Cottondale, Fla., plans meeting to discuss toll road

Deborah Buckhalter
and David Palmer
Media General News Service

Published: June 17, 2008

COTTONDALE, Fla. — A community meeting about a proposed toll road in this area is scheduled for next Tuesday in the Cottondale civic center.

The meeting will be held from 7-9 p.m. and was organized by a group of concerned residents in the Cottondale area.

Jackson County Development Council Executive Director Bill Stanton is expected to be there to field questions about the possibility, organizers said.
Dr. Meggs Woodham, who lives in Cottondale and has a veterinarian office in Chipley, said he expects to be at the meeting, too.

Woodham said he followed the issue when the toll road was first discussed as a project slated to run through Washington County.

After Washington County commissioners nixed the idea, Jackson County became a possible path. A portion of the road was planned to pass through Jackson County from the start, but the possibility now exists that a much greater share would pass through the county.

Stanton has announced favor for the project because of the potential it would add to the county’s ability to recruit certain industries.

Stanton has visited with some local governing bodies to discuss projects and the toll road.

Woodham said he’s still concerned now that the idea could affect his residential property, just as he was when it was being discussed in his business community.

He said he expects to air his concerns at Tuesday’s meeting, and to hear those of his neighbors and others members of the Cottondale community.

Among his top concerns, he said are eminent domain issues, noise, and the effect a toll road could have on the business community of Cottondale.

With so many businesses strung out along U.S. 231, Woodham and others are afraid a toll road might divert so much traffic from that corridor that it would put them out of business in short order.

Woodham and many of his neighbors are also concerned that the county, if it partners with the builders of the toll road, would employ eminent domain to obtain property in the path of whatever route was decided upon if owners don’t want to sell, or may not want to sell at the price offered.

The noise that a toll road could generate in its immediate vicinity, he said, was also a concern.

Most of all, he said, too many questions went unanswered during the Washington County talks, and he said he wants more information overall.

Deborah Buckhalter is a report for the Jackson County Floridan and David Palmer is the managing editor of the Jackson County Floridan.