CRA board endorses Option 1 for Golden Gate streets and backs gateway concept for grant application

Martin County CRA advisory members voted to advance a preferred streetscape configuration for Golden Gate and to include a gateway feature in grant options after a detailed consultant presentation and resident discussion.

During a presentation, the consultant (Speaker 4) described three typical cross sections for Golden Gate streets — 50-foot, 75-foot and a 100-foot right-of-way for larger corridors — and explained trade-offs involving on-street parking, bulb-outs, undergrounding utilities and bioswale-style landscape medians. The consultant said the team conducted a parking study (daytime, nighttime and weekend counts) and collected traffic data for Indian Street, estimating traffic in "the 3 thousands" and under 10,000 daily vehicles.

Residents and board members raised multiple design concerns including tree species under power lines, placing multiuse paths close to private driveways, and how cul-de-sac design is restricted by the CRA land-development rules ("in our land development regulations, cul de sacs are not allowed in CRAs"). The consultant said undergrounding utilities and selecting smaller street trees where necessary are part of the plan.

After discussion, Speaker 4 moved to adopt Option 1 for Indian Street — a service road/local-lane arrangement providing on-street parallel parking accessed from a service road — and Speaker 6 seconded. The board voted in favor with no recorded opposition. The consultant and staff noted Option 1 provides more parking adjacent to businesses while retaining local access for residents.

The board then considered a gateway concept inspired by Spanish-revival architecture. Speaker 9 moved to include the gateway monument and landscape feature in the build-grant application; the motion was seconded and carried without opposition. Staff said the gateway would be incorporated into the build grant scope and is contingent on grant award.

Staff also reported the owner of a north property had agreed to donate 30 feet of right-of-way for the Jensen Beach roadway and parking improvements, an item scheduled for the Board of County Commissioners’ consent agenda. The CRA advisory board canceled its December 15 meeting during final staff updates.

Next steps noted in the meeting record include completing intersection and signal-timing analysis for the gateway intersection, refining street sections with final utility survey data, and packaging the gateway and road redesign details into a build-grant application for funding consideration.