Should Rick Scott Kill The Outer Beltway?

[thelakelander]

Here's a form letter by the Clay County Chamber Board of Directors on this issue.  They believe the road is critical for the quality of Clay's natural environment, job creation and economic prosperity.

Governor Rick ScottState of FloridaFlorida Capital Dear Governor Scott: I believe the First Coast Outer Beltway is urgently needed for Clay County and Northeast Florida’s overall connectivity.  I ask you to keep this vital transportation project moving forward:

o   to provide much needed connectivity and increase mobility of people and goods
o   to add capacity for safety during hurricane evacuations/disasters
o   to preserve the quality of the natural environment
o   to stimulate quality jobs and economic prosperity

The First Coast Outer Beltway means a great deal to the citizens of Clay County.  The project has been in the works more than 20 years and despite some of the short-sighted view about this being a user funded facility, I am in full support of going forward.  This is too vital a transportation project that will bring long overdue critical transportation infrastructure improvements where desperately needed.    As a Chamber member representing close to 780 businesses in Clay County, I ask you to maintain the First Coast Outer Beltway project as a priority for jobs and economic development.

Thank you. 

Sincerely,

Here are links to past articles featured on Metro Jacksonville about the First Coast Outer Beltway:

Toll It And They Will Come?
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2011-aug-toll-it-and-they-will-come

First Coast Outer Beltway: Should It Be Built?
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-feb-first-coast-outer-beltway-should-it-be-built

5 Reasons Why The Outer Beltway May Be A Bad Investment
http://www.metrojacksonville.com/article/2010-jun-5-reasons-why-the-outer-beltway-may-be-a-bad-investment


Our Governor needs to hear from citizens and businesses of Northeast Florida about their opinion of the Outer Beltway and its impact to our counties and entire region.  Drop Rick Scott and email and tell him how you really feel.

Rick.Scott@eog.myflorida.com

[tufsu1]

thanks for posting this

[dougskiles]

By what stretch of the imagination does this project do anything to preserve the quality of the natural environment?  I would love to see the reasoning behind that statement.

[lowlyplanner]

Here's what I wrote to the governor:

Subject:  I oppose the First Coast Outer Beltway

I am writing to ask that you direct the Florida Department of Transportation to cancel plans to build the First Coast Outer Beltway, either as a toll road or not.

Building this road will not attract any more development to the North Florida area.  It may succeed in attracting development away from Jacksonville and into Clay County, but why the state of Florida subsidize that? 

I disagree with you politically on most issues, but I know that you believe what you say.  It seems clear that if no private company is willing to invest in this road, it is unlikely to ever cover its costs from toll revenue.  Why should the state of Florida step in and subsidize it?

Thank you for your consideration,

[tufsu1]

By what stretch of the imagination does this project do anything to preserve the quality of the natural environment?  I would love to see the reasoning behind that statement.

yes...that line is comical

[Ocklawaha]

Dear Governor Scott: I believe the First Coast Outer Beltway is urgently needed for Clay County and Northeast Florida’s overall connectivity. 

o   to provide much needed connectivity and increase mobility of people and goods

I agree, every day thousands of trucks fight their way from I-10 to Middleburg... NEVER UNDERESTIMATE MIDDLEBURG!

o   to add capacity for safety during hurricane evacuations/disasters

True, a road running from the Florida highlands in Clay County straight into the swamp  around Cecil and Yellow Water Creek sounds exactly like the kind of thing Clay residents need in the event of a hurricane. Bring your own inner-tube.

o   to preserve the quality of the natural environment

It is absolutely imperative that we teach those Northern Clay County armadillos to dodge cars and trucks, as it stands today they have to wait beside the road for hours for a car to contest. FDOT isn't fair to these armadillos leaving them few choices of roadways for their chosen sport. I also like the implied idea to put all of our trees in a museum.

o   to stimulate quality jobs and economic prosperity

Maw and Pa Kettle and all 22 of their younguns are looking forward to this cement driveway we're building for them. Also all 18 of the people in Penny Farms that work in Lake City send their regards. Not since Pa's Moonshine Still blew up have we seen that much prosperity in this quarter.

The First Coast Outer Beltway means a great deal to the citizens of Clay County.  The project has been in the works more than 20 years...

Which just proves stupid has a long shelf life.

...and despite some of the short-sighted view about this being a user funded facility, I am in full support of going forward.

Of course you are, it's our dime.

This is too vital a transportation project that will bring long overdue critical transportation infrastructure improvements where desperately needed.

For the price of this boondoggle we could extend commuter rail to every county in the Jacksonville MSA.

As a Chamber member representing close to 780 businesses in Clay County I ask you to maintain the First Coast Outer Beltway project...

Yeah, you can bet someone will be 'maintaining' it, the people in Boca Raton are thrilled.

...as a priority for jobs and economic development.

Sounds like one of those 780 business contributor's operates a land clearing and paving company?  


OCKLAWAHA


Contact

Address Information
Clay County Chamber of Commerce
1734 Kingsley Ave
Orange Park, FL 32073

Available Contact Numbers
Phone Number: 904.264.2651
Fax Number: 904.264.0070

Kellie Jo Kilberg, IOM, CCE, President / Chief Executive Officer
kjkilberg@claychamber.com

Greg Voss, Vice President of Business Development and Membership
gvoss@claychamber.com

Danita Andrews, Vice President of Economic Development
dandrews@claychamber.com

[exnewsman]

I'm curious where all these naysayers were when the FDOT was doing all the public meetings about the Outer Beltway project. Thsi has been out there for years. Where was the public outcry then? Now that it its moving forward, everyone wants to shut it down.

[JeffreyS]

Now we know the private sector does not want to participate and there has now been a few years of education from the mj website.  This is more about how bad the project is not when the outcry came. 

[exnewsman]

Now we know the private sector does not want to participate and there has now been a few years of education from the mj website.  This is more about how bad the project is not when the outcry came. 

The growth is not going away in that area. Not building the OB will not slow done the growth at all. It will only create a long-term transportation issue when that whole area is developed. Then what? Go back and build then.

Look at back in the day when JTB was being planned. People thought it was crazy. It was one of those "roads to nowhere." Now look at it. You have to looks 20, 30 and 50 years out. Growth, especially in places like Florida/Jacksonville, is going to happen. You need infrastructure. Building expressways is not always the answer. Getting commuter rail, etc will surely play a role in the future. But it can't go everywhere and it doesn't go to Oakleaf and that area.

Some on MJ commented on Middleburg. Even Middleburg is not the sleepy little spot it was even 10 years ago. Change happens. Growth happens. We have to plan for it now, not once its already here.

[thelakelander]

Not all growth is good or should be desired.  Facilitating growth also doesn't mean we must build expressways we can't pay for.  There are a several alternative transportation solutions worth discussing if the goal is facilitating growth and job creation.  Perhaps its time to have that discussion instead of going down the same old tired unsustainable path of planning?

[north miami]

Not all growth is good or should be desired.  Facilitating growth also doesn't mean we must build expressways we can't pay for.  There are a several alternative transportation solutions worth discussing if the goal is facilitating growth and job creation.  Perhaps its time to have that discussion instead of going down the same old tired unsustainable path of planning?

Thrown in the ditch.Exit.Detour.
Clay County Brannon Chaffee Sector Plan,Lake Asbury Sector Plan (no.1 of.......2particularly...) and St. johns proceedings a while ago.

Lake,you are in the merge lane.
Something tells me you can floor it and haul ass! 7.4 Litre Big Block,Clay County Chamber of Commerce "We'll  Pave Your Way" style.

[north miami]

I'm curious where all these naysayers were when the FDOT was doing all the public meetings about the Outer Beltway project. Thsi has been out there for years. Where was the public outcry then? Now that it its moving forward, everyone wants to shut it down.

EX newsman indeed!!

A matter of rather revealing public record.

On your way to a series of Public Workshops,hardly reported on (FTU BInyamin Applebaum clearly frustrated)
start with public records county planning maps spanning thirty plus years.
search Metro Jacksonville threads referencing official records book & page connecting the DOTs to recent state DOT head.
it's a lot of fun.

Brannan Chaffee Sector Plan (related DOT permit application placed before SJRWMD,COE....one of the most requested FOI Act requests ever...),Lake Asbury Sector Plan ....both ot them and if this aspect is foreign to you you have a bunch more 'research'to conduct.

[north miami]

By what stretch of the imagination does this project do anything to preserve the quality of the natural environment?  I would love to see the reasoning behind that statement.

Clay/Duval County Trust for Public Lands 1900 acre parcel that became.....Oak Leaf is rather telling,not to mention the maze of future impacts west of Orange Park within a region that former Clay County Planner Dick Post defended rather reasonably as.....major water recharge.... (and recreation/hunt potential).Post since replaced by the likes of Susan Fraser,Thad Crowe ;Prosser Haloock Planner & Consultant(Nocatee....." Growth inevitable Crowe exclaims to Lake Asbury Sector Plan  citizen participants according to the Times Union but even FTU is another story...

some Clay Countians finally really disturbed that Shadow Lawn hunt club would go the way of inevitable Clay County.So at least some back hedges retained..,enter The Chamber,which is really Reinhold/Shadowlawn....

Clay county has witnessed citizen move out and tougher "Better place" sell acceptance.
for the longest time now I have personally directed potential new Clay Countians as to yet unseen but oh so likely future......"impacts".The entire North Miami family has made exit,even while leaving behind community mark.
latest Clay Chamber of Commerce Environmental Steward Image is Reinhold Corporation and Penney Farms area Conservation easement protected lands.Reinhold beat up after the attempt to swap interior Penney Farm flat woods for Black Creek Waterfront Ravines State Conservation Lands related to the Jennings Frest initiative,a brazen move that would have triggered unheard of Florida Constituition land management constitutional challenge.Yea Better Clay!

Senate Bill 98

[north miami]

Here's a form letter by the Clay County Chamber Board of Directors on this issue.  They believe the road is critical for the quality of Clay's natural environment,

Short answer is Clay County is now quite obviously,Oversold.Images of "traffic alleviation","ahead of the curve" Growth Management (one of my favorites!),all embedded in militant anti Duval Theme and Clay "Better Place" narrative has driven past events to the current events window.

Apparently,so far the Ravines Conservation Area remains off limits as previously favored (Reinhold) Beltway route.This thanks to this writer,Florida Wildlife Federation,Clay Citizens,State DCA (now largely deceased)....and Governor Crist.

My recollections (not to mention files) of Clay County Chamber include the era of Lawton Chiles visit and the Chamber head-that big woman,admonishing me to not say anything bad about Brannon Chaffe (Beltway).
So transparent back then.Still Dangerous.

[north miami]

I'm curious where all these naysayers were when the FDOT was doing all the public meetings about the Outer Beltway project. Thsi has been out there for years. Where was the public outcry then? Now that it its moving forward, everyone wants to shut it down.

I almost forgot. Good Point. the "No Build"option..........
public notice,disputes as to meeting locations.Lack of "No Build"option public notice,accommodation.

Ex news