TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Changes are coming to the Miccosukee Canopy Road Greenway.
The 503-acre space is treasured by Tallahassee cyclists, runners and nature lovers with 17 miles of public trails.
However, developers are preparing to extend a portion of Dempsey Mayo Road, cutting through about a quarter mile of the greenway which environmental advocates are not happy about.
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One of those opposed to the road is Ruth Chase, who lives near the Greenway.
“It’s very depressing because it’s such an integral part of my world, you know, that green world,” Chase said.
Chase was one of more than a dozen people who attended Tuesday’s Leon County Commission meeting to oppose the road extension.
“I think the natural elements are really essential for human health and for future generations, not just my generation,” Chase said. “Once we destroy it, it’s gone.”
Residents who spoke at the meeting asked commissioners to work with citizens to develop an environmentally friendly plan for the road to ensure minimal impacts on the Greenway.
But commissioners said their hands were tied.
District Four County Commissioner Brian Welch said legally, there is nothing the county can do to stop the road extension.
The owners of the Miccosukee Greenway sold it to the state of Florida in 1998. Welch said when that happened, the owners retained four easements, or access points, along Miccosukee Road, intending to build four roads across the Greenway.
“Everybody would love to see the 500 acres of the Miccosukee Greenway uninterrupted forever, but that was never the intention,” Welch said. “That was never the design of the legal arrangement when that property was created.”
In response to residents’ concerns, Welch proposed reducing the width of the Dempsey Mayo Road extension, lowering the speed limit from 30 to 25 miles per hour and installing buttons at crosswalks.
His motion passed 6-1, with County Commissioner Bill Proctor voting in dissent.
Proctor said he was disappointed the commissioners didn’t seem open to meeting with citizens to explore whether more could be done to protect the Greenway.
“They were asking to negotiate, they were asking to continue to process this matter, to engage it, and I saw nothing wrong with allowing them time to do that,” Proctor said.
You can learn more about the plans for the Miccosukee Greenway here.
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