Spruce Creek and the Preserve
July 1, 2007
Officials stand firm against new I-95 interchange
By MELANIE STAWICKI AZAM and BOB KOSLOW
The Daytona Beach News-Journal Staff Writers
NEW SMYRNA BEACH — It remains to be seen if other local cities share New Smyrna Beach’s opposition to a proposed Interstate 95 exchange at Pioneer Trail.
The Volusia County Metropolitan Planning Organization is going to debate it in August, Mayor Jim Vandergrifft said at Tuesday’s commission meeting.
“We might do an arm wrestling contest or something,” he said.
But, he said city leaders plan to fight hard to ensure the estimated $20 million project, which is currently unfunded, is taken off the planning group’s long-range transportation plan.
Citing traffic and environmental concerns, city commissioners unanimously approved a resolution June 12 requesting the interchange be removed from the plan.
Last week, the planning organization’s technical committee — made up of city and county planners and engineers — recommended a decision be deferred about removing the interchange until the Southeast Volusia Regional Transportation study is complete.
But New Smyrna Beach Director of Development Services Mark Rakowski said he didn’t see “the use of waiting for the traffic study” when the city opposed the interchange for environmental and other reasons.
At the board meeting Tuesday morning, it was decided the issue would be discussed and possibly voted on at its Aug. 28 meeting.
Comments on the interchange were mixed.
“I have no idea how I am going to vote on the Pioneer Trail project,” said Ormond Beach Mayor Fred Costello, who serves on the group’s board. “I want to hear from the Port Orange and New Smyrna Beach people in August. This is one of the few times the MPO might work to make a difference.”
Port Orange Mayor Allen Green said he was an environmentalist and not pro-growth, but the traffic logistics of that area needed to be looked at.
“My concern is in 25 years, how are we going to get all those people (from planned developments) out of their communities without sending them all up Airport Road right through Port Orange?” he said. “I’m looking for a feasible way to solve this problem.”
Several residents spoke out against the interchange, saying it would spoil the area.
Tomm Friend, a Turnbull Bay Road resident and an advocate of Doris Leeper Spruce Creek Preserve, said the interchange and possible commercial development there would set back years of planning for the Turnbull Bay corridor and spoil the Preserve.
“I don’t want to see 30,000 cars a day going past Martins Dairy Road using the off-ramp to a 100-acre commercial center in the middle of Turnbull Bay corridor,” he said.
Karl Welzenbach, the group’s executive director, said since there is no money programmed for the interchange, it may take 20 years for it to be built.
New Smyrna Beach officials have said even if there’s no funding now, they still want the interchange removed, since there’s always the chance a developer might be willing to foot the entire cost.
If the project is left on the plan, it could also be factored into other studies and mess up the results, they’ve argued.