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PRESS RELEASE
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Contact: Tim Martin
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
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727 251-9979
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TimothyMartin@SuncoastSierra.org
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Suncoast Sierra Club Announces 30+ Organizations Sign Letter To US ACOE Opposing Ridge Road Extension Through The Serenova Preserve In Pasco County
NEW PORT
RICHEY – An attorney for the Suncoast Sierra Club has sent a letter strongly
condemning the proposed Ridge Road extension through the Serenova preserve,
which forms the northern section of the Jay B. Starkey Wilderness Park in Pasco
County. Over 30 organization have joined the coalition in condemning the road
project, including environmental, political, and horse rider advocacy groups.
“Today we demonstrate
strong community support to reject this road to nowhere,” said Suncoast Sierra
Club Conservation Chair, Tim Martin, speaking on behalf of the Save the
Serenova coalition. “This gift to
developers has already cost Pasco taxpayers millions of dollars and will cost
many millions more as it threatens to destroy the best nature preserve left in
Pasco county. The Army Corps of Engineers should reject the permit application
and preserve the Serenova for all those who enjoy the park, as well as the many
species that live there.”
Representing
the Suncoast Sierra Club, attorney Jane West sent the detailed letter to the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (ACOE) this week.
The letter highlights the numerous errors and inconsistencies that have
been documented via comments to the administrative record over the past 19
years since the Pasco County Commission first applied for the permit.
The 6,500-acre
Serenova Tract was purchased in the late 1990s as mitigation for construction
of the Suncoast Parkway. The Pasco Board of County Commissions has advocated
for the extension of Ridge Road through the preserve, ostensibly for an
evacuation route from US 41 to the Suncoast Parkway.
But with
Hurricane Irma recently prompting thousands of residents to evacuate to
shelters, opponents of the road argue that there was no impediment to residents’
ability to evacuate with existing road options, and that the road construction
is a tax-payer funded boondoggle.
The Ridge
Road extension project is one of the longest pending permit applications in
ACOE history. The Sierra Club and its allies have vowed to take legal action in
the event the project gets permitted by the ACOE.
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