Stung by the state’s refusal to approve a new traffic signal at 182^nd Street and Collins Avenue, Sunny Isles Beach will try an old school approach – a no-left-turn sign – to attack the potential dangers lurking at the intersection of 183^rd Street and Collins Avenue.

And, in the process, the city will provide some relief to developer Raanan Katz who has been paying for police and crossing guards at the 183^rd Street intersection to protect school children heading to and from the Community School.

Mayor Norman Edelcup opened a special meeting of the City Commission Nov. 4 by detailing his disappointment with the decision earlier in the week by the Florida Department of Transportation. The city wants to create a new entrance to RK’s Village Plaza shopping center at 182^nd Street -- complete with a left turn lane and a traffic light -- to make life easier for center traffic. The idea is that the left turn lane would reroute northbound center traffic that now turns left into 183^rd Street and then immediately left into the shopping center. But the state experts said the light would be too close to the existing light at 183^rd Street and could result in clogged traffic on Collins Avenue, a state road.

Edelcup showed no signs of backing up from an earlier statement that the state position was “thickheaded.” He urged – and won – commission agreement that the city should pursue the traffic signal fight all the way to Tallahassee if necessary.

But, he acknowledged, the city still had a traffic mess that needed attention. And the presence of Katz, who spent much of the meeting waving his hand seeking to he heard, was a constant reminder of the unfinished business at hand.

Under terms of an emergency agreement reached in June, Katz has been paying for a police officer and two crossing guards at the intersection every school day since classes resumed in August. Over the first 60 days, that bill surpassed $8,000. Katz argued that his survey indicates that no more than two pupils a day use the sidewalk on the south side of 183^rd Street. “I came today to appeal for common sense,” Katz said. He offered a menu of solutions to cut his costs while maintaining safety.

The city’s largest taxpayer would win most of what he wanted, but not before taking some verbal abuse.

Commissioner Bud Scholl, who missed the commission’s debate on the same subject Oct. 29, said he was troubled that the city’s original resolution hadn’t been fully implemented. He recalled discussion at the time the variance was issued allowing construction of the CVS store at Village Plaza. That plan called for bollards – plastic barriers in the middle of the roadway – that would prevent traffic entering 183^rd Street from turning left into the shopping center. Scholl reminded Katz that the bollards were fully discussed and that the developer had agreed to that condition. There should have been no surprise for CVS, unless RK had mishandled the communication, he opined.

Scholl also reminded Katz that the interim resolution reached in June called for the removal of the bollards only until school reopened. The bollards didn’t go up, Scholl said, because city staff was satisfied that the presence of one police officer and a crossing guard were sufficient to protect the school children. He said he supported that decision and agreed “the officer is overkill.” But he said he now was uncomfortable at facing “a commercial compromise” between cost and safety.

Vice Mayor Lewis Thaler ultimately offered the basis of a compromise that carried the day:

• The city would erect a sign on 183^rd Street barring left turns into Village Plaza during periods when school children might be present;
• The city would pick up the cost of a police officer to supervise the intersection  and issue tickets for two weeks after the sign is erected;
• Two crossing guards would remain after the sign is installed, one at RK’s cost and one at the city’s cost.
• Katz would continue to pay for all police and crossing guards for up to two weeks until the sign could be erected;
• The bollards would go back up as soon as the traffic signal is installed at 182^nd Street.

That measure passed 5-0, even as Katz waved his hand trying to make his plea again. He continues to claim the treatment of the 183^rd Street intersection is discriminatory because similar conditions exist at the 178^th Street and 175^th Place intersections with Collins Avenue.