'Different direction': Christian Caban asks Blueprint to reconsider new Airport Gateway road

Blueprint’s Airport Gateway project could take a different turn that would no longer see a new road built from the Tallahassee airport into the city through local neighborhoods on the southwest side of Leon County.

In a Monday letter to fellow Blueprint board members, Leon County Commissioner Christian Caban expressed “serious concerns” about the project. He called on the board to consider improving the road through existing neighborhoods instead by beautifying and increasing pedestrian mobility on Lake Bradford Road, Orange Avenue and Springhill Road from the airport to the urban area.

“Gateway project would continue to move forward, but we would move forward in a different direction,” Caban told the Tallahassee Democrat during a phone call Tuesday. “I believe that if we focus on improving the roadways that we have, we could spur more economic development rather than creating a new road.”

Caban's note could be a bombshell development for the project that aims "to create a unique, safety-enhanced, multimodal gateway entrance into Downtown, FSU, and FAMU from the Tallahassee International Airport."

Any change to the project would undo a 2018 unanimous vote by Blueprint commissioners to move forward with the road and fund the project after offering some concessions to southwest Tallahassee residents, who had previously raised concerns about the project.

“I think the 12-0 vote says a lot about our overall hope and vision that the project is going to make the entire community better,” then Leon County Commissioner Mary Ann Lindley and chair of the IA said after the vote.

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Five years later, Caban is taking aim at the cost of the sales-tax-funded project, which he said has gone up from $82 million to an estimated $123 million. Other Blueprint projects, which are fully funded, have also come in with a higher price tag due to inflation and a construction industry still dealing with challenges from the COVID pandemic.

“It is our duty to be fiscally responsible with our decision making and I am uncomfortable blindly approving such a significant cost increase without seeing a detailed breakdown of the cost overruns,” Caban wrote in his letter.

The Blueprint Intergovernmental Agency will meet at 9 a.m. Thursday in City Commission Chambers at City Hall, where Caban will be making his proposal about the project to the group of city and county commissioners. The IA, which is made up of all five city commissioners and all seven county commissioners, is holding a workshop on the budget and other matters.

In other developments, Leon County Commissioner Bill Proctor, who has long expressed doubts about the Gateway Project, weighed in on Caban's proposal Monday afternoon in a letter of his own.

"I am leaning towards Commissioner Caban's bottom line that we should improve (Springhill Road) as opposed to building a brand-new road for FSU's pleasure and convenience at the inconvenience of citizens located in the cross paths of progress," he wrote. "Commissioner Caban has weighed in with perfect clarity about issues overlapping our districts."

Proctor's missive raised Sunshine Law questions, though Proctor says there are no issues. Under the law, members of the same public board are not allowed to discuss business outside regularly scheduled meetings. The Florida Attorney General's Office has opined that board members may send "one-way" communications to each other as long as they are kept as public records and there is no response to the communication except at a public meeting.

"All business needs to be discussed out in the open and in the sunshine," said Bobby Block, executive director of the First Amendment Foundation.

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FSU played instrumental role in the project

The proposed airport-to-downtown road would create over a mile of new roadway from West Orange Avenue to Levy Avenue — known as Segment C of the project — while also connecting to Stuckey Avenue from Iamonia Street to North Lake Bradford Road and Levy Avenue from Innovation Park to North Lake Bradford Road ― referred to as Segment D.

FSU previously lobbied heavily for the Gateway Project, which would create greater access from the airport to parts of the southwest campus, such as the National High Magnetic Field Laboratory and the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering. FSU also owns property in the Innovation Park area.

The university contributed $3 million for the project, but it is unclear if FSU’s involvement in the plan will continue if the Blueprint board backs out of the project and instead improves the existing roads.

Kevin Graham, executive director of FSU’s Real Estate Foundation, first approached Blueprint officials February 2017 on FSU’s plans to develop nearly 900-acres it owns in southwest Tallahassee. FSU's vision is to grow academic programs, research, recreation and other future needs while expanding its landlocked downtown campus.

FSU declined to comment on the matter, according to a university spokesperson.

The Blueprint board uses voter-approved sales-tax proceeds to fund a variety of infrastructure projects, like roads and parks, and environmental initiatives, including stormwater controls. In recent years, major Blueprint projects have sparked controversy and intense public concern, including the Welaunee development and $27 million in funding for Doak Campbell Stadium.

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Airport Gateway timeline and specter of 'eminent domain'

Regarding the Airport Gateway, the agency announced the initiative as early as 2017 and has it in its 2020-2040 set of projects, with right of way acquisition and phased construction anticipated to begin mid-2024 and end in 2031, according to Blueprint's meeting agenda.

With the gateway project’s current setup, Caban also expressed concern as to whether residents would have to be displaced by right-of-way acquisition to make way for the new road. Caban, elected to the County Commission last year, represents District 2, which encompasses the southwest part of town.

According to his letter, project’s staff is not far enough along in the design phase to determine the extent of "displacement via eminent domain," a cost he called one of the project's "significant unknown variables."

“Redirecting our resources to improve existing travel corridors is the more fiscally responsible project scope and best serves our citizens,” Caban wrote.

He later added: “I hope that we can come together in the spirit of innovation and collaboration to address these issues and build a magnificent Airport Gateway our community can be proud of."

Contact Tarah Jean at tjean@tallahassee.com or follow her on twitter @tarahjean_.

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This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Christian Caban asks Blueprint to reconsider new Airport Gateway road