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It's closer to extending into county

If commission support for the parkway continues, the 27-mile project would move into the fast lane.

By Times Staff
Published September 27, 2006

A possible Citrus County extension of the Suncoast Parkway got a shot in the arm Tuesday from the County Commission.

In a 4-1 vote, the commission cleared the way for turnpike officials to update a study that the state completed in 1998 but then shelved.

The state will present its updated findings - including information about environmental concerns, projected traffic counts and funding - in several months.

Then will come another County Commission vote. If the project gets support at that point, the 27-mile, $879-million project would move into the fast lane, with construction scheduled to begin as soon as 2013.

Commissioners Gary Bartell, Dennis Damato, Jim Fowler and Vicki Phillips voted to move ahead. Joyce Valentino dissented.

The parkway now ends at U.S. 98 at the Citrus-Hernando border. For years the state has studied a possible Citrus extension that would end at U.S. 19 north of Crystal River. The route would roughly follow the path of the Progress Energy transmission lines.

Delays have bogged down the process. First, funding was a problem. Then two Citrus landowners successfully sued under Florida's open meetings law.

Now that the legal questions are settled and the state has freed up dollars, turnpike officials came to Inverness seeking the County Commission's nod. The state won't build the extension without a majority of commissioners supporting the move.

Technically, the state asked the commission whether it wanted take the route of state funding and oversight or federal.

Turnpike officials said the federal path was essentially a dead end, since Tallahassee already has said it won't direct any of its dwindling federal highway dollars to a Citrus extension, and since the federal study requirements are no different from the state's.

By supporting the state path, turnpike officials said, the commission in essence would signal support for construction.

Christopher L. Warren, deputy executive director of the turnpike authority, said all projects must be economically feasible and environmentally sensitive, and enjoy local support as expressed by the County Commission.

Phillips and Bartell said they didn't mind moving ahead some, but they weren't prepared to give full support. They want to see what the revision of the 1998 study looks like.

The commission meeting room at the Citrus County Courthouse was full of people waving signs and wearing antiparkway shirts and buttons. About 20 of them spoke.

Phillips said that although many speakers opposed the parkway extension, many others in the community favor the project. The community has been waiting for a decision.

"There are plenty of people who support the parkway," said Damato, who didn't agree that the road would bring unwanted growth to the county. "The growth is already here."

Valentino said she has not been convinced of the need for the extension, and that she has worried about the growth it would bring to Citrus.

Just because the parkway ends at the Citrus border doesn't mean an extension should be built, Valentino said. The crowd applauded when she suggested a countywide referendum.

Some antiparkway speakers said they felt blindsided by Tuesday's presentation and argued that the state was deceptive.

Leading the charge were Jim and Teddi Bierly, the Sugarmill Woods couple who have long opposed the possible parkway extension.

They said the project's funding was not the issue.

"It doesn't matter whether it's state or federal, if they gave it (the parkway extension) to us, we don't want it," Teddi Bierly said.

They said officials had not done enough to justify construction of the road, and they argued that commissioners should vote against it.

"The Suncoast Parkway decision will be the single most important decision made in the history of this area," Jim Bierly said.

Brad Bates of Brooksville said he sees the sprawl created by the Suncoast Parkway in his community.

Bates said he wasn't surprised that toll road officials couldn't yet answer some of the basic questions about traffic counts and environmental impact.

"The deception and the half-truths have been associated with this whole project," he said. "This agency, I think they've been trying to deceive the public from the beginning.

Janet Masaoy, chairwoman of Citizens Opposed to the Suncoast Tollway, or COST, said the commission shouldn't express its sentiment until after the state's formal study has been revised and concluded.

"It seems to me that a vote today is premature," Masaoy said.

Local resident and commentator Jim McIntosh was more blunt: "Let this road die the death it deserves today," he told commissioners.

After the commission's vote, Masaoy said her group would remain stalwart in its efforts.

"I'm not surprised, but I'm not pleased and I can't understand how four people could have voted that way," she said. "We have no intention of stopping our activities. Nothing has changed."

[Last modified September 27, 2006, 06:53:14]