Give us the juicy details.
Bradenton Beach city attorney Ricinda Perry teleconferenced with Florida Department of Transportation lawyers April 16 to discuss the city’s concerns with a DOT proposal to replace the 17-foot-clearance Cortez drawbridge with a 65-foot-clearance fixed-span. Due to Florida’s Sunshine Law, the details of the meeting will not be disclosed to the commission or the public until the next commission meeting, Thursday, April 22, Perry said.
DOT chief counsel for District 1, Angela Tucker, contacted Perry to coordinate the meeting.
“What I was told was that the DOT would like to hear the concerns that we have, what aesthetic issues there are and discuss settlement ideas, as well as aesthetic accouterments or improvements that could be made to the larger bridge they were planning to install,” Perry said April 14, before the conference.
“I think this is an excellent opportunity that I don’t want to miss,” she added. “It’s my hope that coming out of the meeting, I’ll be able to make an opportunity for all the parties involved to sit down and vet out the issue.”
Perry said there is a chance Bradenton Beach will step back from the ongoing lawsuit, even if the settlement meeting is fruitless.
“That’s always a possibility because the commissioners are responsible for protecting the treasury of the city. And they have to do an analysis to determine whether or not the funds are there to support the litigation,” she said.
Bradenton Beach city commissioners unanimously voted March 18 to direct Perry to coordinate with outside counsel to become the fifth complainant in a case moving toward mitigation against the DOT’s megabridge proposal. The motion included a $15,000 allocation for participating in the lawsuit.
The city has not secured outside counsel or filed a notice of joinder.
On April 8, commissioners voted 4-1 to reduce the lawsuit allocation to $5,000.
Perry indicated at the April 8 meeting that the case could wind up costing the city six figures.
“There’s no sense in spending that kind of money if we can work something out,” Perry said.
Former County Commissioner Joe McClash leads the current group of complainants, which includes former County Commissioner Jane von Hahmann, a Cortez resident, and Linda Molto and Joe Kane, both Cortez residents.
McClash said the April 16 meeting was in line with the group’s goal to involve Bradenton Beach in their effort and bring the DOT to the settlement table.
The DOT has agreed to meet the anti-megabridge coalition for another informal settlement meeting after the department produces a draft administrative record that details how the agency decided to build the high bridge.
The deadline for getting those materials to McClash and his co-complainants was April 19, after Islander press time.
“I think it’s all positive,” McClash said April 15. “Bradenton Beach is actively opposing the 65-foot bridge, and it doesn’t concern me that they’ve reduced their budget a little bit. I think they’ll spend whatever resources they are comfortable with.”