CLEWISTON — Some big changes are in the works for Ventura Avenue in Clewiston. Fox 4’s Hendry County Community Correspondent, Austin Schargorodski, went to a city workshop Wednesday where commissioners talked about the redesign plan, and it faced some push back from a local business owner.
Watch to hear what the business owner said about the redesign project:
The city got more than $800,000 in state funding to redesign the section of Ventura Avenue between W.C. Owen and Deane Duff. Clewiston Commissioner Hilary Hyslope says the plan includes resurfacing the road, new landscaping, a roundabout to slow traffic, plus walkability upgrades.
“As you ride down some of our, you know, retail streets and things like that, you'll see that we do need, you know, to rehab some of some parts of our community. We absolutely have to do that,” Hyslope said.
But Ventura Avenue runs right in front of Joanne Jordan’s State Farm office, and she says the plan could take a toll on her business.
“They're taking all my parking here, most of my parking here and all the parking here. And they're putting this roundabout in, which is only 18 feet from my front door,” Jordan said.
Jordan says that roundabout could make it harder for customers to reach the building, and potentially more dangerous for them.
“I'm all for the beautification, but I'm not for my handicap and my employees and step with the safety of the roundabout and of course, the walking of my customers from down the road to my building, especially if they have wheelchairs, walkers and stuff like that, because we have a lot of elderly here,” Jordan said.
However, Commissioner Hyslope says the plan actually wouldn’t reduce parking and could even help local businesses by improving curb appeal.
“The plan would have the opposite effect. We plan to open up parking at the Clewiston Police Department to help with overflow. And truthfully, with opening up parking here, redoing it with slanted parking spaces as you see in the plan, we’ll have the same amount of parking and a much more walkable corridor,” Hyslope said.
Commissioners plan to vote on the project later this month.
