Well, the battle over to widen certain sections of Lithia Pinecrest Rd is continuing and the latest round was held at Bell Schoals Baptist Church earlier this month. The contestants were mostly citizens who do not want their homes or land taken by the county, vs. the Brandon Chamber along with a few commuters who think longtime homeowners should give up their property so they can drive in to work faster from places like Fishhawk. The speakers were pretty much even for and against the widening but the huge difference was that the majority of speakers in favor of the the widening of section B were associated with the Brandon Chamber. If the residents living off the segment didn't care then neither would I, but many of them do care and they don't want to lose their land to eminent domain. Seems like a case of potentially trampling on property owner rights in favor of accommodating past and future sprawl approvals. The citizens fighting to save their neighborhood from becoming another Bloomingdale Rd or SR 60 are not giving up. Those pushing for the widening urged county officials not to base their decision on emotional opposition. I guess the proponents of the widening think that those who have lived there for over thirty years have no right to get in the way of "progress" or a commuter who bought in Fishhawk and now wants to get to work a little faster, huh?
This article appears in Feb 17-23, 2010.
