An official with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) told the Tampa City Council on Thursday that local meetings currently underway with community members on trying to mitigate the potential negative affects of the massive Tampa Bay Express project on the neighborhoods can influence how the plan will ultimately be created.
“That’s why it’s very important to be at that table, be engaged, come talk to us, let us know what the concerns, what you envision your community to be, ” said Lee Royal Beasley, Community Liaison Administrator with FDOT, in responding to Council member Harry Cohen.
A series of so-called “charettes,” being produced by the USF School of Architecture and Design are currently taking place in downtown Tampa, and Beasley said that the comments from those meetings will ultimately be incorporated into a document summarizing those wishes and concerns.
Cohen said that he was concerned that with so much negativity about the TBX floated about in the community, people simply aren’t participating in the charettes.
“I think initially there was a little bit of hold back from the community, but as time goes on, we’re getting more and more engagement,” responded Beasley.
The Tampa Bay Express is a multibillion dollar project that would add express toll lanes to I-75 from north of Bruce B. Downs Blvd. to south of SR 674; On I-275 from south of Bearss Avenue to Gandy Blvd.; and on I-4 from the downtown Tampa interchange to the Polk Parkway.
However, it is not a $9 billion project, as critics have characterized it. Beasley said on Thursday that it will cost $3 billion.
Cohen asked if FDOT really would be able to mitigate the impacts of the project on the community. Beasley said yes, citing previous examples throughout the state. “But we don’t want to dictate to the neighborhood what those strategies will be. We want to hear from them, what they want, what they envision, and what they want their neighborhoods will be,” she said.
Beasley said that through the charettes, she’s learned that the community wants transit alternatives, connectivity, complete streets, safer streets and increased landscaping, opportunities to preserve their neighborhood character. Last week, FDOT announced that they were prepared to fund a “premium transit” feasibility study with HART sometime next year.
Councilwoman Lisa Montelione said that she’s been hearing from some citizens, with one complaint being that not everybody is allowed to participate at these charettes.
Beasley said that the USF School of Architecture and Design is inviting neighborhood leaders to ask them to literally bring people to the table, “but what we’re finding is, not everybody is attending.” She said usually there are 25-30 people participating in the meetings.
Councilman Mike Suarez said that it was important to note that buses ultimately may be allowed to run on the express lanes once their built, something that FDOT and/or the MPO haven’t emphasized at all in the discussions about the TBX to date. “It’s something that you don’t talk about enough, and I think that’s one of your problems,” he said, referring to FDOT’s failure to adequately communicate with the public.
The next charette will take place on Tuesday, November 17 at 5:30 p.m. at the John Germany library in Tampa. All meetings are listed at TampaBayExpress.com.
