County staff to pursue public hearing to close portion of County Road 514 to reduce industrial cut-through traffic

County Administrator Bradley Arnold told commissioners July 22 he will initiate a public hearing process to close a portion of County Road 514 west of Nelson in order to prevent industrial trucks from using West Warm Springs Avenue as a cut-through to the Governor Ritz Scott Industrial Park.

Arnold described concrete barricades currently placed on the residential road and said navigation apps continue to route tractor-trailers into the neighborhood, where residents have had to guide trucks to back out. He said the county is not seeking to vacate or abandon the road but to close a segment to block the vehicle connection while preserving emergency access and evacuation routes; the design will include emergency-evacuation accommodations in case railroad incidents require alternate egress.

Arnold said the Florida Department of Transportation offered to prioritize updates to navigation entities if the county proceeds with a formal closure so maps and routing databases will stop showing the connection. Arnold asked for board consensus to advance the public-hearing and legal-notice work; commissioners voiced support. Arnold said the legal description and public-notice costs will be part of the public-hearing process and staff will return with the formal closure ordinance and public-notice materials.

Why it matters: Closure aims to reduce heavy-truck traffic through a residential neighborhood and to correct navigation data that currently misroutes trucks. Any closure will require a legal description, public notice and a design to maintain emergency access.

Next steps: Staff will prepare a draft closure ordinance and legal description for a public hearing and notice, design physical barriers that preserve emergency access, and coordinate with FDOT on navigation-data updates.