The Cortez bridge-fighters aren’t done battling.
They plan this month to appeal a federal ruling that favored the Florida Department of Transportation and its push to build a high, fixed-span bridge between Cortez on the mainland and Bradenton Beach on Anna Maria Island.
The opposition to the DOT bridge replacement plan, which dates at least to March 2020, includes former Manatee County Commissioner Joe McClash, former county commissioner and Cortez resident Jane von Hahmann and Cortez residents Linda Molto and Joe Kane.
And McClash told The Islander Feb. 24 that the challenge will continue through this year, even as the DOT readies to build the new bridge.
The group, he said, has an appeal brief due this month.
“The initial brief is an argument as to why we feel the judge’s order was wrong and why we feel we should be given a chance to have the order corrected,” McClash told The Islander.
Last August, Anthony Porcelli of the U.S. District Court of Florida, ruled in favor of the DOT’s plan, finding that “while some community members, including plaintiffs, expressed opposition to the adoption of the 65-foot-high fixed-bridge alternative, such opposition does not render FDOT’s decision arbitrary or capricious.”
Porcelli continued, “The administrative record makes clear, FDOT expended great time and effort, including inter-agency collaboration, review of years’ worth of bridge inspection reports, public hearings, and conducting an engineering analysis and environmental studies, in determining whether the 65-foot high-level fixed-bridge alternative would pose any significant impacts.”
But McClash told The Islander, “One of the primary reasons we feel the judge got it wrong is because there were no facts that the DOT had in the record to support the judge’s decision.
“A good example is the flood study that the DOT had to do. The study only had one sentence in it that said that the bridge wouldn’t cause any significant environmental impact but there was nothing to back up that statement, just a sentence that was added to the report by the consultant.”
The challengers are advocating the construction of a 35-foot-clearance drawbridge and contend the DOT’s 65-foot bridge, which would require retaining walls extending about 700 feet into Cortez, would destroy the character of the historic fishing community.
The DOT maintains a high bridge spanning the Intracoastal Waterway would cost less to build than a drawbridge and is the best use of taxpayer dollars.
The fixed-span bridge would cost $72.17 million compared to $95.76 million for the drawbridge, a savings of $23.5 million according to the DOT.
The 65-foot option would save $11.2 million in operational and maintenance costs, according to DOT.
McClash said after the challengers file, the state would have 45 days to respond to the brief.
“I would say we are at least 6-9 months away from having an appellate decision on this,” McClash said. “It’s not a done deal yet. So there’s hope for people who want to keep the character of the community from being overrun by a megabridge.”
A Feb. 23 email sent to the DOT asking for comment had no reply as of Islander press time.