Beexley residents urge Pasco commissioners to reject Rangeland plan that leaves door open to SunCoast Parkway interchange

County staff and their consultant presented a preferred alignment for a 3.4-mile Rangeland Boulevard extension on March 24, 2026, saying the design would build a four‑lane road now while reserving room in the median and on bridges to add lanes later if needed.

"The preferred alternative does not include a recommendation to construct an interchange with the Sun Coast Parkway," said Michael Campo, the consultant project manager for KCA, during the presentation. He and interim transportation engineering director Panos Conces described the plan as consistent with the county long-range transportation plan and said it addressed multimodal needs, wetland mitigation and future flexibility.

But the presentation prompted lengthy public comment from the Beexley community, which said the board is being asked to approve a new hybrid plan that residents had not seen in public workshops. "What you are being asked to approve today is something that has not previously been put forward during the public workshops," attorney Jane Graham said, representing the Beexley Community Development District.

Speakers said the hybrid differs from the four‑lane Alternative A shown during workshops by expanding medians, designing bridges to be widenable and otherwise preparing the corridor for a possible future six‑lane alignment and interchange ramps. Residents and CDD officials argued those provisions amount to an indirect attempt to enable a full SunCoast Parkway interchange through or adjacent to their neighborhood, which they oppose.

Beexley speakers raised multiple concerns: potential pedestrian‑safety and noise impacts near schools and parks, loss of wetlands and wildlife habitat, unclear funding for the larger cost associated with the preferred option, and what they described as inadequate community engagement hours for working residents. Several witnesses asked the board to continue the item and hold an evening public workshop so more residents could attend.

County staff and commissioners discussed timing and interagency coordination during a Q&A that preceded public comment. Conces said design work is budgeted for fiscal 2027 with right‑of‑way acquisition and construction currently projected in later years, and that the county — not the Turnpike Authority — would have to request any future interchange. "When we go to the turnpike and say we want the interchange then they will have to do a cost‑benefit analysis," Conces said.

Residents disputed whether that procedural separation addresses their substantive fears. Beexley CDD chair Joseph Elbert said the hybrid's widened median and bridge designs make the project "the first phase of a six‑lane highway through a neighborhood," and he urged the board to instead approve the four‑lane Alternative A that most public workshop respondents had favored.

The board did not take a final vote on the corridor study during this session; the meeting recessed for lunch with public comment still in progress and online commenters deferred to the afternoon session. Commissioners will decide whether to adopt the study's preferred alternative or to continue seeking additional public engagement.

If the board advances the preferred alternative as presented, staff said it would require acquisition of roughly 72.42 acres of right-of-way, wetland impacts estimated at about 26.38 acres, and an estimated construction cost the consultant put at roughly $116 million for construction and a total cost figure that the presentation listed in the range of $155–181 million depending on inclusion of mitigation and right‑of‑way.