Citrus Chronicle
By: Terry Witt
Published: 18-Mar-2007

In Crystal Oaks, longtime residents have known for years that Suncoast Parkway II could be built right at their front doorstep, but they are beginning to worry again.

For years, the Florida Turnpike Enterprise looked at alternate routes for the parkway that might have moved it away from Crystal Oaks, but any hope of that vanished last year when the agency’s Project Development and Environment study was abandoned.

FTE chose instead to use a route approved in its 1998 PD&E study. The route would take the four-lane road past Crystal Oaks. One of the main toll road interchanges would be constructed near the intersection of Crystal Oaks Drive and State Road 44, the community’s main entrance.

Community leaders have fought the toll road for 12 years, and they are ready to do battle once again.

A meeting of the Crystal Oaks Civic Association on April 12 was held in part to give new residents in the community who knew nothing about the parkway or the proposed interchange a short course on what they are facing.

The loud buzz in the community clubhouse that day was the sound of about 120 residents upset about not being able to question a state official they thought would answer their questions about the parkway.

Joanne Hurley, a public information officer for FTE, had been invited to the meeting, but declined to attend. A Chronicle story said she would be there. In her absence, Gus Krayer, chairman of the Civic Concerns Committee, and Teddi Bierly, a Sugarmill Woods resident whose lawsuit stopped the parkway for two years, talked to residents.

Krayer, who had invited Hurley, produced a 1998 map showing the approved route for the parkway and the subdivisions it would pass through or come near.

The map shows a planned toll road interchange just east of the main entrance to Crystal Oaks. The map was by no means the centerpiece of the discussion. It is no longer completely accurate because much development has occurred along the route since 1998. But the map was there if anyone wanted to look.

Resident Hedda Smith said the interchange would take the community’s front entrance and she said many people living on North Tipton, a small road that intersects with Crystal Oaks Drive, would probably lose their homes. She shuddered at the thought.

“I mean, this is going to kill us,” she said.

Hurley said it’s too early to begin speaking to community groups. She said FTE is just now negotiating a contract with two consulting firms that will re-evaluate the parkway route. When the contract is signed, she said FTE will be in a better position to begin answering questions about the parkway. She said FTE would probably know more in June.

Dyer, Riddle, Mills & Precourt (DRMP) will be the prime contractor and URS Corporation a subcontractor for re-evaluation of the approved route. The two companies will determine what has changed since the route was selected in 1998. She said the route might have to be “tweaked,” depending on what has changed during the past nine years.

Hurley said law firms that specialize in eminent domain cases have begun contacting residents by letter offering to represent them in parkway lawsuits. She said the letters are premature because FTE doesn’t know which properties might be affected. She said many of the people who have contacted her office believe FTE sent them the letter until they look more closely at the letterhead.

“People are unnerved. They think we are making decision to purchase their property, and that’s not the case,” Hurley said.

She said FTE has begun a program to assist people who want to know if their property will be impacted. Hurley said residents can contact her office. Agency representatives will then travel to the property and determine whether it might be affected by the parkway. Residents will receive one of two letters. One letter will say FTE believes the property will be impacted. If they receive the other letter, it will say FTE doesn’t believe the property will be affected. But Hurley said no formal determination can be made until the re-evaluation is completed.

Philip Croel, president of the Crystal Oaks Civic Association, said he was contacted by one of the eminent domain law firms and plans to talk to its attorneys. If the parkway is constructed along the approved route, he said it would be a half mile from his home and he said it would be impacted by highway noise.

Croel said the Crystal Oaks clubhouse would be in the middle of the big interchange. He said the people closest to the toll road are probably going to fight.

“There’s going to be a very loud protest by folks in Crystal Oaks living close to it,” he said.

The Civic Concerns Committee passed out a survey form at the April 12 meeting asking residents whether they want the parkway extended through Citrus County, whether the interchange should be built at Crystal Oaks Drive, whether they want the interchange built farther east or if they would like more information about the parkway.

It also asked people to rate their degree of concern on a scale of 1 to 5 on the issues of increased traffic on Crystal Oaks Drive, on Crystal Oaks Drive becoming four lanes, on decreasing property values, noise pollution, air pollution, crime or other issues.

Krayer said the community has long wanted the main interchange on State Road 44 to be moved farther east so it won’t impact Crystal Oaks or Cinnamon Ridge.