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http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/print-edition/2012/08/31/businesspeople-support-toll-road-on.html



Businesspeople support toll road on Jacksonville's Westside
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JACKSONVILLE â€" It’s hard for companies to set up shop or grow their businesses in an area without sizable transportation infrastructure, said regional businesspeople who support a Westside toll road.

Construction on the First Coast Outer Beltway project is scheduled to start in March 2013. The new four-lane road would add a new freight corridor and spur economic activity, said Ananth Prasad, secretary of the Florida Department of Transportation. Tolls will be needed to pay for the road.

The business community recently voiced its support for the western beltway that would eventually connect Interstate 10 with Interstate 95, saying it would relieve congestion and add countless jobs in Duval, Clay and St. Johns counties.


Economy needs road

Virginia Hall, president of Hall Properties, based in Green Cove Springs, has several properties in Clay County. Without this road, she said, the local economy will suffer.

“The biggest impediment we hear over and over again is there are no transportation links, no interstate of any kind for manufacturers, for any industry that we try to bring to our area,” Hall said at the North Florida Transportation Planning Organization board of directors meeting Aug. 23. “And we need this for our economy.”

The total project will cost $1.8 billion to complete. The state has already invested about $170 million and it will cost about $230 million more just to complete the first section.

St. Vincent’s HealthCare took “a major leap of faith” in 2005 when it decided to build a $100 million, 64-bed hospital at the intersection of State Roads 23 and 21, said David Meyer, system vice president of planning and strategic marketing.

The first segment of the First Coast Outer Beltway project, known as the Toll 23/Brannan-Field Chaffee phase, runs 15 miles from Interstate 10 to State Road 21. It would significantly relieve traffic congestion, increase the emergency response time to the hospital and would support the company’s future growth plans, Meyer said.

“The Outer Beltway project will absolutely prove to be the most strategic investment in the history of Clay County,” he said. The hospital is “the largest capital investment being made right now in Clay County.”
When completed, the hospital will inject a $50 million to $75 million economic impact into the area, Meyer said.
It’s under construction and was designed to expand to allow 225 beds if the demand is there.

John Metcalf, an attorney with the Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart PA law firm, represents land developer AFI Associates Inc., which owns land in St. Johns County. The company, an affiliate of The Hutson Cos. based in Jacksonville, expects to benefit once the second phase of the Outer Beltway project is completed.

That segment, referred to as the St. Johns River Crossing, is 31.5 miles and would run from State Road 21 to Interstate 95. The new infrastructure would run through OakLeaf Plantation and SilverLeaf Plantation, which are master-planned communities with commercial and residential property.

There is no construction money at this point to fund the second phase of the road.

The road “increases the value of the land,” Metcalf said. “My client can be patient.”

The Florida Turnpike Enterprise will finance the project by issuing bonds that will be repaid by toll revenue, Prasad said.

Mayor’s alternate votes yes

The TPO board of directors approved the resolution of support unanimously at its Aug. 23 meeting. City Councilman Doyle Carter, who was an alternate sitting in for Jacksonville Mayor Alvin Brown, voted yes.

Brown is still against tolls, but Carter, who represents the Westside of Jacksonville and Cecil Field, said he wasn’t advised by the mayor’s office how to vote.

“He knew I represented the Westside people,” Carter said. “He knew that when he put me as alternate. He gave me the leeway of taking care of what I was voted to do.”

So there are actually businesses not coming to Jax Metro because there aren't enough highways?

Or does the "local economy" just mean the immediate land near a new highway that could be developed?   

Ponzi Scheme at best. Sure tolls will cover expenses ;)

Lol.  You could have widened the entire road to four lanes for a fraction of the cost and got the same development.  The problem with the Outer Beltway is it will never pay for itself at the public level.  A major reason for this is because the land surrounding it isn't zoned for high enough density to generate the cash needed to maintain it and everything else (new fire stations, libraries, parks, schools, etc.) long term.  I'm fine with it being toll (all major roads that cost as much to build should be).  I just think if you're going to invest in something like that, you allow the highest density possible along that sector to get your ROI out of it since that's basically the only reason its being constructed.

Don't worry, Lake!  The sockless wonder will have all the zoning changed so that sprawl development will pay for that road.  Unless, of course, that 20th member of the City Council gets the comp plan and the zoning changed.

so the toll road will relieve traffic, only to open up the area for more development, bringing more traffic?

Actually, in this case, they need to consider zoning for the type of density you see in Paris to work off the long term subsidies coming the public's way.  A new LA Fitness, Wendy's and 7-11 with a hospital and an apartment complex sprinkled in aren't going to cut it.

I love it. Abandoned homes all over the place in these newer cookie cutter developments on the Westside (including in my neighborhood) & they're still chugging along like nothing's wrong.

Keep the farce going, guys. You're doing great. ::)

Quote from: mbwright on October 03, 2012, 04:50:34 PM
so the toll road will relieve traffic, only to open up the area for more development, bringing more traffic?

What traffic is it going to relieve?  Definitely not Blanding.  Anyone who desires to use Chaffee to avoid gridlock on Blanding could have been using the existing road for years.  All this is, is the mid-to-late 20th century dream of creating a new major road in hopes of spurring new development.  I think many people still believe our old ponzi scheme outward development growth pattern is eventually going to return back to the boom days.  Too bad the national trends don't support that vision.

Clay County boosters believe the lack of an expressway in their county is what holds them back.

Quote from: tufsu1 on October 03, 2012, 05:03:03 PM
Clay County boosters believe the lack of an expressway in their county is what holds them back.

If Clay County wants this road so badly they should build it themselves.

I said it before, the road isn't needed today, but it will be later. Hold the ROW until demand grows.

I am a proponent of new infrastructure spurring private investment, roads do that, I just think this one is just a little ahead of itself.

It's the mindset of local political leaders. Since their job is to get the bacon home, either by sales taxes, or by property taxes, they will promote this spending with the higher ups. I find it odd that no local elected official ever feels threatened to lose his office by supporting a new highway.

Why feel threatened?  When the chickens come home to roost, that elected official will be long gone.  We're now paying for the mistakes of Haydon Burns in regards to downtown.  However, Burns has been dead for 25 years.  Ponzi Scheme strategies typically work fine for the short term.  The official shaft comes 25 -50 years later when the expected revenue fails to keep up with the amount of public subsidies needed to keep things afloat, resulting in libraries being closed, parks poorly maintained, public layoffs, etc.

Quote from: tufsu1 on October 03, 2012, 05:03:03 PM
Clay County boosters believe the lack of an expressway in their county is what holds them back.

Holds them back from what, SMOG? It sure as hell isn't income because out of 500 Florida places Orange Park is inside the top 50, indicating Clay isn't doing too poorly.

#   Location (# Zip Codes)   City Report   Population   Avg. Income/H/hold   National Rank

6.   Key Biscayne, Florida (1)       10,513   $86,244.00   #402

7.   Palm Beach, Florida (1)       11,200   $84,191.00   #440

8.   Saint Johns, Florida (1)       18,063   $80,945.00   #537

25.   Marco Island, Florida (1)       15,213   $59,615.00   #2,240

26.   Boca Raton, Florida (9)   Avg. Income/H/hold in Boca Raton, FL   207,845   $59,600.56   #2,244

43.   Orange Park, Florida (2)   Avg. Income/H/hold in Orange Park, FL   70,562   $52,624.00   #3,571

52.   Fernandina Beach, Florida (1)       24,786   $51,096.00   #4,040

64.   Sarasota, Florida (13)   Avg. Income/H/hold in Sarasota, FL   219,458   $48,244.92   #5,012

66.   Jacksonville Beach, Florida (1)       23,900   $48,157.00   #5,042

68.   Fort Lauderdale, Florida (29)   Avg. Income/H/hold in Fort Lauderdale, FL   731,776   $47,653.69   #5,235

91.   Orlando, Florida (30)   Avg. Income/H/hold in Orlando, FL   698,916   $44,039.63   #6,883

93.   Green Cove Springs, Florida (1)       19,272   $43,914.00   #6,933

Clay basically wants its own Southpoint or Deerwood Park area.  They want to be more than a bedroom community and they think having an expressway will do that for them.

What they are more likely to end up with is WGV Commerce Center (the land east of I-95 & south of WGV Parkway).  I drove through Friday night, and the place is a bunch of weeds and abandoned buildings.  Even the commercial areas within the WGV campus are suffering greatly.

Palencia's commercial developments haven't taken off like the master developer's hoped either.

Every county wants to have their own boondoggle!!

If this was an arterial type expressway that might work, but I don't see how an outer beltway that is only a quarter of a beltway will help.  This is a road from nowhere to just south of somewhere small, with a whole lot of nowhere in between.  The best they can hope for with this is through traffic that will stop off and spend $50 for gas or $10 for a meal at mcDonald's.

Except through traffic would be better off remaining on 295. It's shorter and cheaper. The best hope is strip malls and tract housing. Doubt it will be popular with industries and corporate offices. No major company wants their employees and clients/customers forced to pay a toll twice on each trip to their facility.