The fourth in a series of stories on the causes of urban sprawl.
Leaving Florida counties to deal with problems that used to be handled by developers under a statewide mandate has resulted in a proposal for a tax hike in Hillsborough County.
No tax is yet set in stone. All proposals made by boards and councils must first go before the County Commission before even being allowed on a ballot.
However, the first step was taken Nov. 5, when Go Hillsborough, the Hillsborough County transportation group that has been studying problems unique to various areas of the county for many months, took its findings to the county’s Transportation Policy Leadership Group for a vote.
Hundreds of meetings around the county have been conducted by County Director of Transportation Michael Williams and his staff, in coordination with Bob Clifford, vice president of the engineering firm Parsons Brinkerhoff (and his staff), during which more than 400 projects have been listed as critically necessary by Go Hillsborough.
As previously reported in The Observer News, developers of new homes and retail space were under state directives to build schools, parks, and roads until House Bill 7207 was passed by the Florida Legislature on May 6, 2011.
This bill was the second attempt to remove rules for developers, after the first — 2009 Senate Bill 360 — was declared unconstitutional by a Tallahassee Circuit Court judge.
Left to fund these projects themselves, the counties have a large burden that used to be picked up by developers.
“I have no doubt that the concurrency system at the state level has been a major factor in traffic gridlock and state disrepair of roads,” said County Commissioner Stacy White earlier this month in an interview for the third story in this series, published Nov. 5.
“Concurrency” is the term the county and state planners use when assigning things developers must do before building new homes and commercial buildings; including schools, parks and road building and repair.
Go Hillsborough presented its 147-page plan to the policy Leadership Group at its Nov. 5 meeting, and the plan was put to a vote.
The plan, put together by Parsons Brinkerhoff, included recommendations from residents in all parts of the county. Projects included building new roads, widening and resurfacing existing roads, and bridge repair and replacement. Bicycle trails, sidewalks and expanded bus transportation were also included.
Clifford stated that a half-cent sales tax would produce $117 million a year to fund these projects.
Leaders from the county and its three municipalities are all in agreement that solutions to traffic gridlock, road and bridge repair, and other transportation problems have to be found.
Sandra Murman, one county commissioner who also sits on the Transportation Policy Leadership Group board, proposed an alternative plan that included a 5-cent gas tax, a mobility tax on developers, and would have used the $22-plus million from the BP oil spill, with county reserves making up the rest.
It is important for readers to remember that although some of these people are county commissioners, they were not voting on measures as commissioners. They also serve on various boards and councils, such as this one, that works on transportation issues.
The sales tax proposal was approved by the Policy Leadership Group 11 to 3, but must still go before the county commission in December before becoming a ballot initiative.
“Yes” votes on the sales tax proposal (by the leadership group) came from Kevin Beckner, Ken Hagan and Victor Crist.
The “no” votes for the sales tax came from White, Murman, and Commissioner Al Higginbotham.
When a “projects underway” list was requested, Higginbotham (another group member who is also a commissioner) sent a project list of what is currently being done in Hillsborough County using Community Investment Project, or CIP, funds.
The list includes 10 projects in South County, eight of which are in Sun City Center, that have been funded and begun; the largest being not transportation, but the quadrupling of the wastewater treatment plant in Ruskin.
“I have to agree that not much is going on down there,” Higginbotham said.
Higginbotham and White have been the only two commissioners to respond to questions about the effects of the state’s relaxation of rules on the counties, although emails and telephone calls were made to them all.
Crist, who was in the Florida Legislature at the time HR 7207 was passed, when asked for comment for the third story in this series, said by way of a telephone call from an aide, that he did not remember the legislation.
Despite the extent of the Go Hillsborough efforts and the plans drawn by Parsons Brinkerhoff, the Florida Department of Transportation announced last week that it plans to study transit in the area. The cost of this study has not yet been released.
Meanwhile, vehicles using entrances and exits from I-75 in Apollo Beach, Gibsonton and Riverview pile up the mile back to U.S. 301 and almost to U.S. 41 at times during rush hour and according to Williams, Hillsborough County continues to be the 11th worst county in the country for traffic congestion.
People who wish to read the first of this series, published Oct. 22, may visit tinyurl.com/observer-traffic1. The second story is available at tinyurl.com/observer-traffic2 and the third, published Nov. 5, may be viewed at tinyurl.com/observer-traffic3.