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Transit plan has a pothole

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published March 28, 2007

Legislation moving in the Florida House and Senate could vastly improve how Tampa Bay meets its transportation needs. But there still is a hole to be filled, and state Sen. J. D. Alexander holds the shovel. The Lake Wales Republican wants to keep Polk from joining a seven-county agency that would oversee regional transportation planning.

Isolating Polk represents a conflict for Alexander. It also removes an east-west link connecting the bay area to Orlando, a growing corridor for goods and people and a hurricane route for coastal residents fleeing to the interior of the state.

Senate Bill 506 and House Bill 251 would create a Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority. The agency's mission would be to improve the transportation network from Citrus south to Sarasota County. With the region's population of 4-million people expected to double in the next 40 years, it makes sense for cities and counties to coordinate how they will manage the traffic. The authority could build roads and commuter rail and issue bonds and levy tolls. But its real value would be acting as an overarching planning agency.

The sponsors, Sen. Mike Fasano of New Port Richey and Rep. Bill Galvano of Bradenton, have worked to carve a role for this agency without big footing locally made land management decisions. It is too early in the legislative process to see whether they struck the right balance. Much of that would depend on how wedded communities would be to the master plan the agency would have two years to produce, and the extent local officials, who would control the board, would use the agency to guide development. At the least, bringing the many players to the table and focusing on the future would mark an improvement over where transit planning stands now.

That's why Polk's absence is such a loss. County commissioners voted unanimously this week to not join the authority, which looks like a face-saving gesture for Alexander.

By staying out of the regional planning group, Polk improves the climate to build a parkway through Central Florida, in part on land owned by companies Alexander controls. The senator said the two issues are not linked. But Polk's arguments about a loss of autonomy and fears of alienating Orlando are unconvincing given the bills' bare framework. Why not join and shape the legislative process, especially since some in Polk want the bill to include an opt-in provision? Seven counties at the table may beat none at all, but any regional plan needs an east-west component. Polk should reconsider. Its concern for local control is an issue this authority needs to resolve at the outset.

[Last modified March 27, 2007, 21:03:43]