During a two-hour meeting, approximately 50 Killearn Estates residents voiced concerns over the proposed Northeast Gateway and the controversy over possibly selling land at the Thomasville Road entrance to the neighborhood.
The meeting was held at the Killearn Homeowners Association (KHA) headquarters located on Killarney Way.
The least controversial of the two issues was KHA’s final position on the proposed Northeast Gateway project.
The Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency (IA) is holding a meeting on March 11th to address the project. The project creates a four lane road, Welaunee Blvd., which begins at Fleischmann Road, runs through Welanuee Plantation and connects with Shamrock Street at Centerville Road.
The IA states that the project “is anticipated to provide relief to US 319 (Thomasville Road) and US 90 (Mahan Drive)—the first phase of a new regional gateway into Tallahassee.”
Given the goal of the project, several Killearn Estates residents voiced concern about traffic issues with Shamrock Street, which is currently a two lane road that runs through the neighborhood.
There were also discussions about the previous plans by government planners to turn Shamrock Street into a four lane road. The plan was voted down after the community voiced concerns.
Ultimately, the KHA voted 8-1 to oppose the proposed path of the project and to urge officials to connect Welaunee Blvd. to Roberts Road rather than Shamrock.
Will Messer, who was the lone vote against the Board action, said there were benefits to the project as long as Shamrock was not widened and actions were taken to “protect the integrity of the neighborhood.”
The discussion about the possible sale of vacant land at the Thomasville Road entrance to the neighborhood generated the most discussion. A discussion that became heated, and at times, pitted some KHA Board members against each other.
Board member and past KHA president, John Paul Bailey explained that inquiries about vacant land come in to the KHA all the time. Bailey said the Board was looking at the possible sale of a piece of land that borders Tallahassee Street and Thomasville Road to help pay for neighborhood improvements.
Bailey and Board member Gloria Arias explained that there was a lack of resources available in the budget for neighborhood capital projects.
Bailey made it clear that there was never a serious discussion about the sale of vacant land bordering the Thomasville entrance to Killearn Estates.
After a motion by Board member Chuck Faircloth to seek appraisals for the property, the Board voted 8-1 against the proposal.
The Board did state there were discussions with developer JT Burnette about a possible “land swap” for the Killearn golf course. These discussions took place with the Executive Committee.
It was revealed that the Executive Committee – made up of four Board members – meets monthly. The meetings are not publicized and minutes are not taken.
The ensuing discussion revealed KHA’s concerns about the future of the golf course and also exposed transparency issues with how the KHA has communicated with homeowners over an issue that is vitally important to many in the neighborhood.
Board member Phil Inglese explained the concern the Board has with the potential closing of the golf course. Inglese said the KHA is trying to pursue possible solutions that will avoid a bad outcome for the neighborhood.
The KHA’s concern is the golf course could suddenly close and become a detriment to the community.
However, the overall concerns among many of the residents at the meeting related to the golf course issue was about the transparency and the lack of communication by KHA to homeowners.
Some Board members -agreeing with residents concerns – argued that the process is not transparent and accused the Executive Committee of addressing issues that should be taken up during full KHA Board meetings.
Michael Flemming, a former KHA president, said the original purpose of the Executive Committee was to deal with personnel issues, but now he believes the purview of the committee has grown to include issues that are not being be properly noticed.
KHA President David Ferguson defended the Executive Committee process and made it clear that decisions are not made at the Executive Committee meetings. He explained that the meetings only serve to prepare issues for the public noticed meeting of the KHA.
Following the heated discussion, Board member Will Messer made a motion to change the Executive Committee process. The vote failed 6-3 with Board members David Ferguson, Gloria Arias, Chuck Faircloth, Philip Inglese, Steven Grimes, and John Paul Bailey voting no.
Board members Bill Schack, Michael Flemming, and Will Messer were in the minority.
Near the conclusion of the meeting, KHA president David Ferguson stated that, going forward, the dates of the Executive Committee meetings will be placed on the KHA website and he welcomed citizens to attend the meetings.
Killearn Moves Away from Entrance Land Sale, Opposes Northeast Gateway added by Staff on
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Killearn Estates is a long established, charming neighborhood. Developing this thoroughfare would irreparably damage this neighborhood, increase traffic on already busy neighborhood roads, and seriously reduce property values for those who live on Killarney Way or Shamrock Circle.
We need to oppose this with the KHA, the City, and the County, and the FLDOT (since they are talking about adding another edit off I-10).
I serve as vice president for another HOA and am on the executive committee. We keep minutes of all of our exec meetings and send them to all the HOA members. The executive committee represents the members of our association and they should be keeping minutes and sharing them with the members.
Failing their coming to their senses how about converting Shamrock S to a one-way Eastbound ………. or perhaps installing a manned Estates entry gate at the Shamrock/Centerville entrance. Let the “Kanopy” developers deal with their traffic without impacting the well established Estates environment. It’s their income that should fund resolution of their problem.
At one time US 319 (Thomasville Rd) was also a canopy road and you can still see remnants of that, a few blocks north of Monroe St. and several places north of Chiles High School. Now most of it is becoming another Tennessee St.or Lord help us south Florida.Walunee rd should go to Roberts rd and by pass Shanrock and Centerville rd.
First off, let’s not call the new Welaunee project a “gateway” because it is not a gateway. It is a connector/reliever serving the new subdivision. Calling it a gateway is just a way to get people to feel warm and fuzzy about it. A Thomasville Rd or Mahan Drive project would be a gateway project as would Miccosukee or Centerville where the roadway improvements greeted people coming into town.
The project was included in the 2040 long range transportation plan but the modeling for that plan is suspect as it has a 2007 base year. The model apparently was not updated to 2010 using 2010 census data. It also needed to be validated. So the trip distribution on the network is probably not accurate.
I think I would bring the model up to at least 2015, with the socio-economic data interpolated for 2015. Also recent traffic counts are needed. The 2040 Plan said that this project is needed in the 2026-2030 time period and should be done along with the interchange.
Why don’t the raise the home owners dues? Times are changing their hoa fees are to low to raise capital. Know one wants to pay more money but you really should have enough capital on hand to fix up and improve this enormous neighborhood. You will pay for it one way or another.
“All to accommodate the traffic the City has created with their new subdivision.” ………. AND the fact that they made it where they can not widen Centerville OR Miccosukee OR Meridian.
“The project creates a four lane road, Welaunee Blvd., which begins at Fleischmann Road, runs through Welanuee Plantation and connects with Shamrock Street at Centerville Road.” ……………… Since the Road is not IN Killearn, it is not really their say about it as far as Killearn goes. I am sure they will put in a Traffic Light so to me THAT alone will make it a safer intersection. When the four Lanes end at Centerville Road, all they have to do is make the Lanes coming toward Killearn a Left Turn Only Lane and a Straight / Right Turn Only Lane.
The City of Tallahassee has been planning to build Welaunee Plantation and to attach Welaunee Blvd- a road they built- to Shamrock Circle South at Celebration Church for at least the last 10 years. They now want to widen some of Killearn Estates 2-lane roads, roads that run through the heart of Killearn, into 4-lane roads. The 4-lane roads will run from Welaunee Blvd to Shamrock South at Celebration Church to the round-about at the Killarney Way Circle K , then up Killarney way to Thomasville Road, putting even more cars at the Killarney Way-Thomasville Road traffic light. And all those Killearn Estates houses along the way- most all built in the 1960’s- will have their front yards dug up, and see a huge increase in traffic at the end of their driveways, all of which will negatively affect Killearn property values.
All to accommodate the traffic the City has created with their new subdivision.
The obvious question is why doesn’t the City just widen Centerville Road? Their answer? No!, absolutely not!
Thay say “Centerville Road cannot be widened, it’s a protected Canopy Road”. So, what is a “Canopy Road”? it’s an old road, like many other roads, but this road has more trees on each side of the road.
Hmmm, that sounds like some “Tallahassee Hogwash” right there.
Maybe you’ve noticed that most all North-South corridors into and out of Tallahassee are- you guessed it- “Canopy Roads”: Meridian Road, Centerville Road, Miccosukee Road, and Old St Augustine Road.
That’s a problem, isn’t it? Yes, it is, and the City knows it.
It’s so much of a problem that about three years ago, the City tried to sneak in a major road widening project in at- you guessed it – Killearn Estates, that would have run a 4-lane “Arterial Road”, the “Northeast Parkway”, right through Killearn Estates from Raymond Diehl Road all the way to Kerry Forest Pkwy on the North side.
That was pretty sneaky of them, as we discovered they had been planning this for years, but the neighborhood quickly rose up and squashed that.
When the City plans a new subdivision, it must build new roads and widen some existing roads to service that subdivision. It appears the city’s first plan, and only plan to widen existing roads is to dig up Killearn- not widen Centerville Road. That’s a problem.
“All to accommodate the traffic the City has created with their new subdivision.” ………. AND the fact that they made it where they can not widen Centerville OR Miccosukee OR Meridian.
I question the accuracy of the following statement:
“After a motion by Board member Chuck Faircloth to seek appraisals for the property, the Board voted 8-1 against the proposal.”
I was present at the meeting, and I recall Bailey, Arias and Faircloth voting in favor of seeking an appraisal of the two parcels on the north side of the entrance. That would make the vote 6-3 rather than 8-1. Furthermore, Inglese stated that he would be in favor if one of the parcels did not include the portion of the entrance that is currently maintained.
I do not believe this issue was put to bed, and I believe it will come up again.
The Welaunee extension will have a minimal impact on traffic into the neighborhood and an major impact on the Thomasville rd/ flyover/I10 intersections. It will relieve the wait time exiting Killearn at the front entrance.
And ruin a neighborhood in the process. Can’t wait for the 40 MPH speed limit.
Thank you TR for this report.
– Ultimately, the KHA voted 8-1 to oppose the proposed path of the project and to urge officials to connect Welaunee Blvd. to Roberts Road rather than Shamrock.
Will Messer, who was the lone vote against the Board action, said there were benefits to the project as long as Shamrock was not widened and actions were taken to “protect the integrity of the neighborhood.” –
Seeing as how Mr. Messer lives on Shamrock North and would be minimally impacted by the Shamrock South connector, I am not surprised by his reasoning.