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Citrus planning for parkway, just in case

If and when an extension becomes reality, the county wants standards in place to avoid sprawl.

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published September 13, 2005

The state still hasn't decided whether it will extend the Suncoast Parkway into Citrus County.

But in case the answer is yes, Citrus County officials want to be ready.

After two years of preparation by county planners, the Citrus County Commission approved a set of standards last month that would regulate the areas around parkway interchanges.

Their goal: to make sure Citrus doesn't look like the jumbled sprawl that surrounds Exit 329 - the intersection of State Road 44 and Interstate 75 in Wildwood.

"We wanted to be proactive," Commissioner Gary Bartell said. "We didn't want truck stops like Wildwood to be spread throughout Citrus County."

There would be no utility lines allowed above ground within a mile of any interchange, and no trash receptacles visible from the parkway. Lighting, signs and landscaping would follow a unified theme. All commercial developments would be surrounded by buffer zones. And they would be required to connect to central water and sewer.

County planners say the approach is innovative. Director of Community Development Chuck Dixon said it's unlike anything he has ever seen.

But at several recent meetings, members of the county's Economic Development Council expressed concerns that the standards could discourage business from coming to Citrus County.

Right now, they said, many businesses don't set up shop in Citrus because no major highway runs through the county.

"This is going to be the closest thing we have to an interstate highway," EDC executive director Brett Wattles said at the council's meeting last week.

If the tollway ever does come to Citrus after years of legal wrangling, it will have been a long time coming, EDC leaders say, and they don't want anything to stand in the way of the growth they hope it will promote.

"I was concerned that we may be setting ourselves up to completely eliminate development in any of those corridors," EDC President Jack Reynolds said at the meeting.

But county officials say the EDC has nothing to worry about.

"I can understand concerns about regulations," Director of Community Development Chuck Dixon said. "This will add a lot of value to the land around those intersections. It will enhance the value of land all along the western side of the county and probably provide incentives to people to locate their business here."

EDC leaders still need to thoroughly review the standards, Reynolds said. They support the concept, he said, but they still may have some concerns about its execution.

"We don't want to prevent business," Reynolds said. "We want it to be an attractive setting for business."

For opponents of the possible Suncoast Parkway extension, interchange management issues are a moot point.

"There is absolutely no need for this road," said Janet Masaoy, chairwoman of Citizens Opposed to the Suncoast Tollroad.

They note that Florida's Turnpike Enterprise, a Department of Transportation division, still is studying whether the tollway should be extended from U.S. 98 northwest through Citrus, ending at U.S. 19 near Red Level.

On Aug. 28, the DOT hosted the second public meeting of the Environmental Resource and Regulatory Agency Group required as part of the mediation agreement reached after a judge found that the group's five previous private meetings violated the Sunshine Law.

The DOT must wait 45 days after the meeting before proceeding further on the project in order to allow participating agencies to consider public comment, according to the mediation agreement.

Ross Burnaman, a Tallahassee attorney representing the property-owners who filed the Sunshine Law violation suit, said Thursday that he did not attend the meeting and had not yet received a promised video of the meeting or paper copies of the agencies' presentations.

"I anticipate further legal proceedings," he said.

[Last modified September 13, 2005, 01:46:17]