion of the loading area. Councilman Reese Moore took up the Reeds’ case, championing the expansion, which he said would improve traffic flow along the Third Avenue route.
Ultimately, the county will have final say on the Reeds’ proposal since Third Avenue (C.R. 619) is a county road. The county will require a recommendation of support from Stone Harbor.
Contact the author, Vince Conti, at vconti@cmcherald.com.
