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Ridge Road Extension Debate Flares Up
Carl Orth/SUNCOAST NEWS
The Ridge Road extension project has only some barriers at DeCubellis Road to mark the beginning of the proposed route to the Suncoast Parkway. Debate flared up again this week amoung county commissioners about mounting costs for the decade-old plan.
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Published: January 8, 2008
DADE CITY, Fla. - DADE CITY, Fla. - Some Pasco County commissioners want to continue full speed ahead on the long-delayed plan to extend Ridge Road east to the Suncoast Parkway and beyond.
Other commissioners believe the project has hit a dead end.
A heated debate flared up again this morning over paying a consulting attorney $15,000 more in fees on top of some $225,000 already approved.
Commissioner Ann Hildebrand described herself as "passionate" about building the Ridge Road extension as a third east-west route in the county. A majority of commissioners have argued the 8-mile extension is needed especially for emergency evacuations to supplement S.R. 52 and S.R. 54.
The Ridge Road extension project has become a "black hole" sucking up money, Commissioner Pat Mulieri retorted.
The county submitted its initial application for permission to construct the Ridge Road extension through wetlands to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in November 1998.
Many permit revisions later, the Corps of Engineers appears close to making a decision on the Pasco application toward the end of January, Chief Assistant County Administrator Michele Baker reported this morning.
So a majority of commissioners reluctantly agreed to go along with the higher attorney fees.
"This is the last $15,000 I am voting for," however, Mulieri commented.
Only Commissioner Jack Mariano voted against the fee increase for Jacob D. "Jake" Varn, an attorney with Fowler White Boggs Banker based in Tampa.
Varn, once the state's top environmental regulator, has been guiding the county project through the complex process to obtain permits to build the road across wetlands.
The Fowler White law firm had been charging the county $200 an hour since May 2000. Varn's standard fee now is $450 an hour, so the rate charged to the county went up to $250 an hour.
Even if the Corps of Engineers grants permission for the Ridge Road extension, Baker foresees some Pasco residents filing lawsuits to try to block construction.
Commission Chairman Ted Schrader said maybe the county should drop plans for the second phase of the Ridge Road extension, from the parkway to U.S. 41. Instead, it could concentrate on building the first phase, from the spot where DeCubellis Road becomes Moon Lake Road to the toll road, he suggested.
The county is applying for permits for both phases, Baker explained, but has put together construction plans only for the first phase.
Most environmental objections have been raised over the first phase from West Pasco to the toll road, Baker noted.
It's a "sad commentary," Hildebrand added, about the prospect of opposition to the Ridge Road extension from Pasco residents.
Hildebrand insists the county needs more east-west roads. A Dec. 19 saw mill fire had caused huge traffic jams and had closed S.R. 52, she gave as an example.
"How can the Army Corps of Engineers hold us hostage?" Mulieri asked.
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