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Patience Wearing Thin Pursuing Ridge Road Extension

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By JULIA FERRANTE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 11, 2008

DADE CITY - County commissioners voted 4-1 Tuesday to pay Tallahassee lawyer Jake Varn an additional $15,000 to push through a permit for the long-delayed Ridge Road extension project, for a total $255,000.

Commissioner Pat Mulieri, who was among those who voted for the allocation, vowed, however, it would be the last time she would support putting more money in "this black hole."

"I guess I'm just so frustrated," Mulieri said during a meeting at the historic Pasco County Courthouse. "Years ago, I was against the Ridge Road extension. We need Ridge Road, but ... how much more money will we pour into this black hole?"

Commissioner Jack Mariano, who voted against paying Varn more money, said he continues to support efforts to extend Ridge Road from Moon Lake Road to the Suncoast Parkway and U.S. 41. He objects to retaining Varn, who Mariano said misrepresented facts in a recent vested rights hearing for Gulf Landings in west Pasco, a development that has been in the works for 50 years.

"Let's just say I've got issues with what Jake told us," Mariano said Wednesday. "It didn't match with what was agreed on in 1958."

Pasco has paid Varn and his firm, Fowler White Boggs Banker, about $240,000 since they were retained in 2000, at a discounted rate of $200 an hour for billable services. Varn is asking for an increase to $250 an hour. His regular rate in 2000 was $240 an hour, Chief Assistant County Administrator Michele Baker said. It now is $450 an hour.

The county has been seeking permits for the Ridge Road extension for more than two decades.

The Southwest Florida Water Management District recently approved an updated permit for the east-west road, but the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers still is reviewing a separate application.

Baker said the county needs Varn to defend the permit, because he knows the history of the project.

The time period for public comments to the corps has closed, and a permit reviewer is compiling a list of concerns for the county to answer, Baker said.

Environmentalists object to the road extension primarily because its proposed route crosses the Serenova preserve, which was set aside to make up for wetlands destroyed by construction of the Suncoast Parkway.

The Serenova, which is home to endangered species and critical wetlands, once was slated for development.

Commission chairman Ted Schrader suggested the county build the extension east to the parkway and put off the second leg from the parkway to U.S. 41. That portion, known as Phase I, is, however, the portion that includes the Serenova, Baker said.

Commissioner Ann Hildebrand, a strong supporter of the Ridge Road extension, said she is disappointed in the opposition.

"It's sort of a sad commentary that most of the objections have come from the citizens of Pasco County," she said.

Mulieri asked how the corps can "hold us hostage" by not approving the permit.

Baker said the corps permit reviewer is doing his job, and it is not the federal agency that has delayed the project.

"It is important that we let the Corps of Engineers finish the process before beating them. It hasn't been the corps so much as the process," she said.

Mulieri said this will be the last time she votes to spend more on legal fees for the project.

"Let me just say, I voted 'aye' but this is the last $15,000 I'll vote for," she said.

Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante@tampatrib.com.

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