Public forum set on issues

Lazaro Aleman
ECB Publishing, Inc.

The proposed toll road and high-voltage transmission line continue to generate concern, evident by the vocal opposition to the two projects – most recently at a Jefferson County Commission meeting, where the toll road was front and center.
The two issues, meanwhile, will be the focus of a public forum that the Jefferson County Republican Party and Keystone Federated Republican Women plan to hold on Tuesday evening, Nov. 5.
But first to the commission meeting on Thursday, Oct. 17, which saw about a dozen people speak out against the toll road, while another dozen or so expressed their opposition by the wearing of some form of red clothing.
Construction on the toll road, which will be an extension of the Suncoast Parkway that presently terminates in Citrus County, is expected to begin in 2022 and be completed by 2030.
Among the common refrains voiced by opponents at the commission meeting: The toll road will solely create minimum-wage jobs, which don't represent meaningful economic development; it will diminish if not kill the vitality of downtown Monticello; it will convert north Florida into a mirror image of Central and South Florida; and it will harm the area's natural charm and beauty and residents' quality of life.
All the speakers, to a person, urged the commissioners to fight the project, which its opponents say threatens not only the lifestyle of people here but also many's very livelihood.
Notably, several of those who spoke out against the project spoke from experience, having fled other areas of the state or the country where development had proven overwhelmingly successful and destroyed the sense of community that they said they had previously enjoyed.
One man, who identified himself as a former Pinellas County resident, said he and his wife had moved here to escape the rampant development in that part of the state. Another, a woman from the Ft. Meyer's area, said she and her family also had moved here to escape development that had essentially attracted and benefited wealthy Midwestern retirees. And a third, formerly of Memphis, Tenn., said she and her family had moved here for the natural beauty and quality of life.
She had also, Susan Stubbs said, witnessed what bypasses did to small towns.
“They turn them into ghost towns,” she said.
Businesswoman Michele Arceneaux bolstered the argument of bypasses being detrimental to small towns by citing a Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) study titled Bypass Basics. Undertaken in 2014, the study found that the reality of bypasses was that they were more likely to lead to “a redistribution of economic activity from the downtown area toward the bypass.”
States the FDOT study specifically: “Economic activity along the bypassed route is likely to change. For example, a downtown, along with its valuable infrastructure and local businesses, may experience increased vacancy rates as new, national chain stores develop adjacent to the bypass. The new chain stores often attract more growth to the bypass, and require the community to pay for the supporting infrastructure and services, such as connector roads, sewer and water lines, and fire and police protection.”
“In addition, more local dollars spent at new national chain stores mean fewer dollars kept locally. Most profits go to owners and shareholders located outside of the community, often in other states. Some small businesses that rely on customers from pass-by traffic or those that offer goods and services sold cheaper by national chains will close, affecting both the local economy and community character.”
“Minimum wage jobs is not quality economic development,” Arceneaux argued, underscoring that the only businesses likely to proliferate alongside a bypass were fast-food restaurants, convenience stores and fuel stations.
Amy McDaniel, director of Main Street Monticello, also spoke to the potential harm that the toll road could do to the downtown district, which she said was beginning to thrive.
“New businesses are opening, excitement is growing, and next year we're moving forward with a beautification program to spruce up the downtown,” McDaniel said.
She offered anecdotal evidence from her own store to make the case that out-of-town and out-of-state traffic constituted a high percentage of many local businesses' customers. Which travelers, she said, would be diverted away from the town if the toll road were built.
“When we're a thriving downtown, the whole community thrives,” McDaniel said, urging the commission to help in the effort to divert the toll road elsewhere.
Two others who spoke against the road were Maggie Burgess and Justin Johnson, the first a longtime county resident, the second a relative newcomer, but both equally passionate in their opposition to the project.
Burgess called the highway a potential divider and destroyer of the community's harmonious nature, citing I-10 and the many other interstate roads across the country as examples of roadways that had split communities and were “forerunners of what we may see in this community.”
“An interstate, you can hear it from miles away,” Burgess said. “It will disturb our tranquility.”
Johnson, who runs a barbershop on Dogwood Street, spoke of good changes that he had seen happen in downtown Monticello in the five or so years since he has operated his business. He recalled when towns such as Thomasville, Bainbridge and others in his youth had practically been ghost town but were now thriving communities.
“It didn't happen because of a highway, it came of people working together,” Johnson said.
Attorney and county native Floyd Faglie told the commissioners that now was the time for acting, not for hands-wringing. He reminded them of a bit of local history, at the same time that he urged them to heed the warnings of those newer residents who didn't want to see Jefferson County “turn into the kind of place that they had to leave because it had been destroyed.”
“We're smarter than the average bear,” Faglie said. “When I-10 cut through our county, it didn't create economic development. What I-10 did was it damaged the communities we had. Capps, Lamont and Waukeenah were then thriving and they were ruined. The toll road will harm Monticello and what we're building here. There is no benefit to the toll road. We're smarter than the average bear. We know that roads don't create economic development.”
He suggested that commission pass a resolution in opposition to the road, or if the board was unwilling to go that route, then it should put it to the voters in the form of a nonbinding referendum, he said.
Commissioners offered no comments one way or the other.
Meanwhile, the Jefferson County GOP's public forum and update on the toll road and high-voltage transmission line is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 5, at the old Apron Factory at Simpson Nurseries, located at 2079 U.S. 19 South. The event is set to run from 6 to 7:30 p.m.. The public is encouraged to attend.