TAMPA, Fla. — Nicole Perry and her family moved into the Tampa Heights community two years ago. 

"We love it here," said Perry, who purchased her home from the Florida Department of Transportation. 

The yard where she plays with her son, Knox, faces the I-275 Interchange which is the focus of an expansion project. 

Perry said she knew about an extra lane being added, but nothing about the wall being moved. 

"We were in the clear about not having to worry about the highway, just to learn that its coming out 12 feet in some areas, 50 in others," she said. "It's pretty shocking."

Perry said she's against the project because of its potential impact on the community. 

"We're gonna have vibration and pollution," she said. 

She said she's already constantly cleaning the build up of traffic pollution on her own front porch. 

"Definitely never thought it would be this bad," she said.

Just a few feet away from her home is the Tampa Heights Community Garden. 

"With the pollution that the highway brings, having more plants is going to mitigate that," Perry said. "But, if they are moving the wall 50 feet in, what's going to happen to the garden?"

Perry believes highways should be a thing of the past and said the concerns of neighbors should be considered closely by FDOT. 

"There are better ways to go about fixing any potential growth and population problems than the ones they are trying to pursue," she said. "We hope our little slice of urban heaven here stays how it is."

DOT RESPONDS

In an email to Spectrum Bay News 9 Thursday morning, the DOT said it did not believe anyone was "blindsided."

Below is their statement.

Please note we disagree that anyone was “blindsided.” FDOT has conducted significant engagement within the local community leading up to the Draft SEIS using traditional and non-traditional methods. Our direct mailing list included over 9.000 persons and our constant contact email list included 4,500 persons.

The engagement activities included, but were not limited to, the following:

·       2 traditional public workshops and 1 public hearing

·       45 small group presentations

·       40 presentations to the City of Tampa and Community Redevelopment Agency

·       40 presentations to the MPO/TPO Board and Committees, including 3 special open house meetings

·       52 community events

The DOT also said that:

• In summer 2019, based on public comments, FDOT modified the concept for the Downtown Tampa Interchange to consist of only safety and operational improvements.
• This decreased the number of parcels needed for construction to less than 10 parcels (as opposed to prior concepts that needed as many as 200 parcels).
• The concept was first shown at a special briefing for the MPO board and committees on August 19, 2019
• FDOT’s graphics have always highlighted “widening” of the I-275 to I-4 flyover ramp, which is the construction closest to Tampa Heights.
• Leading up the public hearing, we presented similar graphics in numerous small group presentations throughout the project area.
• In January 2020, we prepared the concepts and added the annotations to call out the walls that were to remain in place and the walls that would be relocated.

The Tampa Heights Civic Association scheduled a meeting for 7 p.m. Thursday, and the Hillsborough Transportation Planning Organization has asked FDOT for a meeting on the issue.