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Buchanan promises help with U.S. 17 widening, illegal farmworker concerns

SunHerald – March 25, 2008

U.S. Rep. Vernon Buchanan hears about U.S. 17 widening and farmworker issues during a visit to Hardee County Monday to meet with Hardee officials in a private meeting and later, DeSoto and Hardee officials and leaders in citrus and local industries, at The Bluffs Golf Course in Zolfo Springs.

ARCADIA — Hardee and DeSoto county officials continue to lean on state legislators to get U.S. Highway 17 widened as quickly as possible, most recently through meetings with U.S. Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., as he swung through the counties on a fundraising visit Monday.

Buchanan represents Congressional District 13, which includes DeSoto, Hardee, Manatee and Sarasota counties.

After privately meeting with the Hardee Economic Development Council and Hardee County Chamber of Commerce, Buchanan said the two major issues discussed were the importance and urgency of widening U.S. 17, due to its anticipated economic impact on the area and status as a hurricane evacuation route, and finding ways to deal with farmworker issues, particularly illegal immigration.

A proposed farmworker housing project in Hardee was recently turned down by the Hardee County Commission after negative public reaction.

Bill Lambert, who heads the Economic Development Council, said he felt the meeting, in which they presented Buchanan a color-printed Microsoft PowerPoint laying out arguments for expediting the U.S. 17 widening and a list of concerns regarding agricultural labor, was a productive one. Leaders requested a pilot study be done in Hardee County to determine the impacts of the current “agricultural system” and how to apply the results of that study.

Buchanan, accompanied by his wife, Sandy, then traveled south to The Bluffs Golf Course for a meet-and-greet fundraiser with DeSoto and Hardee County officials and local business leaders in citrus, ranching and real estate industries.

Buchanan said after learning local officials have been requesting U.S. 17’s widening for 30 years that “enough’s enough,” and pledged to do everything he could to help with the issue.

“I’m going to fight to see if I can make something happen,” said Buchanan, who sits on the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure, and a subcommittee for highways and bridges. “I want to find out more why this community has had to wait so long.”

Wauchula Mayor David Royal said the opportunity to talk to Buchanan one-on-one about U.S. 17 was crucial to emphasizing how its widening could help stimulate economic growth.

“Without it (the widening), growth’s not going to happen,” Royal said. He was optimistic that a compromise could be reached with Brookside Bluff residents and others who live in the area being considered for a northbound one-way pair that would be acceptable to everyone.

DeSoto County Commissioner Ronald Neads said officials from DeSoto, which doesn’t have the land-acquisition concerns Hardee does, support the efforts to have U.S. 17 four-laned from Charlotte all the way through Hardee.

Buchanan said he plans to request federal funding for the following Heartland projects:

• $4 million to Florida Citrus Mutual for canker and greening research.

• $96 million for U.S. 17 widening to DeSoto County.

• $4.3 million for U.S. 17 bridge costs to Hardee County.

• $4.4 million for U.S. 17 southern-portion engineering to Hardee County.

• $1.5 million for a Wauchula electrical substation.

• $2 million for a wastewater treatment plant rejection tank in Arcadia.

• $2.5 million for the Arcadia wastewater collection system.

• $4.9 million for wastewater treatment plant expansion in Wauchula.

• $3.45 million for a municipal potable well in Wauchula.

• $2 million for Florida Hospital Wauchula.

• $3 million for the Arcadia All-Florida Championship Rodeo to build an event complex adjacent to the Turner Agri-Civic Center.

You can e-mail Laura A. Schmid at lschmid@sun-herald.com.
By LAURA A. SCHMID

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