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County withdraws plans for new bridge

Planners have doubts about it, while residents say they simply don't want it.

By ANDREW MEACHAM
Published November 10, 2006

The bridge that county officials wanted to run through protected land is almost impossible to see.

It's nothing more than a blue speck on the Planning Commission's map of proposed land use changes.

But magnify the map to at least three times its normal size, and there it is.

Resident Mariella Smith was studying the map on the Planning Commission's Web site recently when she spotted the stubby blue line across the Little Manatee River.

"I said, 'Oh my God, is that a bridge?'" Smith recalled.

The line connected SE 24th Street with Lightfoot Road. In between stood acres of county-owned, environmentally protected land.

The county's planning department is proposing road improvements at 71 locations, a semiannual ritual that often invites controversy.

But plans can have kinks, and the county has already taken the bridge Smith saw off the table.

There were a couple of reasons for the withdrawal, said Ned Baier, transportation manager for the county's planning department. For one, staffers needed to weigh the strategy of building over wetlands, something the county's own ordinances forbid developers from doing.

A second reason: "People don't want it."

Still, improvements in the proposed corridor preservation plan would widen 22 single-lane roads to two lanes, and relieve congestion on roads such as Lithia-Pinecrest, Bell Shoals and U.S. 301.

Another 33 roads would get paved shoulders if all the projects go through. Some would get bicycle lanes.

It will take at least 15 years, perhaps 20, before the county is built out, according to the Planning Commission.

By targeting roads for expansion or improvement, the county gains leverage over developers who agree to widen or extend roads as a condition of zoning approval.

Having roads targeted for improvements also helps developers, said Odessa's Laura Swain, a former county planning commissioner.

"Once they get on that list, roads can move from unfunded to funded very quickly," Swain said.

Not long after the county released its map of proposed road improvements, word spread among Smith and other activists who want to limit growth.

Among the projects proposed by county staff is a road in Wimauma connecting Joe Sumner and D.G. Farms roads.

Residents didn't like that idea, either.

"It's a big, looping new road through nothing," Smith said.

The road would have cut through Bullfrog Creek - and more protected land. After deflecting some criticism from neighbors, Baier's staff also eliminated the Sumner extension.

The road improvement plan goes before the Planning Commission on Jan. 8. County commissioners could rule on the proposed changes in March.

Andrew Meacham can be reached at 661-2431 or ameacham@sptimes.com.

[Last modified November 9, 2006, 11:05:53]