Courtney Campbell Scenic Highway
Corridor Advocacy Group (CAG)
Minutes
Regular Meeting at the
URS Corporation Board Room
7650 Courtney Campbell Causeway, Suite 500
Tampa, Florida
January 9, 2001
8:15 to 9:30 a.m.
I.
Attending:
a. Mr. B.J. Bjers, Chairman, Save Our CCC Beach
b. Ms. Katie Cole, representing the Clearwater Regional Chamber of
Commerce
c. Mr. Ed Cooper, Member, Save Our CCC Beach
d. Mr. Joe Feaster, FDOT District 7, Scenic Highway Coordinator
e. Mr. David Fountain, Hillsborough County Parks Department
f. Mr. Bill Jonson, Clearwater Resident and President, Citizens for a Scenic
Florida
g. Mr. Tim Kurtz, representing the City of Clearwater
h. Ms. Charlene Ponce, representing Jan Platt, Hillsborough Commissioner
i. Ms. Karla Price, representing the Tampa Parks Department
j. The Honorable Linda Saul-Sena, Tampa City Council Member
k. Mr. Brian Smith, Planning Director, Pinellas County; and Executive
Director of the Pinellas County MPO
l. Ms. Lynne Marie Whately, Carter&Burgess, FDOT Scenic Byways
Consultant
II.
Bill Jonson, CAG Chair, called the meeting to order at 8:15 a.m. New
members of the CAG introduced themselves. The group watched the Fox 13
news segment on the Courtney Campbell Scenic Highway, which was
broadcast on December 27, 2000. The group also reviewed the article, which
appeared in the St. Petersburg Times addressing the group’s efforts.
III.
The minutes of the meeting of November 15, 2000 were reviewed and
approved as issued.
IV.
Old Business:
a. Status of approval of the Letter of Intent Application. Clearwater, Tampa
and Pinellas County governments approved the Letter of Intent
application. The Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners is
scheduled to consider approval at their meeting later in January.
Additionally, the Hillsborough MPO and the Coalition of Clearwater
Homeowners Associations have sent letters of support for the Letter of
V.
Intent. Brian Smith offered to have the Pinellas County MPO consider
adopting a letter of endorsement at their meeting on January 10 [Editor’s
note: this was accomplished on 1/10/01].
b. Bill Jonson reported that he is on the agenda for the Pinellas County
Legislative Delegation meeting on January 18 to seek their endorsement as
well.
c. Lynne Marie Whately, FDOT Scenic Highways consultant, reported on
the availability of grant funding to support the Scenic Highway process.
Federal funding is available after eligibility has been granted. She
reported that most groups utilized the support of the local MPO’s during
the eligibility process. She reported that the eligibility document effort
consists primarily of collecting information. Once this is done, the
preparation of the document is the lesser task. Brian Smith volunteered
his organization in preparing the document.
d. Once Hillsborough signs off on the Letter of Intent, Bill Jonson will
transmit the entire document to Joe Feaster at FDOT District 7.
New Business:
a. Linda Saul-Sena was nominated as Vice Chair of the CAG. There were no
other nominations. She was elected unanimously.
b. Ms. Whately gave an overview of the Eligibility Process. She reported
that after the Letter of Intent is received, the Scenic Highways Committee
has 30 days to review the document. She reported that they generally do
not do a site visit during this phase.
c. Training: Ms. Whately recommended that at least one person from each
subcommittee attend training on preparing the eligibility document. She
reported that the vision and initial goals statements generally take some
effort by the CAG.
d. Organization to develop the Eligibility Document:
i. Brian Smith took responsibility for drafting the Background
Assessment section of the document. Katie Cole will assist him in
preparing the Tourism section.
ii. Linda Saul-Sena took responsibility for drafting the Intrinsic
Resource Assessment and Criteria section of the Eligibility
Document. She will be assisted by Mr. Fountain, Ms Price, and
Mr. Kurtz. Ms. Whately suggested that the group address all six,
but that the criteria must be met for only one of the six. The group
identified Scenic, Natural, and Recreation as being the strongest
for the Courtney Campbell.
iii. The group will likely work together to develop the Vision and
Initial Goals section of the document.
e. Mr. Fountain suggested that the CAG needs a researcher. Ms. Saul-Sena
reported that she has a student intern that could fill this role.
f. The group recommended that a separate advisory board be created to
accommodate those who are interested in the project, but not regular
participants.
g. Ms. Whately recommended that the CAG continue to obtain letters of
support for the scenic highway. Other CAG’ s have obtained letters from
elected officials, Economic Development groups, and Garden Clubs.
VI.
Next Meeting
a. The group scheduled the next meeting for Wednesday February 28th at
8:15-9:30 am. The meeting will be held in the FDOT Clearwater
Construction Office Conference Room at 3240 Gulf to Bay Boulevard,
Clearwater, Florida 33759.
b. Future meetings will be held on the fourth Wednesday of each month.
The locations will alternate between URS and the FDOT Construction
office.
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