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New deal clears way for shopping center

The commission votes to settle a lawsuit by allowing the construction of the center and a frontage road along SR 50.

By DAN DEWITT
Published July 6, 2006

SPRING HILL - The County Commission voted Wednesday to settle a developer's lawsuit by allowing the construction of a shopping center and a controversial frontage road along State Road 50 near the Brookridge mobile home community.

The developer, Diversified Properties, sued the county in May for denying the project the previous month. The commission said it was acting on concerns of Brookridge residents, who had complained that the frontage road's intersection with the community's main entrance, Brookridge Central Boulevard, would cause safety and traffic problems.

After Wednesday's meeting, several residents said they still disapprove of the agreement, although it calls for only a partial connection between Brookridge Central and the frontage road.

"I don't like any connection at all," said Chick Thompson, 60, of Brookridge, who said he walks to nearby shopping areas.

"I'm legally blind. This will make me road kill."

Commission Chairwoman Diane Rowden cast the only vote against the agreement, which she said did not adequately address safety and traffic concerns.

Other commissioners and county staffers said the opposite.

"They got themselves a very good deal," County Attorney Garth Coller said of the commission.

Diversified's lawsuit had said the county had no grounds to deny the shopping center; its settlement offer called for about $1.3-million in improvements to area road networks.

That included $190,000 to pay for the cost of acquiring land from the owners of a nearby liquor store to make the frontage road wide enough to accommodate two-way traffic.

But that was changed at Wednesday's meeting. That money will now go to improve the adjacent stretch of SR 50, which has been given a failing grade by the state Department of Transportation for being over capacity.

The frontage road, meanwhile, will allow drivers only to enter the shopping center from Brookridge Central, with exits on SR 50 or Grove Road, just to the east of the project.

Later, assuming the neighboring liquor store is bought in the future for a more intensive commercial use, the developer of that property will complete the frontage road, Coller said.

Among other improvements, Diversified agreed to pay for sidewalks along Brookridge Central, a golf cart entrance to the shopping center and a rear entrance - with a stoplight - to Brookridge on Sunshine Grove Road.

Residents of Brookridge will vote on whether to accept this rear entrance, which many have said they oppose.

If they vote to reject the offer to build it, Diversified will donate $225,000, the estimated cost of the gate and the light, to the SR 50 improvement fund.

County Commissioner Jeff Stabins said, as did county staffers, that the rear entrance would take traffic away from the SR 50/Brookridge Central intersection and provide additional access for emergency vehicles.

"I just hope the people of Brookridge will seriously consider a back entrance and a traffic light, all paid for," he said. "That would be a wonderful thing for them."

Dan DeWitt can be reached at 352754-6116 or dewitt@sptimes.com.

[Last modified July 5, 2006, 22:40:25]