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Health & Fitness

SWFBUD Welcomes Hillsborough County Commission Vote To Move Ahead On Suncoast-Upper Tampa Bay Connector Trail

Segment of the six-mile connector trail between the Upper Tampa Bay and Suncoast Trails gets green light from county commissioners after landowner tries to change trail route.

Score another big win for SWFBUD today.

I welcomed today's Hillsborough County Commission's 7-0 vote today to move ahead with a Upper Tampa Bay-Suncoast connector trail project through water district land in north Hillsborough after a neighboring landowner in north County tried to pressure the commissioners to move the alignment.

Such a move would cost $200,000 in a new study, jeopardize $1.4 million in DOT funding and put the project 1-2 years behind schedule.

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I testified before the county commissioners that we need to move ahead with connecting the two regional trails to create the longest continuous trail in the state of Florida.

SWFBUD thanks Commissioners Mark Sharpe, Kevin Beckner and Ken Hagan who led the charge and were firmly behind this trail project in the SWFMUD water district land.

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The water district land contains about half of the connector trail. Now, we need the final segment to be built to create what will be the longest continuous paved trail in the state of Florida.

Commissioner Sharpe informed me that the 2013 budget will contain money to pay for that final link in the connector trail.

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