“High” is a four-letter word for the four challengers to a proposed Cortez megabridge.
Cortez megabridge opponent Joe McClash met with attorneys Matt Farmer and Ralf Brookes Aug. 19 to discuss appealing an unfavorable ruling in a suit between the Florida Department of Transportation and four complainants challenging the agency’s decision to replace the 17-foot-clearance Cortez drawbridge with a 65-foot-clearance fixed-span bridge in 2026-27.
McClash, a former county commissioner, and the other complainants —Cortez resident and former county commissioner Jane von Hahmann, as well as Cortez residents Linda Molto and Joe Kane — advocate the construction of a 35-foot drawbridge.
McClash said Aug. 20 the group was still considering whether to prompt attorneys to move forward with the appeal process.
On Aug. 5, Judge Anthony E. Porcelli of the U.S. District Court, Middle District of Florida, decided the suit at the district level by granting a DOT motion for summary judgment that outlined the ways in which the agency complied — or attempted to comply — with the National Environmental Policy Act during its yearslong bridge selection process.
The complainants maintained the DOT inappropriately utilized a federal categorical exclusion that relieved the agency of an obligation to perform more extensive analyses of the environmental and cultural impacts of the high bridge and its approximately 700-foot-long inland retaining walls.
However, Porcelli ruled the agency demonstrated, with thousands of pages of documentation, that it had made a satisfactory attempt under the law to comply with Title 23 of the code of federal regulations, which outlines the criteria executive agencies must meet to use categorical exclusions.
McClash said Aug. 18 that the anti-high bridge coalition might revive three of its arguments during the appeal process:
- That the DOT inadequately studied the bridge’s impact on a floodplain, including the effects of waves bouncing off the structure’s inland retaining walls — 20-feet tall at their peak — during storms and floods;
- That the agency did not document its prior experience with similar bridge projects in the administrative record, a collection of documents outlining how and why the department selected the high bridge;
- That the DOT did not analyze the navigational impacts of a fixed bridge from a regional perspective.
The Cortez Bridge spans the Intracoastal Waterway and links Bradenton Beach on the island to Cortez on the mainland.
Sailboats with masts taller than 65 feet would not be able to pass beneath the high, fixed bridge and McClash and his fellow complainants maintain that preventing these vessels from accessing the Intracoastal Waterway diminishes its regional utility.
McClash also said the group was exploring ways to educate Manatee County and state politicians about the bridge battle and might create an informational package for elected leaders.