Letter: 7-Eleven impacts more than North City

Letter: 7-Eleven impacts more than North City

Lisa Parrish Lloyd
Vilano Beach, FL

The 7-Eleven application and appeal on Thursday has an enormous impact on the safety and enjoyment of our community because of its critical transportation impact on everyone; not just North City.

Those of us on the east side of the Vilano Beach Bridge struggle to get back and forth from the barrier island through the bottleneck at San Marco Avenue and May Street. Adding another business there, one that has already shown through the permitting process to be oblivious to its community impact, is going to strangle that intersection to the point of asphyxiation.

My neighbors and I already have to carefully consider trips into “town”, especially during the pre-Easter season, when traffic is almost unendurable.

Attempting to participate in St. Augustine community life, of which we are also a part, has become extremely challenging because of the traffic congestion generated by day-trippers from Ponte Vedra Beach and Jacksonville, the transient tourists, and an incredible increase in residential density along A1A over the past few years.

I am pleased that the City has chosen to support the Entry Corridor codes that attempt to manage the impact of businesses seeking to build along these critical access corridors. Beyond being quaint and historic, St Augustine is limited in its physical capacity.

I hope Historic City News will help make our citizens aware of the negative impact that the 7-Eleven plans will make on an intersection where the Florida Department of Transportation has already failed.