Tracks from vehicles that navigate the cul-de-sac have damaged the landscaped circle. Nearby residents have offered to pay for pavers, an alternative the Town Commission may consider. Photo provided
By Larry Barszewski
At the end of Lands End Road, residents are at their wits’ end because delivery and construction trucks trying to navigate the cul-de-sac there have knocked down mailboxes, torn up front lawns and ridden roughshod over the landscaped circle in the middle of the road.
Neighbors Joe Imbesi and Dan Leever asked Manalapan town commissioners at their Jan. 24 meeting to fix the situation by reengineering the cul-de-sac and improving its look. They offered to pay for the cost of pavers to beautify the portion of the road in the cul-de-sac, though they said the town might consider stamped concrete that would probably look just as good and hold up better under the weight of the trucks riding over it.
The main problems, residents and staff said, are that the circle is too large and is off-center.
“The circle has got a diameter of 30 feet right now. That’s 10 feet too much,” Imbesi said. “If you would go down and look at the damage, it clearly delineates exactly where the circle should be. Because you can see that on the east side it’s smashed down, on the south side it’s smashed down. The west side and the north side are intact.”
Commissioners were sympathetic and asked staff to have engineers come up with a fix, which they hope to consider at their Feb. 28 meeting. Town Manager Linda Stumpf said the town would have to check on what’s possible, given that the circle must follow Florida Department of Transportation guidelines.
Imbesi suggested maybe the circle itself should be devoid of landscaping and just have pavers.
“Perhaps if we had stamped concrete, then the 20-foot diameter circle of beautiful pavers, it would be a better look,” Imbesi said. “And it would last and it would stay good looking. You know Manalapan is such a beautiful community, this is atrocious, the way it looks.”
The lone tree in the center of the circle won’t face a death sentence, no matter what is done.
“The tree that’s there currently will be relocated to either the Audubon Causeway or the library,” Stumpf said. “We’re not going to get rid of it. It was a donated tree.”
Although Imbesi and Leever asked for final approval of the selected design since they could be putting up money for the decorative elements, town officials said they could only agree to consult with them on the plans.
“I’ll work with them. I’d like to have their cooperation and input since they live there. It’s in front of their houses,” Stumpf said. “My intent is to make a beautiful cul-de-sac there that the residents that live around it will love.”
In other news, Stumpf told commissioners that all work on a new water main crossing the Intracoastal Waterway between Point Manalapan and the beach should be completed within a few weeks. The crossing is finished, but the town was waiting on asphalt to put the finishing touches on portions of road that were damaged by the work. The new main should improve water pressure to homes along State Road A1A.
Progress is also being made on the town’s sewer study, Stumpf said. The town now expects the requested 30% design work to be completed by April 1, several months earlier than originally estimated.
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