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New plan surfaces for U.S. 41 bypass

The proposed route addresses some issues affecting area growth west of Floral City.

By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published February 2, 2007

FLORAL CITY - Residents and county officials caught their first glimpse Thursday of a proposed bypass road that would wind its way west of Floral City's one-stoplight downtown.

The potential U.S. 41 bypass would start at Watson Street, curving southwest past Stage Coach Trail County Road 480 and connecting again just north of Rooks Road.

The road would preserve the historic town's character and provide a solution for developers who want to build nearby, Inverness lawyer Clark Stillwell said.

It could also be a new approach to solving the county's infrastructure problems. Developers would chip in the money to pay for the road, Stillwell said, in exchange for impact fee credits.

If county officials decide to follow that route, it would be the first road project approved as part of a new county ordinance commissioners adopted last week. The ordinance allows developers to pay to build new roads when existing roads can't meet the traffic demands their projects require.

U.S. 41 hasn't reached capacity yet, but it's close.

"The size of these projects we're seeing cannot occur on a roadway with that limited capacity," director of Development Services Gary Maidhof said after Thursday's meeting of the Planning and Development Review Board.

Stillwell's proposal is months away from being official. He said he plans to request an amendment to the county's comprehensive plan later this year.

But on Thursday he publicly displayed a map of the proposed route for the first time.

"Is this the perfect alignment? Maybe," Stillwell said.

He asked members of the planning board to specifically refer to the proposed bypass plan in the Floral City Community Plan. But board members unanimously voted to approve the plan with only a more general reference to a possible bypass.

David Noble, chairman of the Floral City Heritage Council, said residents were worried that tying the community plan too closely to the proposed bypass could delay their plans to revitalize downtown. Approval of the community plan by county commissioners will pave the way for an overlay district in the town's core - a special area where development would be governed by a unique set of county rules designed to match and enhance the town's look.

"As a community, we are trying to be proactive in decisions about our town's future as opposed to doing nothing and whining about the results later," he said.

For years, officials have batted around ideas for widening the busy two-lane stretch of U.S. 41 that runs through Floral City. And outraged residents have repeatedly fought plans to widen the road through downtown.

Several bypasses have been proposed.

Thursday, Stillwell presented a new route for an old idea.

His map showed a proposed road running through properties owned by four entities: Throgmartin Henke Ranch LLP, Floral Village LLC, Charles and Marian Larkin and several members of the Rooks family.

Included among the properties is a 425-acre tract of land where developers proposed a 999-home subdivision last year. County officials said U.S. 41 would not be able to handle the increased traffic that project would generate.

"We can sit here and have moratoriums on U.S. 41, or we can correct the problem," Stillwell said.

But Chuck Dixon, the school district's director of planning and growth management, said transportation is only one part of the puzzle.

"There are no schools in this area to speak of ... . The developers may want to consider schools as well as roads because that will become a major issue in this part of the county," he said.

Catherine E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com or 860-7309.

[Last modified February 1, 2007, 23:13:45]