The Brookhaven Board of Aldermen is considering a proposal to build a cross walk between the Lincoln Residential Center and Florida Care Properties on Irby Drive.

Thomas Stewart, an architect representing Preferred Care — the entity that works at Lincoln Residential to provide care for senior citizens — presented the plan to the board at a recent meeting.

Stewart said the administrators at the Lincoln Residential Center are concerned about the safety of its residents who cross the street to receive care at Florida Care Properties.

“I think it would be the safest thing for the residents to assist them in crossing the street between the two facilities,” Stewart said. “On inclement weather days, they are taken on a bus or van anyway, but on good days for the ones that are able, it’s good for them to get out and get a little exercise walking across the street.”

The crosswalk Stewart recommended would slope up three to four inches on the pavement over a six-foot span on each side of the road.

“It’s not a bump,” Stewart said. “It’s just a plateau in the street, and then of course it would be striped and would have signs. It’s preferred by fire departments as opposed to a speed hump. The United States Department of Transportation paid for a study with our tax money in 1999 on crosswalks. For a middle of the street crosswalk, this is what they recommend.”

A Lincoln Residential Center administrator who attended the meeting with Stewart said that approximately 130 residents cross the street on a daily basis. Although an employee always accompanies the residents, there is a lot of traffic on Irby Drive, making it dangerous for all crossing the street.

Mayor Joe Cox agreed with the representative but voiced the concerns of the board.

“There is more traffic on that street than you think,” Cox said. “My concern is putting it in the middle of the street, as opposed to coming back up to the intersection.”

Stewart said he chose to put the crosswalk in the middle of the road because it coordinated better with the entrances to both buildings.

“That would be a longer walk for the patients or residents,” Stewart said. “This is kind of putting a side walk where the grass is beaten down approach. Preferred Care is willing to pay to do this. The street is going to be repaved anyway.”

The Lincoln Residential Center and Preferred Care would like to proceed quickly with the approval of the crosswalk, Stewart said, in order to coordinate the project with the city’s paving project.

Irby Drive is on the list of roads the city will pave during the paving project this summer, Steward said.

“I spoke to Ryan (Holmes, engineer) about this because that street is going to be paved,” Stewart said. “Lincoln Residential is planning on doing some work on the back of their building. They are going to redo some of their concrete, sidewalks and such back there. We would like to build the crosswalk while doing all of this work.”

“I commend you for this,” Ward 6 Aldermen David Phillips said. “It is certainly a good option, but I have some questions about it.”

The proposal received a positive reaction among the board, but the aldermen felt there were too many questions — such as who would maintain the crosswalk once it was built and who would be liable for the senior citizens using the crosswalk — to be answered before approval could be given.

The board agreed to take the proposal under advisement and speak to the engineer Ryan Holmes about its options.