Courtney Campbell Scenic Highway
Corridor Advocacy Group (CAG)
Minutes
Regular Meeting at
URS Corporation - Board Room
7650 W. Courtney Campbell Causeway
Tampa, Florida
June 13, 2003
8:30 a.m.
Attending:
Ned Baier, Hillsborough County
Heath Burr, URS Corporation
Chris Cook, Keep Hillsborough County Beautiful
Ron Gregory, URS Corporation
Jeannie Keene, Westshore Alliance
Tim Kurtz, City of Clearwater
The Honorable Bill Jonson, City of Clearwater Commissioner
Mike Palozzi, PBS&J
The Honorable Jan Platt, Hillsborough County Commissioner
Bill Sanders, Keep Pinellas Beautiful
Bob Singerman, URS Corporation
Brian Smith, Pinellas County
Jim Valentine, City of Tampa Parks Department
Jessica White, Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council
Comm. Bill Jonson, CCSH CAG chair, called the meeting to order at 8:45 a.m.
Comm. Jonson stated he received a communication from Pinellas County Commissioner Karen Seel asking
that we officially designate Brian Smith as the representative from Pinellas County. She will be shown as
the alternate on the Membership list.
The minutes of the March 21, 2003 meeting were reviewed and approved with no corrections.
Old Business:
Eligibility Document - Status Update
Comm. Jonson distributed a copy of the Eligibility letter from FDOT announcing that the CCSH
Eligibility Document has been approved.
Mr. Palozzi announced he received a telephone call from Mariano Barios, the head of the State
Scenic Highways Program, asking that we send a copy of our Eligibility Application to them to use
it as an example of a quality document to share with other programs going through the process.
LINKS Update
Mr. Gregory stated URS held a meeting May 29th in the Westshore area on the LINKS Project. Their
portion of the project design is near completion. They will have the construction bid packages ready
to go in early 2004, with construction beginning in mid to late summer.
Mr. Gregory showed an image of what the completed project will look like. He stated the image is
very accurate. The URS imaging group used the engineering drawings to ensure everything is to
scale. They took photographs from different points around the project and superimposed the
images onto the drawings. The landscaping is also accurately represented.
Mr. Gregory announced he brought the landscape plans for the Courtney Campbell Causeway and
the Airport Interchange if any of the members want to see what it will look like.
Mr. Gregory was asked about the bicycle trail connection on the north side of the Causeway. He
stated the only thing that is keeping the pathway from being extended is that the tidal inlet west of
Rocky Point does not have a pedestrian bridge. If we can get the crossing on the north side of the
Causeway, at the tidal inlet structure, then the path could be connected all the way down to the boat
ramp.
Mr. Palozzi stated that as the CAG starts to develop the goals, objectives, and strategies, that may
be one of the issues that is identified. He stated there are enhancement funds and CMAQ funds
available that the group may want to go after to extend the pathway out to the boat ramp.
Mr. Gregory stated there is a large demand for continuous pathways from the neighborhoods. They
have expressed support for this at the meeting URS has had with the neighborhoods regarding the
LINKS Project.
Ms. Cook asked if anyone could address the articles relating to Dana Shores’ objections to the
layout of the roadway. Mr. Palozzi stated there have been several discussions with the residents
of Dana Shores and the issues that seem to be brought up the most have to do with noise walls and
noise. He stated there has been some noise modeling done, and currently the direction Post
Buckley has received is to look at creating a 42" noise barrier along the north side that will allow
some deflection of noise. Currently there are no plans to erect a noise wall. Part of the challenge
is the conflicting opinions from the residents about what is really needed for Dana Shores. Most of
the conflicting opinions seem to depend on where the resident lives in the subdivision. The people
who bought their property specifically for the view are objecting to the noise wall, while the residents
who have no view want the noise reduction that a noise wall will offer.
Mr. Palozzi added DOT is also looking at what the noise impacts of the project will have on the
Hyatt. Mr. Smith added that perhaps DOT should look at the higher maintenance, lower noise road
surfaces as a way to reduce the noise to the residential area and the Hyatt. Mr. Gregory added, with
a standard GM barrier there is a lot of deflection of wheel noise, however they would have to go to
a height of 12' to block and stack noise, gearbox noise, etc. A 12' foot high wall on top of a 20' foot
road section would be 3-stories high. From an engineering, aesthetic, wind load, and cost
perspective, this makes building the roadway a very challenging project.
Mr. Gregory stated that in addition to the roadway noise, the noise from the airport is going to
increase. There is a new third parallel runway being added closer to the roadway. The slopes have
been adjusted to accommodate the new runway, which means the noise buffering from the existing
trees will be lessened.
Commissioner Platt made a motion that the CCSH CAG write a letter asking that the north trail be
extended to the boat ramp on the Courtney Campbell Causeway. The letter should be sent to the
following: Ron Glass, FDOT; Pinellas and Hillsborough MPOs; and The Planning Commission.
Copies of the letter, with a cover letter from the CCSH Chair asking them to join in supporting the
extension of the north trail, should be sent to the Pinellas and Hillsborough County BOCCs, City of
Tampa, and the Westshore Alliance. Motion by Commission Platt; seconded by Ms. Cook; passed
unanimously. Mr. Smith volunteered to draft this letter for the Chairman.
Mr. Palozzi added the extension of the north trail needs to tie into the CCSH Goals and Objectives.
He stated that if this idea doesn’t tie into the existing Goals, then our Goals need to be revised to
include this issue. It is very important the Goals and Objectives are consistent.
Comm. Jonson mentioned the idea Councilwoman Saul-Sena had about the concept of a Gateway
to Tampa. He asked, “Is that incorporated into the plan or is there an ability to add it at some future
point?” Mr. Gregory replied that the 1994 Urban Design Guidelines, established for the interstate
freeway system in Tampa, identify this area and the entrance area on I-275 as gateway entrances
to Tampa from a landscape and aesthetic standpoint. Comm. Jonson asked if this has been
addressed in the design. Mr. Gregory stated it has. Comm. Platt stated she believes
Councilwoman Saul-Sena’s idea was more than just soft-scaping, instead more of an architectural
structure of some sort. Comm. Platt recommended that the Westshore Alliance, the Dana Shores
Civic Association, FDOT, and the MPO form a committee to come up with suggestions for funding,
a location, and an appropriate designation that would highlight the Gateway’s significance. The
group could then make a recommendation to the CCSH CAG, and then the CAG could recommend
how it could be funded.
Comm. Platt made a motion that the CCSH CAG Chairman appoint representatives of the
appropriate agencies to recommend to the CAG suggestions most appropriate for the Gateway.
Motion by Comm. Platt; seconded by Mr. Gregory; unanimously approved. Mr. Baier volunteered
to take this issue back to the Livable Roadways committee.
Mr. Gregory stated the CCSH CAG needs to have a representative at the September Aesthetics and
Design meetings being held as part of the LINKS projects. These concepts and ideas are supposed
to be generated and brought forward at these meetings. This would be the appropriate moment to
bring a resolution to that meeting for the record. He added that the people who run these meetings
are consultants for FDOT. The purpose is to get community input into the other design issues that
may not have been addressed yet.
CCSH Video Presentation Update
Bob Singerman, URS Creative Imaging, introduced the video production draft, stating it was
approximately 80% complete. He welcomed feedback and encouraged the group to fill-in the areas
in the video that require final consensus from the CAG.
The following are the comments and suggestions from the CAG:
Comm. Platt - Have Linda Saul-Sena remove sunglasses.
Chris Cook - In the script, change “more landscaping” to “enhanced landscaping”
Chris Cook - In the script, where it states “City of Clearwater, City of Tampa, and other
cities...” change to “Other organizations” or something more general.
Mr. Singerman suggested including the logos from each of the member governments and
organizations in the video.
Chris Cook - Stated there is a lot of City of Tampa footage. She would like to see more footage
from the Pinellas side.
Brian Smith - Suggested taking video footage from a kayak on the Bay, and from
automobiles on the Causeway. Also suggested adding some of the video shot by Charlie
Belcher when he did the CCSH video for Channel 13. He also suggested taking shots from
Bayshore Drive and from the Beach.
Mr. Palozzi - Suggested a change in the script to assume designation, which would extend the
life of the video.
Comm. Jonson - Stated the video should be used for Public Participation
Mr. Palozzi - Suggested the CAG move on finalizing its Goals and Objectives so they can be
included in the video.
Comm. Platt - Suggested including statistics about the Scenic Highways Program. She also
suggested tying in the history of the Courtney Campbell Causeway and enhancing that with
historic photos.
Comm. Jonson - Suggested referencing the State Scenic Byways Program to show the
“eliteness” of the program, and ways the community will benefit from designation.
Comm. Jonson - Suggested showing more wildlife shots, emphasis on preservation.
Comm. Jonson - Suggested increasing the domestic scenes and reducing the international
scenes in the introduction.
Mr. Kurtz - Suggested the video emphasize preservation of the causeway’s uniqueness.
Video could be placed on mini CD’s and distributed to various groups.
Comm. Jonson thanked Mr. Singerman and Mr. Burr for their hard work on the video and for
graciously accepting comments and edits from the group. Mr. Smith volunteered to contact Charlie
Belcher about use of the aerial video shots from his piece on the CCSH Program. Comm. Jonson
said that he would provide URS with copies of the black and white historic photos.
New Business:
Technical Subcommittee Update
Mr. Smith stated he and Mr. Baier have updated the information, but they still need a few more
maps and some more graphics. The text portions are in good shape. Mr. Baier stated their work
was limited to Section 3.10 of the Designation Application. Other sections of the document relating
to Goals and the Action Plan will be a separate effort.
Mr. Palozzi stated these two sections are the meat of the document and need careful consideration.
Mr. Jonson stated the CAG was waiting to get the feedback from the State on the Eligibility
Document before it started making changes. Comments have now been received, so the next
meeting will focus primarily on the Goals and Objectives.
There were several conflicts for the next meeting date, so the suggestion was to move it up a week
and hold it on July 11, instead of July 18. The group did not seem to have a problem with that
change. It was then suggested that perhaps the rest of the year’s schedule should be changed from
the 3rd Friday every other month to the 2nd Friday every other month. The changes would be as
follows:
FROM:
TO:
July 18th
July 11th
th
September 19
September 12th
st
November 21
November 14th
Comm. Jonson asked that an e-mail be sent out to the members asking for input on the changes
and if their schedules will accommodate this change. Comm. Jonson reminded the group members
to send an alternate to the meetings if they cannot make the scheduled meeting.
Meeting adjourned at 10:15 a.m.
Next Meeting:
Friday, July 11, 2003 @ 8:30 a.m.
URS Corporation - Board Room
7650 W. Courtney Campbell Causeway
Tampa, Florida