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Parkway opponents get their day in sun

Having won a court order, about 100 attend a meeting on the possible extension of the Suncoast Parkway.

By JUSTIN GEORGE
Published June 29, 2005

LECANTO - For the first time in more than two years, the door swung open on what had been secret meetings on a proposed expansion of a toll way, and sunshine streamed in.

Or, more accurately, the public did, thanks to Florida's "Sunshine" open meetings law. About 100 people attended a meeting Tuesday of the Environmental Resource and Regulatory Agency Group, which will hand up opinions to the state Department of Transportation.

Sitting in the front row at the Lecanto Government Building, among several wearing T-shirts that said "NO BUILD" and stickers that read "Stop the Suncoast Tollroad," were Teddi Bierly, Bobby Roscow and their attorney, Ross Burnaman. They won a court order to open the agency group meetings. Jim Bierly, Teddi's husband, wore a camera around his neck to document the whole thing.

The agency group began meeting in 2003 to discuss a $200-million expansion of the Suncoast Parkway toll road from U.S. 98 through Citrus County and ending at U.S. 19 near Red Level. The meetings include members of several local, state and government agencies and were held in private because the agency group believed it could because it wasn't making any decisions.

Bierly and Roscow, two Citrus County property owners, sued the DOT to open the meetings, and a judge sided with them in August. The plaintiffs and the state entered into mediation and agreed upon holding two "curative" meetings.

The first, held Tuesday, required the government agencies involved to hear their responsibilities to make amends under the judge's orders. At the next meeting, scheduled at 10 a.m. Aug. 29, the agencies will make presentations of everything they had discussed in past meetings. The location of that meeting hasn't been announced.

The state will notify the plaintiffs and advertise the meetings in local newspapers and on a Web site, www.suncoastparkway2.com

"It's what we had asked for, and we're very pleased with it," Roscow said. "I'm not saying there aren't problems. ... I think it's going to be splitting hairs."

His attorney, Burnaman, did have some complaints, saying officials didn't discuss how they should explain their roles in parkway planning, which is required by the mediation agreement. He also said the public should have been handed sheets of information on the meetings before the meeting, not after.

"I think they're headed for a train wreck," Burnaman said, adding that he will hold DOT to the letter of the agreement.

--Justin George can be reached at 352 860-7309 or jgeorge@sptimes.com

[Last modified June 29, 2005, 01:18:19]