Wekiva Pkwy vote could affect Seminole Co. residents

SEMINOLE COUNTY, Fla.,None — A major vote for the Wekiva Parkway project is scheduled to happen this week.  The toll road would finish the eastern beltway loop to allow drivers to avoid going through downtown Orlando, but it would run right through neighborhoods already there.

“There are people that have been here for 25 years.  The oldest resident we have is 101 years old,” said resident Sid Bennett.

For residents at the Twelve Oaks RV Resort, this week’s vote is about more than a road.

“It would probably destroy the park,” said Bennett.

Sid Bennett manages the property and lives there.  He has been fighting the Wekiva Parkway for the better part of the 10 years.  The road would slice right through the property.

“A lot of people retired to move down here.  This is their last residence that they ever wanted to have and now we are going to be uprooted and scattered,” said resident Valeri Withrow.

Wekiva Parkway proponents said the road is needed to complete a beltway around metro Orlando and sustain growth, but at $1.6 billion it would be the most expensive road project in Central Florida history and detractors said the money would be better spent elsewhere.

A financing plan set to be approved Tuesday by Orlando’s transportation board would pay for construction with a 50-50 split of state and local dollars, including more than $500 million from local toll revenues.

Back at Twelve Oaks, the 150 permanent residents don’t know if or when they will have to leave.

James Mothershed said he worries about some of his neighbors who have very little.

“So what is going to happen to those people they are going to say, 'Hey, you guys just get out and they do not have a place to go,'”said Mothershed.

Property owners would be compensated for any loss of land.  If the financing plan passes the vote Tuesday and two more later this month, construction could begin as early as fall of 2012.

WFTV