Tallahassee Democrat by Jeffrey Schweers
December 17, 2019
Hearing from the residents most affected by the potential toll road proposed for the as-yet-to-be-determined path of the Suncoast Parkway is a priority for several members of a state task force guiding development of the thruway.
Problem is, the way the meeting agendas are structured doesn’t really provide for that opportunity, they said at an all-day workshop of the Suncoast Corridor Task Force in Perry Tuesday.
Not for the first time, several members noted the lack of public comment at the meetings and criticized the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) for tagging the public comment period at 4:30 p.m. at the end of a exhaustive day-long agenda.
“I’d like it to be done as a forethought rather than an afterthought,” said Charles Lee, advocacy director for Audubon Florida. “We need to integrate public comment more meaningfully rather than at a time when task force members are looking at their watches.”
