By Lookout Staff

March 13 -- Traffic speed, pedestrian safety and parking will be some of the topics at a community meeting March 20 to discuss design changes to a busy section of Ocean Park Boulevard.

After months of study, City planners are ready to get down to some of the specifics of a redesign that will affect long stretches of the boulevard, between 14th and 18th streets in Sunset Park.

"We'll be talking with residents about potential changes we could do in the area," said Lucy Dyke, transportation manager for the City.

Among the proposed changes resulting from a $75,000 City-funded study may be a proposal to cut off several feet of space from the John Adams Middle School field used currently for soccer and baseball games adjacent to the street.

If approved by the community, the space could become head-in parking, Dyke said.

While nearby residents and businesses have complained for years about traffic on Ocean Park Boulevard -- estimated to carry nearly 20,000 cars per day -- the City took action last year asking staff to move forward with community meetings on the issue.

Although traffic engineers call the street an important route in and out of the city, it is also only blocks from nearby schools, including the college and an elementary school, as well as JAMS.

The March 20 meeting at will residents and businesses a chance to react to proposals formulated since a series of meetings last summer, according to staff.

The meeting will be held at the Thelma Terry center at Virginia Avenue Park beginning at 6:30.