THE ROADS COMMITTEE

Pine Ridge Matters

Pete Cuccaro

June 20, 2021

On June 16, 2021 the Roads Committee met with Walt Eastmond, Transportation Project Manager and Mike Sherman, Growth Management Director of Citrus County. . From right to left are: Jeff Kowal, Christine Carrington, Terry Cooper, Bill Hunter, Ken Dumovich, Walt Eastmond, Janice Herndon, Mike Sherman, Mike Perry and Pete Cuccaro. Not in the photo are Gail Denny and Keith Landers. Dawn Yannick had a conflict this day. Photo is courtesy of Keith Landers.

Pine Ridge residents have been speaking up and demanding the PRPOA Board become more proactive regarding long simmering issues. Under the guidance of President Mike Perry and the current Board, we are interfacing with elected leaders at every level.

Defined concerns which are now labeled as committee objectives are:

Ever increasing traffic and associated issues such as speeding and noise pollution. This is as true on main corridors as it is on ‘shortcut’ streets and roads;
Overall public safety as it applies to, drivers, pedestrians (particularly children), equestrians and their horses;
Disintegrating roads;
Continued opposition to the placement of Suncoast II, Phase 2 interchange 1500 feet east of the CR 486 entrance to Pine Ridge Estates;

If the interchange actually happens—every concern will be exacerbated. Our quality of life is in the balance.

These community friction points are under close review with mitigation thoughts already in discussion. Stay tuned as each objective will be summarized on our website and in the Newsletter in the coming months.

Please take a few minutes and read the most recent correspondence on the issue of the interchange. It was sent to Florida Department of Transportation Secretary Kevin Thibault June 17, 2021. The letter was discussed at the Hernando-Citrus Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting occurring in Lecanto the same day. As you will note the MPO has been copied on the letter as have our elected leaders at the state and in the county. Having FDOT agree to move the intersection from straight across the CR486 Pine Ridge Entrance was initially seen as a victory of sorts. As we have learned since it was a hollow victory—if that. What we know now that we didn’t know then, in its current design and location, it will still contribute to the demise of Pine Ridge as originally envisioned and as it has positively evolved since 1972. In short our community remains at risk. Please read and absorb the letter. We remain hopeful informed thinking will prevail. A special thanks to our equestrians for their input. Stay tuned.

The Roads Committee is a working group focused on getting to the root causes of the issues. To some degree we already have. The more answers we get—the more questions we have. Moving forward we will be sharing more detailed information with our residents and owners. It will be a work in progress.

I want to personally thank all committee members. Their individual and collective thinking as we manage these matters on behalf of all our residents is both timely and appreciated. Their talents are on continual display.

Letter to the Secretary