If Hillsborough County officials ask to buy your land in 30 years, don't say they didn't try to warn you.
County planners will hold a public meeting Monday to discuss about 70 proposed road improvements designed to handle projected population demands over the next 50 years.
Projects such as a new U.S. 301-Interstate 75 connector near County Road 672 or an expansion of U.S. 92 to six lanes through Seffner may not come to fruition for decades, if ever. But they do help define what land the county may need to purchase by 2050, giving officials a chance to buy underdeveloped property before it explodes.
"It still doesn't say we're going to build them tomorrow, but it gives us the opportunity to try to reserve some of the right of way as we're going through," said Lorraine Duffy, a countywide team leader with the Planning Commission, which developed the road project proposals.
Many of the projects would affect eastern Hillsborough County, where most of the county's growth will occur over the next 50 years. Among them:
* Widening Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to six lanes from Parsons Avenue to Valrico Road. The road is currently two or four lanes.
* Expanding the Brandon Parkway from four lanes to six.
* Reconfiguring the intersection of Interstate 4 and MLK.
* Extending County Road 672 from U.S. 301 to U.S. 41 in Apollo Beach.
* Widening Bloomingdale Avenue between Falkenburg Road and U.S. 301 and between Lithia-Pinecrest Road and Dover Road.
None of the road projects on the Planning Commission's radar have been funded. Nor is there any guarantee that they are even feasible, Duffy said. But she said the 70 or so projects up for discussion Monday were deemed the most reasonable by planning and growth management.
County commissioners will consider a final map of them in August, Duffy said.
Planning Commission executive director Robert Hunter said he thinks the public's comments Monday will affect the county's final decision on the road project, known collectively as the Hillsborough County Transportation Corridor Preservation Plan.
"They can come in at the hearing and address whether they think it's appropriate to plan to take rights of way around those segments, whether it's in their neighborhood or area or community," he said.
The public meeting on the Hillsborough County Transportation Corridor Preservation Plan is at 5:30 p.m. Monday on the 18th floor of the County Center, 601 E Kennedy Blvd. in Tampa. For more information, call at 272-5940.
