Despite their appeal to the federal government that a proposed toll road through the heart of the Poinciana business district would have more detriments than benefit being dismissed, a group of residents are not giving up the fight.
At the heart of the matter is the planned Poinciana Parkway expressway connection, which the Central Florida Expressway Authority (CFX) intends to build down the middle of Cypress Parkway. While the expressway would be raised, the existing lanes of Cypress Parkway would shift to the outside.
Members of a citizen’s group called Southport Connector Alternative Routes (SCAR) filed a Title VI Civil Rights complaint, saying the road would bi-sect a community that is primarily minority, and hurt businesses that would have to relocate with Cypress Parkway pushed out to the sides. The area would be bisected by what residents against it have in the past called “The Great Wall of Poinciana.”
“The CFX Project will have an unacceptable and unlawful discriminatory impact on the residents of Poinciana,” the complaint said. “The Project, if allowed to continue along the route presently conceived, will physically sever the community, splitting it in half … although the Project may arguably help others in Central Florida in facilitating the traffic through the area, it will decimate the community of Poinciana.”
SCAR learned in mid-June the Federal Highway Administration’s Environmental Justice board denied the complaint. Resident Lita Epstein, who drafted the complaint, said she was told the denial was based on that CFX is not using federal funding on this portion of the road, and that it was filed too soon.
“CFX has applied for federal funding for the Poinciana Parkway extension (to the northwest),” Epstein said. As for too soon … “It took two years for us to get this denial,” she said. “But, we’ve been invited to file again.”
In online documentation on its website about the project, CFX said it won’t have a timeline for when construction would begin or the expressway would open until the Project Development and Environmental (PD&E) study is completed, likely later this year.
The segment planned for Cypress Parkway would link the existing Poinciana Parkway to another proposed link, called the Southport Connector, that would reach Florida’s Turnpike, then eventually extend south and east of St. Cloud. At the north and west, an extension of Poinciana Parkway is proposed with federal and state funds to extend to Osceola-Polk Line Road (County Road 532) and then continue on to connect with State Road 429. The network of these roads would create a beltway around the county to move a potential population of 800,000 county residents around growing residential and commercial areas.
As part of its outreach over the last year or so, SCAR proposed alternate routes; one would run parallel to Poinciana Boulevard and cross the eastern edge of Reedy Creek, and another would run along KOA Street and the creek edge.
CFX has already said KOA Street only offers 150 feet of rightof way, and Poinciana Boulevard offers only 200, and would adversely and directly impact adjacent residents. The 300 feet of Cypress Parkway “was previously dedicated,” CFX said.
Brandon Arrington, who wears two hats in this—as CFX board chairman and Osceola County Commissioner for District 3, which includes Poinciana—said the state and the South Florida Water Management District would never permit a path through the creek.
“Because of the environmental challenges of the area, there’s not a lot of options,” he said. “The plan to go down Cypress Parkway has been in place for over a decade.”
In its online fact sheet about the road CFX said using the Cypress corridor is, “A segment of the project that is common to all alternatives considered during this study.”
“I understand nobody wants a road near their home,” Arrington said. “But, at the end of the day, we’re trying to fix one of the worst commutes in the country. We’ve got to move forward with transportation solutions for our residents. I know a lot of them work at Disney, and that can take 45 minutes right now. Once we’re done and you can get on Poinciana Parkway all the way to an improved I-4 and 429, we can get that down to 15.”
Epstein said she has a hard time digesting that.
“With this road creating bigger intersections (that go under the raised expressway), all of the major ones are going to need longer (traffic light) cycles,” she said. “It will slow everything down.”
She said SCAR will continue to assemble working groups that will be focused on local impacts, such as how local stores will be able to remain open without losing frontfacing parking lots. Arrington said CFX will be continuing to request public comment and meet with the community, especially after the project’s PD&E study becomes more clear.
On the project website, CFX says the community can share thoughts and comments on the study by emailing ProjectStudies@ CFXway. com or call the public information staff line at 407-802-3210, or in Spanish at 407-636-0209.
