By Kathy Prucnell, Sandy Ambrogi and ChrisAnn Silver Esformes Islander Reporters
People in Cortez can’t believe the Florida Department of Transportation wants to build a 75-80-foot tall bridge through a little fishing village.
The DOT announced its decision to build a $62 million fixed-span bridge to replace the existing 17.6-foot drawbridge at an April 23 Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting — an unpopular decision opposed 3-1 by people favoring repairs as surveyed by the DOT, through the November 2017 hearing.
Jane von Hahmann, vice president of the 210-member Cortez-based Florida Institute for Saltwater Heritage, said she and others in Cortez “were flabbergasted,” when they heard the news. Von Hahmann also is a former Manatee County commissioner who owns several properties in Cortez.
She’s spoken to a number of FISH members, including Kim McVey, Kathe Fannon and Kris Martinez, and they can’t believe it either, von Hahmann added.
“We’re just feeling like we’ve been slamming our heads against the wall for the last three years,” she said, adding the decision came when she thought the DOT was listening to Cortez’s concerns.
Cortez historian Mary Fulford Green worked to put Cortez on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995, and the designation stopped a previously proposed high-level bridge, she said.
“I’m still interested in knowing if they’re going to be using federal funds,” Green said, because federal money can’t be used to negatively impact the historic district.
The district is bounded by Cortez Road to the north, Sarasota Bay on the south, 119th Street to the east and 124th Street Court to the west.
Green called U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Florida, for an answer, but didn’t hear back as of April 26.
Construction for the new bridge would “wipe out” five streets and shutter businesses east of the bridge, she added.
L.K. Nandam, DOT District 1 secretary, told the MPO it would restrict one street in Cortez.
At the northeast base of the existing bridge, Hunters Point, a mixed-use development approved by Manatee County in January, may be in flux.
In plans to the county, Marshall Gobuty, for landowner Cortez Road Investments and Finance Inc. and Pearl Homes, proposed 86 zero-energy homes, a marina and 62 hotel units in five buildings on what is now H&H Marina and the old Cortez gas station property, just shy of 19 acres.
The developer’s attorney, Caleb Grimes, said April 26 the group hopes to provide input to the DOT on the road redesign, including the frontage road that preliminary designs show crossing its property.
“Depending on how they do their final design,” the high-bridge frontage road might eliminate the western hotel portion of the project, Grimes said.
Shock, acceptance
At the southeast base of the bridge on the mainland side, Bobby and Gwen Woodson share ownership of the Tide Tables Restaurant and Marina with Cortez businesswoman Karen Bell. The waterfront eatery at 12507 Cortez Road W., Cortez, opened in early 2015.
Bell said half of the parking lot would be lost during construction of a new bridge. The owners currently lease the DOT land because of limited parking.
“They will use it for staging while building. That’s just part of it,” Bell said in a phone interview April 26.
Bobby Woodson said he was not happy about the decision, but he also was resigned.
“We will lose our driveway with the new bridge. But we won’t lose our restaurant. We are strong here at the Tide Tables and busier than ever,” Woodson said April 25.
“The new road will exit and loop around by the Seafood Shack and then under the bridge to get here to us. But folks know where we are. They will get here,” he added.
Woodson expressed worries over the far end of the bridge, where it meets Gulf Drive in Bradenton Beach.
“It’s still only two lanes there, no matter what they do with a bridge,” Woodson said, shaking his head.
Bell’s relatives have been in Cortez since its founding in the late 1800s. When asked for comment on the decision, she was candid: “I don’t know. I can see some merits for both (the high fixed-span bridge and the mid-bridge). I would have preferred the mid-bridge. There are concerns about how the bridge will impact the village.”
She also was pragmatic.
“Dad used to say sometimes change is for the better. I’m lucky to have been raised by such a wise man. For the fishing boats, the higher bridge is better. Our fishing boats get trapped with the lower bridges,” Bell said of hurricane lockdown situations.
The importance of protecting the family’s livelihood stood out in the conversation. “The bridge closed days before Irma and our boats were trapped. With a high bridge, at least we could get them out. Thankfully, there was no big storm here,” Bell said.
Two Manatee County commissioners responded with statements about the DOT decision.
Commissioner Carol Whitmore, at-large, a longtime resident of Anna Maria Island and former mayor of Holmes Beach, said, “I don’t support it. I have never supported a fixed-span bridge. I brought it up at the county commission meeting this week. But I’m really not surprised.”
Commissioner Robin DiSabatino, District 4, seemed caught off-guard with a question about the DOT announcement.
“It’s not funded yet,” she said. “I appreciate tall bridges. It will be more efficient with the traffic.”
According to the DOT, it could be years before the first shovel of dirt is moved for a fixed-span Cortez Bridge.
Bradenton Beach reacts
“It’s outrageous,” Bradenton Beach resident Valerie Flynn said April 26. “No one wants it but FDOT said ‘too bad.’”
Flynn owns a unit at Bridgeport condominiums, 501 Gulf Drive N., which could face purchase by eminent domain and demolition when — and if — a new megabridge is built.
The property is adjacent to the bridge landfall in Bradenton Beach, and the land where the building sits has been marked by the DOT as a possible location for a proposed “stormwater management facility alternative.”
Flynn said she is concerned she will be displaced, but anticipates the project is “a long way off, if it happens. They still need funding,” she added.
However, Flynn said she already is concerned how the attention wrought by the project could affect the value of her condo unit.
“Will we get our money back? I’m sure the value has already decreased,” Flynn said. “Well, I’m not leaving until they tell me I have to go.”
“It’s a disappointment,” Bradenton Beach Mayor John Chappie said April 26. “I understand the safety issues, but I was hoping for the lower bridge.”
He said a new bridge will not help with traffic flow.
See related Cortez Bridge story, page 5.
Has anybody thought how building a connector road and bridge to Coquina Beach from 75 St. W. would alleviate the traffic problem coming with all the new construction of residential housing in the planning stages ?! It’s the only viable plan that could help to solve the unbelievable congestion that is obviously destined for our future. That would most likely send a very large portion of beach goers away from Cortez Rd and the bridge in a more direct route to the beaches. Just sayin’
Once again our friends at FDOT have decided what is best for our community and its future development and orientation. This is a pattern that they regularly follow statewide, depending upon the project and location.
Unfortunately, in the case of the Village of Cortez and Bradenton Beach, construction of a new high bridge will have a direct and personal impact on our current living environment. The human scale in relation to our existing surroundings will be significantly altered, especially for small businesses located along Cortez Road in the Village of Cortez.
Special attention must be given to the egress of vehicles off the bridge as they merge onto Gulf Dr., turning north or south. West bound traffic tends to back up on the bridge at the traffic light on Gulf Drive under normal conditions during peak beach hours. What recommendation is FDOT offering to resolve this issue once a higher bridge is built and traffic increases significantly?
Another point of concern Is the environment that will be altered on either side of the bridge as it ascends toward the Gulf on the Cortez side. How are the residences and businesses going to be accessed without disturbing the existing residential areas on either side? A primary goal that must be adopted by FDOT is not simply to move traffic but to create an atmosphere that is minimally disruptive to the surrounding area, clearly a major challenge for the proposed bridge. A key element to any new structure should be to foster conditions that will lead to a satisfying living and work environment for the surrounding residents. Regrettably, the proposed bridge design does not appear to do so.
Perhaps the most distressing aspect related to the proposed bridge design is the way FDOT is approaching the cost of a higher bridge verses repairing or building a new bridge at the same height of the existing structure. According to them building a completely new bridge will save around 24 million dollars plus an additional 11 million in operating and maintenance costs over an estimated 75-year life span, an inference that the only consideration is an economic concern, not the impact on the existing communities that will be affected by the new bridge.
Cordially,
Hernando A Carrillo
Architect & Urbanist
Bradenton Beach/Miami
Finally, I suggest that all of us who live in the area and are opposed to the proposed structure, reach out to the appropriate politicians, both local and in Tallahassee in an effort to make them aware of our concerns and to seek the best solution that will afford minimal impact on the Village of Cortez, Bradenton Beach and surrounding communities.
Why is anyone surprised by this? With the governor who was the head of a company that paid the largest fine in history for Medicare fraud and a legislature dominated by big business in interests what did you expect to come from the dog and pony show the DOT put on? Cortez and Bradenton Beach didn’t stand a chance against the criminal organization that is the government of FloriDUH!!!
can’t understand why no one addresses the fact that longboat key needs its own access, bridge, causeway, ferry or anything for that matter. is there something wrong with my thinking???