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City hearing on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard streetscape highlights tradeoffs on parking, shade and safety
Summary
Consultants and CRA staff presented updated MLK Boulevard streetscape plans, proposing narrower travel lanes for traffic calming, permeable pavers for water quality, and an 18‑space off‑street lot to offset on‑street parking changes; board members pressed staff on tree choices, right‑of‑way impacts and school‑board approvals.
City of Stuart staff and consultants on Tuesday presented updated designs for the Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard streetscape and asked the Community Redevelopment Agency and City Commission for feedback on tradeoffs between parking, shade and pedestrian safety. Pinal Gandhi Savdas, CRE director, said staff resumed work on the corridor after pausing for higher‑priority East Stewart projects and noted the city submitted a USDOT BUILD grant application in February to help fund the improvements.
Consultant Brian Good of Kimley Horn described existing conditions along the corridor, saying MLK now carries two travel lanes with a mix of head‑in/angle and parallel parking and sidewalks that are roughly 6 feet wide in many places. He summarized an online survey of 46 respondents (about 70% owners or residents) that prioritized slower vehicle speeds, improved sidewalks and gathering space, lighting and shade and favored extending pedestrian improvements to Palm Beach Road.
Good said the conceptual plan converts head‑in parking to parallel parking and, to avoid an overall parking loss, proposes an 18‑space off‑street lot on city property (a former impound site) east of the solid waste compound; the consultant showed the corridor today has 51 head‑in and 29 parallel stalls (80 total, 4 accessible) and that the current plan would result in about 68 parallel stalls plus the off‑street lot for an estimated total of 84 spaces with 4 accessible stalls retained.
Traffic calming elements in the plan include narrowing travel lanes from an earlier 11‑foot concept to 10 feet, curb extensions (bulb‑outs), select roadway materials such as clay permeable pavers for parallel stalls and reconfiguring the Georgia/Central intersection from a two‑way stop to a four‑way stop. Good said the permeable clay pavers would sit on 18 inches of stone aggregate and provide roughly 0.3 acres of additional water‑quality treatment.
Board members pressed consultants on several practical details: where impound vehicles would be relocated (consultant: behind the Public Safety Building), whether a 10‑foot lane meets state guidance (Good: Florida Green Book minimum is 10 feet and staff coordinated with emergency services and waste management), and whether permeable clay pavers will hold up under daily solid‑waste truck traffic (Good cited comparable installations in Kissimmee since 2009 and recommended clay pavers for durability).
Members also raised concerns about right‑of‑way needs and park impacts. Good described three locations where a 25‑foot expansion of the existing 40‑foot right‑of‑way is proposed to accommodate improvements; one such encroachment affects Sailfish Park and could intrude on a portion of the ball field (estimated up to about 12–14 feet at the apex). Staff said they are coordinating with Parks & Recreation and the baseball league to assess impacts and that a 10‑foot chain‑link fence is proposed for the park encroachment area.
Shade‑tree choices drew repeated attention. Several commissioners urged large shade trees to help slow traffic, while the consultant noted Florida Power & Light trimming practices and recommended species consistent with the utility’s "right tree, right place" guidance to reduce future pruning damage. Consultants said they could include additional medium‑tier shade species where feasible but cautioned that utilities and underground infrastructure limit large‑tree placement in some corridor locations.
Staff provided a schedule: 60% construction documents were submitted in March 2026, 90% design is targeted for CRA review in November 2026, and construction is anticipated in 2028 per the CIP. Staff committed to additional community meetings with visuals and to continue coordination with the school board and other departments; the consultant said the city should expect a definitive school‑board right‑of‑way answer between now and November.
The board asked staff to return with refined plans that clearly show driveway impacts, sidewalk stacking scenarios for homeowners, and visuals of bulb‑out grades and pedestrian ramps. The presentation ended without a formal vote; staff requested feedback before moving the design toward final documents.
