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County Assures Bypass Axed

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 10, 2007

Updated: 11/08/2007 06:11 pm

LITHIA - Despite repeated assurances that a Brandon bypass or Tampa beltway running through rural Lithia had been axed from the South County Transportation Plan, the proposed road remained the hot topic of discussion at a public meeting at Pinecrest Elementary School on Monday.

More than 200 residents packed the cafeteria, where staff from the county's Planning and Growth Management Department faced the anger of a rural community convinced its road system is fine the way it is.

Lithia resident Pam Prysner, who has formed R-Land, a group advocating preservation of the area's rural lifestyle, said she doesn't believe the proposed bypass linking Interstate 75 from Port Manatee to Interstate 4 is truly off the plan.

"We went through a great deal of effort to get this meeting out here. I thought we'd at least be hearing the truth from you guys," she told Peter Aluotto, director of the planning department. She said the beltway is still on the Hillsborough County Comprehensive Land Use Plan.

Aluotto said the bypass has been removed from the South County Transportation Plan, which anticipates and addresses transportation needs until 2050 in southern Hillsborough County. Only county commissioners can remove the beltway from the comprehensive land use plan.

"If it hasn't been done yet, that's easily remedied," Aluotto said. "This is not trickery or lying. We can go down to the planning commission tomorrow and open up the book and take care of it."

George Niemann, representing another rural civic group called U-Can, suggested that Aluotto and his staff "scrap the whole plan and start over" with a new advisory committee. This time, he suggested that instead of having a committee comprised of mostly developers, the committee should have 10 residents for every one developer.

Aluotto said there's a good reason so many developers are on the advisory committee.

"The county doesn't build a lot of roads," he said. "Developers build most of them because they benefit their projects. That's why developers are at the table - because they're writing the checks. However, we will pledge to do a better job of advertising meetings in the future. Our first meetings had 27 to 37 people attending. It wasn't until they became controversial that we started getting a big attendance."

R-Land member Kelly Cornelius of Lithia also wanted assurances that planning and growth management will work with the Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department on road alignments.

Not only did the proposed beltway run through her home, she said, but also it sliced through seven properties owned by the county through the Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program.

"It was conceptual," said Aluotto of the road alignment. "The road would not go through any ELAPP land."

Lithia resident Jeff Williams, who commutes to MacDill Air Force Base, said the transportation improvements originally proposed in the South County Transportation Plan would save him three minutes at most. He brought along a group of Boy Scouts who regularly camp off Lithia-Pinecrest Road - in the path of the beltway. He said he would rather have the campsite than the three minutes.

"That's our future," he said. "If developers don't build roads, we don't get roads. Score."

Ned Baier, Hillsborough County transportation director, said his staff will meet with the parks department to discuss coordinating road alignments.

Lithia residents were happy to learn that a proposed extension of Thompson Road also was scrubbed.

Tim Golden, also of Lithia, asked the same for Lithia-Pinecrest Road near County Road 39. The county is studying the feasibility of widening Lithia-Pinecrest from two to four lanes from C.R. 39 to State Road 60.

"You have maybe four cars along there per minute," Golden said. "We have a level of service of B or C. That's admirable. We don't need four lanes."

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.

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