by SC Reporter Emilie Alfino
The Sanibel City Council, by a 3-2 vote, approved reducing the speed limit in the Sanctuary neighborhood from 30 mph to 20 mph. The roads included are Wulfert Road, Baltusrol Court, and Troon Court. Mayor Mike Miller and Vice Mayor Holly Smith voted “no.”
The Sanctuary at Wulfert Point Community Association (Association) submitted a request for the City to consider reducing the speed limit of the roadways within the Sanctuary community, including Wulfert Road, from 30 mph to 20 mph. The correspondence the Association provided to the city clearly identifies their concerns with the recorded travel speeds of vehicles on Wulfert Road and how those travel speeds create public safety concerns for residents.
Wulfert Road is the primary walkway for Sanctuary residents. There are no sidewalks. Residents walking on Wulfert Road do not always feel safe due to vehicular speed.
The Association’s February 2025 survey of Sanctuary residents shows that 74.17 percent of respondents (120) supported reducing the speed limit to 20 mph. According to the Association, a traffic study completed by the Sanibel Police Department in February-March 2024 shows the majority of the vehicle speed during the study period traveled at a speed of 25 mph (76.9 percent) with the highest recorded vehicle speed of 56 mph.
Council member John Henshaw said, “I’m in favor of this. The residents want it. It’s safer”
Council member Laura DeBruce added, “This is a matter of common sense. The Sanctuary is a neighborhood built around a golf course. There’s great merit in lowering the speed limit.”
A big question was whether there was a need for a traffic study or whether they could rely on the study done for the Dunes neighborhood. While that study was done due to cut-through traffic for cars avoiding the congestion on Periwinkle, some felt there was enough in common to make it applicable.
There was an issue, though, that a traffic study may be required in the language in the Florida Statutes. Florida Statutes allow municipalities to set maximum speed limits of 20 or 25 mph on residential streets after an investigation, or traffic study, is completed and recommends the speed limit be changed.
City staff said in its report that it believes that a reduction in speed limits on Wulfert Road should be based on an independent traffic study conducted specifically for this street. “Despite this opinion,” staff acknowledged, “City Council could still make a finding that the Dunes study is appropriate in application to the Sanctuary and take action to reduce the speed limits within the Sanctuary without commissioning a new study to address Wulfert Road specifically.”
Staff obtained a proposal from Johnson Engineering to complete a traffic study for Wulfert Road, and the cost is $14,984.
The two “no” votes by Miller and Smith were based on the need for a traffic study, and on Smith’s suggestion that a compromise be reached at 25 mph, which did not appear to be an option.
Erecting a sign on Sanibel-Captiva Road right before the turn entering Wulfert Road to alert drivers of the speed on Wulfert Road might be helpful, and then have a “reminder” sign also on Wulfert Road. Many people who are driving to the Sanctuary for the first time to play golf or tennis, or are hurrying to get to a meeting, a function or other commitment at the Sanctuary may not be cognizant of the speed limit and /or just continue driving as they did a long San-Cap without thinking. Visitors of Ding Darling are driving slower too, where Wulfert Road is able to be accessed.