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Truck Access Limited Near Schools

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By B.C. MANION

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 17, 2008

LUTZ - Hillsborough County public works officials won't allow heavy trucks to haul fill dirt for the Lutz-Lake Fern Road widening project past three public schools during morning drop-off or afternoon pickup times.

The county plans to work with the Hillsborough County School District's safety and transportation staff, as well as principals at McKitrick Elementary, Martinez Middle and the future Steinbrenner High schools to work out a schedule, said Steve Valdez, a spokesman for the county's public works department.

The county plans to widen Lutz-Lake Fern Road - from the Suncoast Parkway to east of North Dale Mabry Highway. The $56 million project will be done in six segments, with an expected completion date of 2012.

Valdez said the restrictions on dirt trucks rolling past the schools will apply to any contractor who gets the job, which will be bid out for each phase.

"It will be written in our contract," Valdez said.

The county's assurances came a day after Land Use Hearing Officer Harold Youmans scrapped a condition that would have kept dirt trucks from a borrow pit planned by Stephen J. Dibbs from rolling past the schools, from 6:15 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., when classes are in session.

Dibbs plans to excavate 2.5 million cubic yards of dirt from a borrow pit on the north side of Lutz-Lake Fern Road, west of the Suncoast Parkway.

He appeared before Youmans on May 6 to challenge the fairness of keeping trucks from rolling past the schools for so many hours a day.

Vin Marchetti, an attorney representing Dibbs, said the restriction was so unreasonable it made it a "practical impossibility" for his client to compete for the work.

Dibbs asked to be treated the same as others supplying dirt for the widening.

School district officials have appeared at three public hearings, urging Youmans to keep the trucks away from the schools.

They said buses, dirt trucks and teenage drivers have the potential for becoming a dangerous mix.

In his decision Tuesday, Youmans said he was influenced by a video at the hearing that showed continual truck traffic passing McKitrick Elementary and Martinez Middle.

He also noted that school district staff members acknowledged limits they wished to impose on Dibbs were stricter than the ones they impose on themselves.

Marchetti said he thinks Youmans' revised condition is fair.

He said he has not talked with anyone from the county's public works department, so had no comment on their planned restrictions.

Reporter B.C. Manion can be reached at (813) 865-1507 or bmanion@tampatrib.com.

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