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Storms wants park to chip in on road

Improvement of Busch Boulevard is one of several Tampa road projects approved by the planning board.

By MICHAEL VAN SICKLER
Published June 15, 2005

TAMPA - If taxpayer dollars are spent on making Busch Boulevard more attractive, the amusement park that it serves should chip in, Hillsborough County Commissioner Ronda Storms said Tuesday.

Storms and other members of the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization voted to get the city of Tampa to write Busch Gardens a letter asking the theme park to pay part of the $4-million it will cost to spruce up Busch Boulevard.

"It's a matter of great oversight that (Busch Gardens) hasn't been asked to contribute," Storms said during Tuesday's meeting. "For us to spend $4-million on any one road when there are other roads that need it is absurd."

The board voted to send a letter to Tampa, since the road is within city limits, asking that it write a letter to Busch Gardens asking for monetary support of the project, which is set to begin by 2009.

MPO chairman Shawn Harrison, a Tampa City Council member, said businesses along Busch Boulevard, not the amusement park, had requested the project as a way to stimulate private investment along the 4-mile stretch of roadway between 56th Street and Florida Avenue.

"It's unfair to compare this road to what Disney World has," Harrison said. "They own their road. The state owns Busch Boulevard."

Earlier in the meeting, the board approved $560,000 for Busch Boulevard, along with a slate of projects costing $22-million by 2009. They include $12-million to widen Bruce B. Downs Boulevard from four to eight lanes; $3-million to widen Sam Allen Road in Plant City; $4.5-million for rapid bus transit; $464,000 to spruce up Bayshore Boulevard; and $450,000 for the Upper Tampa Bay Trail.

That list of projects was part of a larger work schedule of about $500-million in projects next year that is decided by the Florida Department of Transportation. Most of those include widenings of interstates.

Despite the costs, no one from the public showed up to comment, and the 12-member board quickly approved the list of projects without discussion.

"This is just a rubber stamp of what we agreed to do in September," Harrison told the few who attended the meeting.

Every September, the MPO lists priorities of road projects it wants funded. The list is then sent to the Florida Department of Transportation, which reviews it and decides which projects to include in its work schedule.

Michael Van Sickler can be reached at 813 226-3402 or mvansickler@sptimes.com

[Last modified June 15, 2005, 00:42:08]