Most who view proposed maps see an invasion. Leaders see solutions for a growing region.
By CHASE SQUIRES
Published September 11, 2003
ST. LEO - Progress drew protests Wednesday as more than 80 people turned out for their first glimpse at Pasco County's proposed future Clinton Avenue extension.
The plans showed a dramatic change, creating a new four-lane road dipping south of State Road 52, swooping from just east of Interstate 75 south of St. Leo and connecting with a realigned Clinton Avenue all the way to U.S. 301.
The huge project, which would begin at the earliest in 2010, would change the landscape and traffic flow in east Pasco, affect up to 54 properties and cost up to $21.4-million.
Property owners gathered around maps on the wall at a Saint Leo University reception hall to view the proposals.
Most were less than happy at the thought.
"If I can get out of this meeting without strangling somebody, I'll be happy," Mack McCabe joked.
His niece, Linda McCabe, said her family is not pleased.
"This is a small town," she said. "People come up here to get away from these roads."
Several of her family's properties would see the new road cut through their ranches, groves and plant nurseries, she said.
Farther east, residents of Just-A-Mere subdivision and south of Clinton Avenue were just as unhappy. Big red R's - for "relocation" - marked a cluster of homes.
In other areas, a 160-foot-wide swath of road cut properties in half or zipped by homes now surrounded by woods and fields.
"Who wants an interstate running through their property?" asked Allen Roman, who lives on 10 acres off a dirt road south of Clinton Avenue.
"It will disrupt such a serene setting," Joyce Carle said.
Roman said if the county wants to cut through the northern acre of his miniranch, it will pay dearly for the privilege.
The project engineer, Loren Midgett, said he understands the resistance but that the road access is needed.
"You've heard the old "not in my back yard'? Everybody's that way," Midgett said. "There's nothing wrong with that."
But the fact is, no matter how the county tries to meet the transportation needs of a growing region, someone will feel the effect.
County Commissioner Ted Schrader was at the meeting, getting an earful from landowners.
Wednesday's meeting was only the first, he said.
It starts a process that will see many adjustments along the way, hopefully curing some of the faults some see with the process.
But something has to be done, he said.
And it should be done to take advantage of available land on the Cannon Ranch property, before development and before the cost of cutting through it rockets.
