Sumter Says No Build to Northern Turnpike Extension

Sumter Board of County Commissioners; Sumter County Administrator Bradley Arnold; Wildwood City Council; Governor Ron DeSantis; Representative Brett Thomas Hage; Senator Dennis Baxley; FDOT and Florida's Turnpike Enterprise

Every proposed route for the Northern Turnpike Extension would would start in Sumter County so they ALL need to be stopped. Help us send a "No Build" message to Sumter County elected officials to prevent a new toll road road from paving over our communities, farms, forests, wetlands, and rural quality of life!  

To: Sumter Board of County Commissioners; Sumter County Administrator Bradley Arnold; Wildwood City Council; Governor Ron DeSantis; Representative Brett Thomas Hage; Senator Dennis Baxley; FDOT and Florida's Turnpike Enterprise
From: [Your Name]

We, the undersigned residents of Sumter County, strongly oppose the toll roads being considered in Project#14480 - Turnpike (SR 91) Extension at Northern Terminus from its northerly terminus in Wildwood to a logical and appropriate terminus as determined by the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) per Senate Bill (SB) 100 (2021), Florida Statutes. Each of the four pathways being considered would impact Sumter County, meaning that our community will be ground zero no matter what route is selected by FDOT. For the residents of Sumter County, the No Build option is the only acceptable option. We oppose this toll road for the following reasons:

1. Our community will be ground zero no matter what route is selected by FDOT, including any further proposed alternatives. The community of Royal, one of Florida's oldest African American Communities, was already bisected by I-75 and ALL of the four originally proposed routes would once again bisect the Royal community displacing residents from their homes and lands and would destroy historic sites and the very fabric of our community. Rather than passing a No Build resolution, the Sumter BOCC and Wildwood City Council sent a joint letter proposing a new route that supports a modified "Alternative Corridor Center" that seeks to to maintain a parallel corridor on the West side of 1-75 in close proximity to CR 475 North of SR 44 to CR 245E. This proposal would impact communities like Tillman’s Hammock, Oxford, and residents further west in Citrus County. We do not support pitting communities against one another. We support the No Build option because no one should have to lose their home, farm, or history when it comes to the Northern Turnpike Extension proposal. The Sumter BOCC and Wildwood need to support a new and stronger position that clearly calls for the No Build alternative opposing any extension of the Florida Turnpike rather than suggesting an alternative that displaces any community.

2. Negative Environmental Impact: Sumter County has pristine wildlife habitat, lakes, and wetlands which are essential filters removing toxins out of the water that feeds our aquifers. Safe drinking water is a crucial natural resource that is already threatened by overpumping, rising sea levels, and saltwater intrusion. If built, these toll roads would negatively impact critical natural resources found within Sumter County such as Lake Panasoffkee, Half Moon Wildlife Management Area, and Juniper Creek Wildlife Management Area, all of which are vital aquifer recharge zones. Promoting sprawl and overdevelopment in our region threatens future Floridians’ access to safe and clean water.

3. There is no documented need for these roads: The final 2020 M-CORES Northern Turnpike Connector Task Force report states that “The Task Force did not reach a conclusion based on the information available at this time that there is a specific need for a completely new greenfield corridor or modification of existing facilities through the study area to achieve the statutory purpose.” Meanwhile, the 2016 I-75 Task Force Relief Task Force recommendations concluded that the primary strategy to achieve relief for I-75 was to expand its capacity by adding additional lanes and improve its safety, efficiency, and reliability through projects such as express lanes and truck-only lanes.

4. Cost to Taxpayers: The M-CORES toll road project was a multi-billion dollar taxpayer boondoggle when it passed the Florida Legislature in 2019, and the Northern Turnpike Extension is no different. Florida taxpayer dollars would be inappropriately diverted to fund high eminent domain payments from FDOT to take property for a destructive toll road that has no demonstrated need or sound projections for fiscal feasibility. It is clear that new toll roads in rural Florida present significant costs and long-term financial challenges. The tolls themselves would also represent an additional tax on current residents in the county when Florida as a state already has more miles of toll roads than any other state in the country. Spending state funds on the Northern Turnpike Extension is a poor use of our tax dollars in every way imaginable and is fiscally irresponsible.

As residents of Sumter County, we value the rural quality of life that we currently enjoy with our abundance of outdoor recreation opportunities, world-class bass fishing, public hunting lands, equine industry, farmlands, and so much more. Toll roads lead to sprawl and the destruction of our county’s “Old Florida'' charm while increasing air and water pollution and stressing our aquifer. As Sumter County residents we feel strongly that land and natural resources need to be conserved and protected from development and urban sprawl within both our county and the rest of the Nature Coast. Given that tourism and agriculture are the top two industries in our state, and Sumter County is invested in these industries, toll roads and the sprawl they bring are detrimental to our county, region, and state.