Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter

            Bronson Town Council members Monday joined a growing list of local governments in the region that have passed resolutions endorsing the no-build option for the Northern Turnpike Extension.

            Residents Robbie Blake and Laura Catlow drafted the resolution and presented it to the council for adoption. They want the council to send it to Gov. Ron DeSantis in hopes he will stop the project.

            The council voted 5-0 to adopt the resolution and send it to DeSantis.

            The Levy County Commission, Dunnellon City Council, Inglis Town Commission, Yankeetown Council, Inverness City Council, and most recently the Citrus County Commission adopted resolutions endorsing the no-build option.

            Bronson’s resolution says that a previous toll road study of the Northern of Turnpike Extension – the M-CORES study – did not reach a conclusion on whether there was a specific need for a completely new toll road corridor or changes to existing facilities through the study area.

            Levy County is part of the current Northern Turnpike Extension study and was part of the M-CORES study that was defunded by the Florida Legislature last year.

            Blake, a resident of Bronson for 44 years, said one of the proposed routes for the turnpike extension would cut through the Bronson area, severing the aquifer that feeds fresh water to Chunky Pond, a vast wetland that is home to many wildlife species including Bald Eagles and otters. She lives at the edge of Chunky Pond.

            She said the toll road would also cut through the aquifer that provides water to a popular swimming hole known as Blue Springs near Bronson and the vast Waccasassa Flats wetlands that feeds water to the Waccasassa River and Little Waccasassa River.

            “If we stand with solidarity and we have a broad alliance we can bring this to a halt,” Blake said.

            She said the state needs to focus instead on widening I-75 and making improvements to U.S. 19 instead of slicing through largely untouched wilderness areas near Bronson to create a new toll road.

            Catlow said when she heard about the proposed toll road, she took a look at the map and found she was in the path of the project.

            “I looked at the map. Where do I go? Will I be compensated? Do I need a lawyer? It was like pure panic,” she said.

            The Bronson resolution notes that highways fragment wildlife habitats. Wildlife collisions with vehicles become more frequent. Fragmentation of existing habitat in the Bronson/Levy area would threaten the existence of listed species and non-listed species such as the Florida Panther, River otter, Sandhill Cranes, Eagles, Gopher Tortoises, Fox squirrels, scissor-tail Kites, and Scrub Jays.

            It notes that farms in the Bronson area face the prospect of being cut in half by the toll road and facilities like James H. Cobb Park and the Blue Springs Park could be degraded by the presence of a toll road exit nearby.

            “The Bronson Town Council finds it in the best interests of the Town of Bronson and the public to recommend that a “no build” option for the Northern Turnpike Extension be adopted and implemented,” the resolution states.

            On an unrelated subject, the council voted tentatively to adopt a property tax millage rate of 6.0918 mills for the coming fiscal year, an increase from the current tax rate of 5.5815. The council can opt next month to lower the millage.

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Town of Bronson Regular Meeting August 1, 2022; Posted August 1, 2022