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The space between

Three months ago, Jim Norman persuaded fellow county commissioners to offer $1-million to the state if it would fill gaps in a noise wall shielding Cheval from the Suncoast Parkway.

By BILL COATS
Published October 15, 2006

LUTZ

Three months ago, Jim Norman persuaded fellow county commissioners to offer $1-million to the state if it would fill gaps in a noise wall shielding Cheval from the Suncoast Parkway.

Now Norman is catching heat for that.

Fifteen-second television ads run by opponent Joe Redner begin, "County Commissioner Jim Norman set aside $1-million in county funds to build a wall around a subdivision of million-dollar homes, but turned his back on a program for battered women."

The "battered women" reference is to a last-minute $500,000 appropriation county commissioners considered making to a domestic violence center. Instead, they used the money to help reduce the property tax rate.

Battered women vs. the Cheval wall. "It just seemed to fit in like a key in a lock," said Redner.

But Cheval residents say Redner is leading with ignorance.

"He can't possibly know what our position is and what we're trying to do, because he's never talked to us," said T.J. Rives, a leader in the Cheval committee lobbying for the wall work.

The wall dispute reaches back to the mid 1990s, as Norman was finishing his first term representing north Hillsborough County on the commission and homebuilders were expanding Cheval westward around the vacant path of the Suncoast.

The builders dangled bargain prices. Customers weighed the prestige of moving into gated Cheval against the nuisance of living next to an expressway. Don't worry, many recall hearing, there'll be a continuous noise-suppression wall.

But who really said this?

The question has loomed large ever since Florida's Turnpike Enterprise built the Suncoast between 1998 and 2001. The expressway featured noise walls totaling 8,300 feet - everywhere houses were planned close to the highway. But designers had left 2,000 feet of gaps in the wall, beside a large cypress head and beside the Tournament Players Club golf course. Houses were built on the far side of both areas.

Turnpike officials say they planned the gaps as early as 1995, because walls weren't warranted where houses weren't adjacent to the expressway. The state's noise experts say walls only benefit people living within one or two lots of the highway; sound disperses beyond there.

Cheval residents say the gaps betray a promise made by highway officials. But they can't name any official.

None of us, Turnpike officials say. But they can't account for how marketers or others may have described the wall plans to homebuyers.

'Bold step to protect'

The wall was one of two beefs Cheval had. The other was a lack of roadside landscaping.

"They left us a vacant, bare expressway," complained Norman.

Eventually, the Turnpike Enterprise paid more than $500,000 to plant trees along the banks of the expressway through Cheval.

Noise walls are pricier. Built from scratch, a wall can cost as much as $5-million per mile, said Turnpike spokeswoman Joanne Hurley. But retrofitting a wall to a finished highway would be a different cost, impossible to know without some detailed engineering, she said.

"It's going to be a lot more than a million dollars," Hurley said.

Meanwhile, Rives and Norman say, the stakes are mounting. Sometime after 2012, Turnpike leaders hope to widen the Veterans Expressway to eight lanes. The Suncoast, which links the Veterans to Pasco and Hernando counties, would become an easier commute into Tampa.

"I believe we need to take a bold step to try to protect ... one of our communities that has not been protected in the past," Norman told county commissioners during budget planning in July.

When the $1-million appropriation became available, County Administrator Pat Bean arranged a meeting with a top Turnpike official. That's set for next month.

Cheval's quest also has enlisted the county's Environmental Protection Commission. It regulates noise pollution such as loud music, but not traffic noise, which is exempted by state law.

At Cheval's request, EPC technicians measured noise at several locations two years ago during the morning rush hour. They reported that none averaged more than 63 decibels.

Florida highway standards don't recommend that noise walls be considered unless the one-hour average is 66 decibels or higher.

A laugh, a mockingbird

Last week, the EPC was back for updated measurements. The agency declined to release preliminary findings.

Joan Hallgren, an EPC investigator, took readings from a Cheval street near the end of the noise wall at Lutz-Lake Fern Road about 8:15 a.m. Tuesday.

The loudest sounds didn't come from the Suncoast traffic. A neighbor's laugh 15 feet away registered 60 decibels. A mockingbird on a light pole 30 feet away recorded a 58. Jets passing overhead triggered readings in the mid 50s.

"A five-decibel difference to you and I makes it sound like it's twice as loud," said Jerry Campbell, the EPC's air management director.

Inside, neighbors may have been noticing Redner's 15-second attacks on Norman, which have been running on cable channels between 6:50 and 8:50 a.m. and 4:50 to 10:50 p.m. But no television could be heard on the sidewalk.

The $1-million "is wasted money," Redner said in an interview. "It's not what I believe the people of Hillsborough County would want their money spent on."

Norman was piqued that he was being attacked over battered women by the owner of Tampa's most famous nude bar.

"He's made his money on the backs of women in nude facilities throughout Hillsborough County," Norman complained. "I just think that's very ironic."

Bill Coats can be reached at coats@sptimes.com or 813 269-5309.

[Last modified October 14, 2006, 21:59:48]