Let developers pay for highway noise barriers

By A TIMES EDITORIAL
Published October 14, 2007

Pasco commissioners want to turn the Wall into the Sounds of Silence. No, it's not a classic rock play list. Besides, once government gets done with it, the idea might more closely resemble landscaped berm and muffled noise.

Even telling potential home buyers, ""Hey, you realize it's going to be noisier over there" is a step in the right direction.

Commissioners and elected city officials, sitting as the Metropolitan Planning Organization, this week hit upon a sound idea to reduce sound from traffic on expanded federally funded highways: Make the private sector responsible for noise reduction if an area doesn't qualify for a government financed, sound-reducing wall to separate homes from a multilaned highway.

That already is the rule in Palm Beach County, according to the state Department of Transportation. Commissioners should consider a similar ordinance.

Here's why: DOT is planning more than a half-billion-dollars worth of highway improvements along Interstate 75 from Bruce B. Downs Boulevard in New Tampa north to beyond State Road 52 in eastern Pasco County. The five separate projects will expand the highway from four to six lanes, add northbound exit lanes at State Road 56, widen the highway over County Road 54, and add a cloverleaf ramp to ease southbound access from SR 52.

With the improvements will come additional traffic and added noise in the still largely undeveloped area in the vicinity of SR 52. Expect public requests for noise buffers, DOT said. But, don't expect the government to pay for them.

DOT rules prohibit spending public money on noise buffers to protect homes that were not yet approved at the time highway planners conducted preliminary environmental studies. It's a logical standard. Why should taxpayers foot the bill after the private sector profits by touting the coming highway as a way to market land to developers and home-buying customers? It is not unreasonable to ask developers capitalizing on that close proximity to the highway to also pay for the noise barriers.

This is not a new issue. Last year, residents in the Groves in Land O' Lakes unsuccessfully sought a buffer because they feared the planned widening of U.S. 41 would bring too much noise into their nearby homes. Likewise, commissioners recently approved the planned Pine Ridge Estates development near SR 52 and I-75 with a caveat. Builders must disclose to home buyers that the highway is to be widened, but no sound retention wall will be constructed.

The disclosure protects the county and developer from complaints, but it doesn't protect the peace and quiet. Commissioners should consider adding noise-reducing requirements to their code. Sadly, they'll have plenty of time for public debate. DOT lacks the funding to build three of the five projects that will widen I-75 including the estimated $256-million for right of way and construction of the stretch between CR 54 and SR 52.

Regardless, commissioners shouldn't stay silent about reducing future noise.

[Last modified October 13, 2007, 20:51:27]