News

By Mary Thurwachter

    A Hypoluxo Islander who asked the Lantana Town Council to move a speed cushion on South Atlantic Drive didn’t get what he asked for at the town’s April meeting. The council did agree, however, to hold a workshop to discuss speed bumps on the island — whether more are needed, where to put them, and perhaps, how to make the traffic calming devices less noisy.
    In 2014, islanders successfully lobbied for two speed cushions along South Atlantic Drive. But residents, whose homes (and bedrooms) are within close proximity of the cushions, aren’t loving the steady ka thump ka thump racket from cars and trucks hurrying over the humps.
    “The speed bump noise is excessive day and night,” said Ed Sheedy, of 610 S. Atlantic Drive near the speed bump between his house and 613 S. Atlantic Drive.
    “They (drivers) accelerate like they’re at a racetrack,” Sheedy said. “The noise is so bad, it overpowers the train noise. It’s impossible for us to relax. Our peace and quiet is gone.”
    Sheedy said that a neighbor at 702 S. Atlantic Drive had offered to have the speed cushion moved in front of his residence, approximately two houses south of the current location. That neighbor, Frank Ebersold, even wrote a letter to the town saying the move was OK with him.
    But council members wondered how agreeable the move would be to others in Ebersold’s neighborhood.
    “I wonder how the guy across the street would feel?” said council member Tom Deringer.
    “We all hate speed bumps, but, unfortunately, it’s the only option,” said Media Beverly, who also lives on Hypoluxo Island.
She said she had been talking about getting speed bumps for 10 years. The island has changed over the years, she said, no longer the same sleepy, Old Florida community it once was. People, she said, are all in a hurry.
    To install more speed humps involves a process. Traffic counts need to be conducted and 66 percent of residents have to agree to have them.
    A workshop date has not been set to discuss the topic.