Citrus Chronicle
By: Terry Witt (terrywitt@chronicleonline.com)
Published: 27-Sep-2006

Opponents of Suncoast Parkway II filled the county commission chambers Tuesday, some dressed in "No Build" T-shirts. They railed against the toll road project and hoped the board would kill the project.

But the commission backed the state instead.

When the Florida Turnpike Enterprise announced it had dusted the cobwebs off a project study that was shelved in 1998 and were looking for a commission endorsement to proceed with the study, the board agreed to support the use of the old study.

But commissioners said they want updated information about revenue and traffic projections and a current evaluation of environmental and community impacts.

Opponents were frustrated by the decision.

"How ridiculous. How completely ridiculous to endorse a 1998 study when it's 2006," said Sugarmill Woods resident Teddi Bierly after the meeting.

Bierly said the 1998 study is outdated, and she said public opposition to the 27-mile-long roll road has increased in the eight years since the study was completed. She said people are looking for peace and quiet, not a high-speed road.

She said the planned route for the toll road would slice through an ecologically diverse section of the Brooksville Ridge, a wilderness gem. She said the state should preserve rather than destroy this unique area of the county.

Bierly is no stranger to the toll road. She and Robert Roscow successfully sued the Florida Turnpike Enterprise to stop the closed-door meetings of a parkway advisory group. The lawsuit stalled the Project Development and Environment (PD&E) study for two years.

She said she would not be surprised if someone mounted a legal challenge to FTE's use of the 8-year-old study.

Many of the opponents at the meeting were part of the toll road opposition group COST, or Citizens Opposed to State Tollway. They were wearing the "No Build" T-shirts.

Brad Bates of Brooksville said he has to live every day with the urban sprawl caused by Suncoast Parkway I in Hernando County.

"It doesn't solve your traffic problems. It makes it worse," he said.

He added, "It doesn't surprise me -- the deception and half-truths associated with this project."

Carol Vogt of Beverly Hills suggested commissioners look at the northern half of Suncoast Parkway I in Hernando County, which she travels all the time, because it has little traffic.

"Once you get to State Road 50, the traffic is gone," she said. "There is not enough traffic on this road."

Kathy Chetoka said the state should continue its federally sanctioned PD&E study rather than switching the old study.

"We need to let the feds overlook this group," she said. "I don't trust them."

Theodora C. Rusnak of the Nature Coast Sierra Club said the parkway route should be maintained for the wild animals. She said she received a call last week that a Florida panther was seen crossing Citrus County Road 480 near Sugarmill Woods.

Dorothy Mitchell of Lecanto said she and her husband moved to Citrus County eight years ago and have noticed the county is changing fast, and for the worse.

"If this road goes through, I'm afraid we're going to have to change our name from the Nature Coast to the Cement Coast," she said.

Homosassa resident Jim Bitter, who sat on the Suncoast Parkway II Advisory Group (SPAG), said it was obvious early on as the group tried to work with FTE, "that this was an exercise in obfuscation." He said no decisions were made in an open forum. He said the group eventually disbanded.

"You should look at the deception by the perpetrators, by this out-of-control agency," he said.