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Lutz
They ask the Turnpike authority to install sound barriers in addition to landscaping, but officials balk.
By JOSH ZIMMER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 31, 2003
LUTZ -- Florida's Turnpike authority agreed to please Cheval residents last year and spend nearly $600,000 on an expanded landscaping buffer along the Suncoast Parkway, which divides the upscale subdivision in two.
"We're a good neighbor," Turnpike spokeswoman Joanne Hurley says.
The positive vibes only go so far. While the upcoming project is welcome, homeowners are far from satisfied. Complaining about noise and vibration from passing cars, they want the agency to install sound barriers along hundreds of feet of parkway. But while they agreed to the landscaping, officials are balking at making the additional investment.
"Basically, we've done two studies," Hurley said. "And both of those studies indicated that lengthening . . . the barrier wall would not have any effect on noise levels in that area that meets our criteria for noise reduction."
Cheval residents have been frustrated by their proximity to the 42-mile highway, which opened in 2001 and extends north from the Veterans Expressway to just below the Citrus County border. Some believe the agency did not follow through on promises to render the parkway as unobtrusive as possible.
When complaints surfaced early on, angry residents formed special committees to present Cheval's case with the agency.
Cheval's Col. Earl Burley, who handled the landscaping negotiations, said there are two "gaping" openings in the sound barriers.
Letters, including one to Gov. Jeb Bush, haven't changed any minds at the agency, he said.
"We have some severe noise impacts," Burley said. "We get the same response: 'We don't really plan to do anything about it.' We didn't oppose the road because we were told at an earlier meeting (in the mid 1990s) that there would be walls on both sides of the parkway, it would be landscaped and impact to the community would be minimal.
"We trusted what they said," Burley said. "Once the road went up, we realized, 'This is not what you promised.' "
There is a third concern: An annual $450,000 security budget has not made the residents feel completely safe. Burley says the openings create opportunities for criminals to enter Cheval, a gated community, by crossing woods separating homes from the parkway.
Without the barriers, "the possibility of people getting into the community that are criminals is increased," he said.
Hurley points out that the parkway was designed before the buildout in Cheval. The agency has responded to complaints; in at least one case it spent an extra $1.3-million in Silverthorn, a Hernando County subdivision. But the agency cannot continually retrofit the Suncoast to satisfy all communities along its route, she said.
Sensing the impending construction boom along parts of the parkway, agency officials are working closely with local government planners so that landscaping and sound barriers become part of the construction plans, she said. With this leg of the parkway finished, those issues are in the hands of developers and local governments.
In a sense, Cheval residents are lucky. Of the $657,000 allotted for landscaping improvements, $570,000 will be spent in Cheval. The rest will be used for interchange improvements at Van Dyke Road.
"We've already installed about 4,000 feet of barrier wall that ranges from eight feet to 12 feet in the Cheval area," Hurley said. "So we feel we've done a lot."
-- Josh Zimmer covers Keystone/Odessa, Citrus Park and the environment. He can be reached at 269-5314 or zimmer@sptimes.com .