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Board Stops Bypass Proposal

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By SUSAN M. GREEN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 8, 2007

RUSKIN - Opponents said a cautious goodbye this week to the Brandon Bypass, a conceptual loop around Hillsborough County's population centers that critics maintained would destroy rural communities and preservation tracts and promote urban sprawl in south and east Hillsborough.

At the behest of activist organizations such as United Citizens Action Network and Rural Lithia Area Neighborhood Defense, members of Hillsborough's Metropolitan Planning Organization directed their staff members on Tuesday to erase the controversial highway from planning maps forecasting needs to 2025.

"I'm thrilled it's coming off planning maps, but I will remain vigilant as to what the future holds," Kelly Cornelius of Lithia, R-LAND vice president, said after the meeting in Tampa.

The planning organization's vote came with the caveat that a needs assessment for some type of road corridor to draw traffic off congested interstates take place in the next 12 months.

Cornelius said she was satisfied with the board's action, as long as future studies include serious consideration of alternatives to the bypass. Some speakers suggested planners should focus more on mass transit and expanding existing roads.

Cornelius said she has pored over plans that could affect southeastern Hillsborough, and she could not find that the bypass has been adopted into other plans. She said opponents can settle into watching out for what some call the "swath of death" to be resurrected.

"We've been surprised before," she said. "Hopefully, this is the last map we have to battle it on."

The road, shown on maps as a swath two-miles wide that would swing from Port Manatee northeast through Wimauma, Balm and Lithia to Interstate 4, drew fire from hundreds of residents in October and November, when county planners proposed making it part of Hillsborough's comprehensive plan that shapes development.

Members of R-LAND and other organizations cried foul, saying county planners deceived them by saying the highway was not going to be built by Hillsborough County and would not be part of recommendations for the comprehensive plan amendments. The proposal has since been put on hold.

Janet Kovach of Riverview, who has served on various government committees, was the sole speaker at Tuesday's board meeting to ask that the bypass remain identified as a long-term need for the county.

She rejected the notion that residents were hornswoggled by the county's suggestion of including the bypass in the comprehensive plan, saying that she and other residents sat on committees that approved recommendations favoring the highway as far back as 2002.

"I live in an area that's gridlocked," Kovach said, adding that the proposed route could pull traffic off congested local roads.

Rose Ferlita, a county commissioner who serves on the planning board, said the county's handling of the proposal has eroded public confidence to the point that the bypass concept should be scrapped.

"If you have a bad plan, you get it out of the way and start again," Ferlita said.

John Dingfelder, a Tampa city councilman on the board, said the goal of the bypass was to create a shortcut from I-4 in Polk County to Manatee and Sarasota counties.

"The swath should be farther east, maybe not even in this county," he said.

The discussion revived questions of what comes first, roads or development. Several on the board agreed with critics of the bypass that roads drive development.

"It the bypass was absolutely going to create sprawl," said Mary Mulhern, a Tampa city councilwoman and planning board member.

Others said failure to plan in years past led to the traffic snarls of today.

"Nobody wants lines on a map, but that's what the planning process is," Kovach said.

Reporter Susan M. Green can be reached at (813) 865-1566 or sgreen@tampatrib.com.

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