Expressway Develops Smoothly When Environmentalists Join Process
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September 2000 |
ORLANDO, Fla. (ANS) -- During the planning phase of Orlando's new beltway, the only place that environmentalists and the expressway developers could be found together for sure was the courtroom.
But the Orlando-Orange County Expressway Authority came to feel that searching for consensus was a better use of time and money than defending the environmentalists' litigation, and it asked about 30 local environmental advocates to form an advisory group.
Representatives of well-known groups like the Audubon Society and local organizations like Friends of the Wekiva River were invited to join a collaborative effort with the expressway authority and other state and regional agencies. The cooperation has resulted in several years of construction unencumbered by protest or legal action. The beltway is still in progress with completion expected in 2005.
Both environmental advisory group members and expressway authority staff consider the collaborative approach a success. Steve Pustelnyk, the expressway authority's manager of communications and marketing, said the system meant developers had to spend less time and money defending their plans while the group came up with solutions that diminished the negative environmental impact of the project.
"We're trying to take a common sense approach," Pustelnyk said. "There will always be extremist groups that will demand no growth whatsoever. But there are also those that recognize the need for growth and want it to take place with the least impact possible."
Charles Lee, senior vice president of the Florida Audubon Society, said formation of the advisory group was novel at the time, but that more developers now seek input from environmentalists before they move forward on projects. Still, this happens too infrequently.
"This should happen more often," he added. "There will be some projects that are just too 'head on' to negotiate. Both sides are too resolute to change their views. But that's maybe 20 percent of the time. About 80 percent of disputes could be solved with group discussion."
According to Lee, the key to the success of this venture was the expressway authority's commitment to consider advice from the environmental advisory group and make changes to their original plans. "A developer could use a group like this as window dressing," said Lee. "They might either ignore the group's recommendations or expect them to give a rubber stamp. Obviously, that wouldn't work."
The advisory group was able to suggest several changes to the proposed course of the beltway that lessened environmental impact, but had little negative impact from the developer's point of view, Pustelnyk said.
The group also helped develop a plan to compensate for loss of sensitive wetlands that made sense to both sides. Rather than create manufactured wetlands adjacent to the ones being destroyed by road construction -- the typical practice at that time -- the advisory group helped develop a plan to spend the same amount of money on the purchase of wetlands that needed protection. The regional water management district would then oversee that protection.
Nancy Prine, a board member and past president of Friends of the Wekiva River, said the mitigation plan developed by the environmental advisory group provided much more significant environmental protection than would have been the case without the group's input. "I think it worked very well in this particular instance," she said. "By understanding the cost of more traditional mitigation plans, we were able to put together a more meaningful plan."
Prine said she had heard criticism from those who think environmentalists should not assist in any kind of development, but she still believes the advisory group's collaboration with the expressway authority was worthwhile. Once construction got under way, the group's participation diminished, but it will be called back into action because early plans to scrap a section of highway that would cross the Wekiva River have come back into consideration, said the expressway authority's Pustelnyk.
The area is rife with sensitive wetlands and provides habitat to a large number of the state's threatened black bear population. "This one's going to be tougher to build," said Audubon's Lee. But he said the expressway authority is aware of environmental concernsn and meetings have already taken place to discuss them.
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