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

Citizens opposed to the Suncoast Parkway II turned out Tuesday to register their objections at the Citrus County Commission meeting. The commissioners voted to proceed with the option that will keep the parkway project under state control. Toll road authorities will come back after the plans are further developed to present more details about the project to the commission. /DAVE SIGLER/Chronicle

The state's toll road agency Tuesday scrapped its project study of Suncoast Parkway II and won Citrus County Commission approval to replace it with a similar 8-year-old study that had been completed and never used.

Commissioners voted 4-1 to support the Florida Turnpike Enterprise's request to swap studies, but insisted FTE return with an updated assessment of revenue, traffic projections and environmental impacts before they give final approval.

Christopher L. Warren, deputy executive director and chief operating officer of FTE, said he would return with the requested information in eight to 10 months when the design of the toll road was 60 percent complete. But he needed the board support Tuesday or the road project was probably dead.

The state agency is proposing to begin constructing the four-lane, 27-mile-long toll road in 2013. Warren said the cost of the project has risen to $879 million based on projected construction prices seven years from now.

Commissioner Joyce Valentino cast the lone vote in opposition, saying she was not convinced the toll road was needed in Citrus County and was concerned about the growth the road could bring to the county as well as potential environmental impacts.

"I think this thing has gone on long enough," Valentino said. "Maybe we need a referendum. If the citizens say they want the parkway, I'll support it."

But Valentino was alone in her objections.

Commission Chairman Gary Bartell said he was wary of accepting the 8-year-old study without first having information about the project updated. He wanted to see new revenue and traffic projections and a more detailed look at how the project would impact the ecology and communities.

"If we give you support and you come back and say you're going straight through Crystal Oaks," Bartell said. "That's not acceptable."

If it were built, Suncoast Parkway II would be the final leg of an 80-mile toll road extending from the Veterans Expressway in Tampa to U.S. 19 in northern Citrus County. Suncoast II would begin where Suncoast Parkway I ends in northern Hernando County and would extend to Red Level north of Crystal River.

The 8-year-old study has an approved route for the road, which made it attractive to FTE. The road would skim the western boundary of Sugarmill Woods in southern Citrus County and run parallel to the power lines as it goes north past Crystal Oaks and hooks back to skirt the edge of Pine Ridge.

Warren said the state began the first project study for Suncoast Parkway II in 1994 and completed it in 1998, but he said it was shelved when the state learned there might be federal tax dollars available to fund road construction. The study had not been done to federal standards.

He said the state began the second study in 2001 with the hope of making the project eligible for Federal Highway Administration dollars, but the Project Development and Environment (PD&E) study had to be stopped when two Citrus County residents filed a lawsuit accusing a parkway advisory group of violating the Sunshine Law.

The lawsuit filed by Teddi Bierly and Robert Roscow concluded in May of this year, but left FTE officials with a difficult decision, according to Warren. He said the state could have continued with the PD&E study, spending $3 million to $5 million more to extend the study for three to five years. The second option was to dust the cobwebs off the completed study and use state tax dollars instead of federal funds to pay for the project.

He said the competition for federal highway dollars among Florida's seven transportation districts is fierce, and he said FTE already has been told it would not receive federal dollars for Suncoast Parkway II. He said the combination of competition with larger districts, which have greater needs, and dwindling federal funds, prompted FTE to switch to the older study.

"It makes no sense to go back through the federal process if we know we don't want to get federal dollars," Warren said in a meeting with the Chronicle Editorial Board before the county commission meeting.

Warren said he anticipates a shortfall of toll revenue to pay for the project. He said most toll road projects take 34 years before they break even. He said FTE's central office would make up the shortfall.

He doesn't expect the rising cost of the project to be a problem. He said a bill to increase the borrowing limits of FTE was passed by the Florida Legislature this year, but vetoed by the government. He said someone attached an unpopular piece of legislation to the bill, making it a target for a veto. But he believes the legislation will be passed in a future session.

Warren told the Chronicle Editorial Board that FTE would be prepared to begin purchasing right-of-way for the road as soon as commissioners approved using the old study. He said the agency has $154 million set aside in the next few years for property purchases.