Courtney Campbell Scenic Highway
Corridor Advocacy Group (CAG)
Minutes
Regular Meeting at the
Board Meeting Room – Cathcart Hall
Clearwater Christian College
3400 Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard (Courtney Campbell Causeway)
Clearwater, Florida 33607-1462
April 5, 2002
8:30 to 10:00 a.m.
I.
Attending:
a. Mr. Ned Baier, Hillsborough County Transportation Planning
b. Mr. Jon C. (B. J.) Bjers, Chair Save Our Courtney Campbell Causeway
c. Ms. Katie Cole, VP for Government Affiars, Clearwater Regional
Chamber of Commerce
d. Ms. Sue Dutill, Pinellas County MPO
e. Mr. Jim Gilman, URS Corporation
f. Mr. Ken Hess, VP Student Affairs, Clearwater Christian College
g. The Honorable Bill Jonson, Clearwater City Commissioner and President Citizens for a Scenic Florida
h. Ms. Jeannie Keene, Transportation Coordinator, Westshore Alliance
i. The Honorable Jan Platt, Board of County Commissioners, Hillsborough
County
j. The Honorable Linda Saul-Sena, Councilmember, City of Tampa
II.
Bill Jonson, CAG Chair, called the meeting to order at 8:45 a.m.
III.
The minutes of the meeting of January 11, 2002 were reviewed. They were
approved as issued.
IV.
Old Business
a. Chairman Jonson reported on the status of the Eligibility Application
Document. The document was completed with the assistance of Katie
Cole and the City of Clearwater staff and reprographics. The document
has been officially approved by the City of Clearwater, the City of Tampa,
and Hillsborough County. Approval by Pinellas County is anticipated at
their next board meeting on April 16.
b. Additional Support Letters
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i. Since the last meeting letters of support have been received from
the Agency on Bay Management and the Tampa Bay Regional
Planning Council.
ii. Mr. Hess, Ms. Keene, and Ms. Cole took samples of support letters
received with the action to obtain letters of support from their
individual organizations. [Action]
iii. Actions open from previous meetings were letters of support from
the following:
1. Tampa Chamber of Commerce – Saul-Sena [Action]
2. Hillsborough Convention and Visitors – Saul-Sena
[Action]
3. Tampa Bay Partnership – Cole [Action]
4. Three Pinellas County Chambers of Commerce – Cole
[Action]
5. Pinellas County Convention and Visitors Bureau – Cole
[Action]
V.
New Business
a. Corridor Management Entity (CME)
i. The CME is responsible for overseeing the implementation phase
of the project. They will apply for and receive grants awarded to
the scenic highway.
ii. The group discussed several alternatives forms of entities:
nonprofit corporation, one city taking the responsibility, and the
possibly of becoming a sub-committee of the Tampa Bay Regional
Planning Organization. The later alternative was chosen as the
preferred alternative. This would eliminate the need for a separate
corporation, bank accounts, and staffing. Chairman Jonson was
given the authority to pursue this alternative with the TBRPC
executive director. [Action]
b. Corridor boundary review
i. The group discussed expanding the east boundary of the proposed
scenic highway to include the Cypress Beach area south of Tampa
Airport. The City of Tampa is developing a public park in this
area and is considering a trail connection to the Causeway.
ii. Ms. Saul-Sena reported that several issues have come up regarding
the potential trail link. The LINKS highway improvement project
is in the final design stages and the trail issues are not yet resolved.
FDOT will have a maintenance road along the path of the bike
trail, but having this open to the public is uncertain at this time.
Concern was raised for protection of mangroves in this area as
well.
iii. The group discussed the impact of the extension of the scenic
highway boundary and where entrance signs would be erected.
The final conclusion was to not extend the scenic highway
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boundary, but that our group would work to promote appropriate
trail linkages to the existing causeway boundaries. This is similar
to the approach used by the Friendship Bridge trail project.
iv. Ms. Saul-Sena took the action to schedule a meeting of parties
interested in the trail issue (target date of April 12 at 9:00). This
would include representatives of the Westshore Hyatt Hotel and
the Aviation Authority. [Action]
c. Corridor Vision and Goals Update
i. A review of the goals noted that they all start with an action verb
except for number 5: “Alternative transportation options linking
Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, such as trails, could be
incorporated provided they are compatible with the aesthetics of
the corridor’s intrinsic values.” The group suggested prefixing this
goal with the word “Enhance.” This change will be incorporated
into the Corridor Management Plan update.
d. Corridor Management Plan (CMP)
i. Grant funding for CMP – the group discussed applying for grant
funding to assist with development of the Official Corridor
Management Plan. The feeling of the group is that most of the
information required is already available in the Eligibility
Document. A grant application would significantly slow down the
completion of the CMP. As an alternative the group suggested that
we ask the two MPO’s to assist with the development process.
ii. Mr. Baier suggested that a technical subcommittee be established
to evaluate the information that will be needed for the CMP and
compare it to the Eligibility Document. This subcommittee should
include representatives from the two MPO’s (Brian Smith and
Lucy Ayres), a representative of FDOT, Mr. Baier, Commissioner
Jonson, and a representative of the LINKS project. Commissioner
Jonson took the action to schedule this meeting in the next two
weeks if possible. [Action]
iii. Implementation of Corridor Goals – Ms. Saul-Sena suggested that
some of the goals would likely be implemented by individual
member entities ex. the enhancement of the entryway to Tampa
will be coordinated and implemented by the City of Tampa.
iv. Implementation Strategies: Ms. Cole and Ms. Saul-Sena
volunteered to draft goal implementation strategies. [Action] The
group agreed that the conceptual implementation of the CMP
strategies would be limited in scope. These strategies could be
further enhanced by the CME during the implementation phases.
VI.
Next Meeting
a. May 3 was the preferred date of the next meeting (Commissioner Platt had
a conflict on this date but could send a representative) or April 30. The
preferred meeting location is again the Clearwater Christian College
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Cathcart Hall Board Room. Mr. Jonson took the action to schedule the
meeting based on the FDOT Scenic Highways local coordinator. [Action]
If corrections to these minutes are noted, please notify:
Bill Jonson, CAG Chair
2694 Redford Court West
Clearwater, Florida 33761
727-786-3075
bill.jonson@usa.net
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