Chiefland City Commissioner Rollin Hudson discusses the need for a new city wastewater treatment plant.
By Terry Witt – Spotlight Senior Reporter
A toll road might be coming Chiefland’s way one of these days and if it does, the city has developed a list of economic development projects it wants the state to fund as part of the Suncoast Connector toll road project.
Chiefland City Commissioners Monday voted unanimously to send a letter to the Suncoast Connector Task Force asking the state to pay for projects it couldn’t afford to do on its own without great difficulty.
The two top projects are a request to build an industrial park that would connect to U.S. 19 and a separate request for a large sewer plant built on 100 or more acres of land to meet the city’s future needs as it expands.
Commissioners also want the Florida Department of Transportation to build access and exit ramps off the new toll road that give Suncoast Connector travelers access to the city’s commercial and industrial business district.
The fourth request was for the state to assist the city in repairing streets in the south part of the town that are in bad shape and poorly maintained, including county roads that run through south Chiefland.
State transportation officials have repeatedly asked the city what it wants from the state if the toll road were to be constructed through the Chiefland area. Technically, the state doesn’t need the city’s official permission to build a toll road. The state could do it with or without the city’s permission, but FDOT is taking a new approach this time around, asking the city to become a partner of sorts by asking for what it wants out of the project.
Commissioners authorized Mayor Chris Jones to sign a letter that will be sent to Levy County Commission Chairman Matt Brooks Tuesday outlining what the city wants out of the toll road project. Brooks sits on the Suncoast Connector Task Force and will present the letter to the task force board.
The Suncoast Connector would be constructed alongside U.S. 19. It would have all the trappings of a toll road including toll plazas. U.S. 19 would remain a free road just as it is now.
Suncoast is part of a program known as Multi-use Corridors of Regional Economic Significance (M-CORES). The city wants to take advantage of the state’s pledge to bring economic development to Chiefland, but the city wants more than promises. It wants real projects and it wants the state to pay for them as part of the M-CORES program.
There were no M-CORES representatives present for Monday’s city commission meeting. The three representatives that attended past board meetings until the Coronavirus outbreak apparently sidelined the group were Brandi Bertram, district safety and health manager for FDOT, Andrea Garcia of Atkins North America, and Lee Beasley of HW Lochner. Garcia and Beasley are private consultants.
Commissioners were in total agreement at Monday’s meeting on all four projects but some board members had personal preferences. Jones would prefer to see the new industrial park built south of the city’s current industrial park in south Chiefland. He said there is ample vacant land in that area. Ellzey didn’t think the new industrial park could connect to the existing park as Jones envisioned.
Commissioner Rollin Hudson said the city needs a new wastewater treatment plant built on at least 100 acres of land if not more. He said if the state can bankroll the purchase of the land and construction of the sewer plant it would greatly assist the city with future economic development. A new wastewater treatment plant of the size Chiefland needs would cost millions of dollars.
Hudson was also the commissioner who said the M-CORES program needs to build entrance and exit ramps that connect Suncoast Connector travelers to the city’s business and industrial district. A well placed ramp close to the city would funnel travelers to gas stations, restaurants, motels and stores.
Jones doesn’t want the minority community forgotten. Many of the roads in South Chiefland are in bad shape. Jones said he dodges potholes every time he drives to Chiefland City Hall. He said some of those bumpy streets are owned by the county.
City Manager Mary Ellzey said the city won’t be identifying specific pieces of property for the industrial park or the wastewater treatment plant. She said those parcels can be identified later in the process. The state will have to decide where it wants to build the road through the Chiefland area before specific parcels can be identified.
The M-CORES program hasn’t officially identified U.S. 19 as the route for the Suncoast Connector but a map state officials presented to the city commission a couple months ago showed the toll road co-located along U.S. 19 from Citrus County all the way to Jefferson County. One alternate path branched to the right along highway 349 in Dixie County and missed Cross City completely.
Levy County is clearly being looked at closely by the M-CORES program. A second toll road, the Northern Turnpike Connector, would intersect with Suncoast Connector in either northern Citrus County or southern Levy County. The Levy County Commission has made it clear it doesn’t want either toll road to touch Goethe State Forest.
The Coronavirus outbreak and the shutdown of the Florida economy hasn’t ended the M-CORES program. Ellzey announced there would be an online Suncoast Connector Task Force webinar this week. The webinar is set for 9:30 a.m. to 12 p.m. Thursday. For those who might be interested in attending via the internet, the M-CORES website is the place to register for the webinar.
———–
City of Chiefland Regular Meeting April 27, 2020; Posted April 27, 2020
