North Port to vote on River Road funding

NORTH PORT - City commissioners will decide today whether to go along with a Sarasota County plan to spend $8 million on improvements to the busy U.S. 41-River Road intersection.

Sarasota County charges impact fees to offset the impact of new construction on roads and other government services. But it has no authority to collect the fees within the city. Instead, North Port collects the fees for the county through a contract.

City leaders are set to vote on whether to spend $8 million of the city-collected dollars on River Road and U.S. 41, an intersection that sees about 16,000 vehicles a day and is one of the most crash-prone in the county.

In March, North Port asked the county to proceed with intersection improvements using the city-collected money. But, frustrated over a perceived lack of progress on the project, North Port tried three months later to redirect the money to work on Sumter Boulevard.

The county ignored the second request, and today's vote will seal the deal on an overhaul of River Road and U.S. 41, if North Port goes along.

While a majority of commissioners said they support the deal, at least one city leader was undecided Friday.

"My first priority is Toledo Blade or Sumter," said City Commissioner Richard Lockhart, referring to two other roads linking North Port with Interstate 75.

The U.S. 41-River Road intersection recently ranked as the county's third-most crash-prone.

Long-term plans will likely only add to the road's use as North Port and the county have approved more than 20,000 homes on the sprawling nearby Thomas Ranch property, which includes the West Villages Improvement District.

In addition to impact fee money, the district has offered to put $2 million toward the project.

"When we're going to put traffic on county-maintained roads, we need to pony up," said Commissioner Vanessa Carusone, who supports the River Road project.