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Orange County Officials Seeking Injunction to Halt Osceola Parkway Plans


June 12, 2014 | WMFE, Orlando - Orange County officials say they are working with lawyers to get an injunction halting plans for the Osceola Parkway extension.

[Orange County District 4 Commissioner Jennifer Thompson spoke on Narcoossee Road, near the proposed 75 mph toll road. Photo: Carmel Delshad, WMFE]

District 4 Commissioner Jennifer Thompson says she is not convinced the Osceola Expressway Authority has the legal authority to extend its toll road into Orange County, where only one meeting has been held about the planned extension.

She believes the Osceola County Expressway Authority is trying to rush the plans before the Regional Transportation Authority bill passes.

The bill would replace the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority, and give the new authority jurisdiction over the planned road.

“I’ve never seen a roadway move this fast, and we have a new Regional Transportation Authority that’s about to be signed into law,” Thompson said at a press conference at the Fells Landing neighborhood off Narcoossee Road on Thursday.

“I think this would be something better left to the Regional Transportation Authority to research and show us if there’s actually a need for this toll road."

The Osceola County Parkway would run from Boggy Creek Road to about ten miles past Narcoossee Road, possibly extending to the 417. Critics say the project would separate a few neighborhoods in an environmentally sensitive area.

“There will be thousands of homes potentially impacted by this from Orange County citizens’ standpoint, and lifestyles will change because there will be a super 75 mile per hour toll road in their backyard,” said Thompson.

At Tuesday’s Orange County commission meeting, Mayor Teresa Jacobs said she plans to meet with Osceola officials and is looking into the county’s own jurisdiction over the project.

Marcia Goldman, a Fells Landing resident, moved in fourteen months ago.

She had not heard about this highway until two months ago.

“It just seems kind of strange that this huge toll road is going to be built and nobody knew about it,” Goldman said.

 

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