Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/348392
case, Harriott explained, "Landscaping doesn't do that." One other FDOT option in these cases, Harriott continued, "is start buying the houses out," a comment which drew wry chuckles from the board members. "[FDOT staff members will] do a cost analysis to say, Is it more expensive to just buy the homes out than it is to build the wall?" The answer generally is that the wall is less expensive, he added. "It's going to be like driving through a tunnel through Sarasota County," Hines said. At the last Sarasota/Manatee Metropolitan Planning Organization meeting, Patterson pointed out, "It sounded like, ultimately, [FDOT's] goal is to add two additional lanes to the entire length of I-75 through Sarasota County," with the extra lanes either requiring toll payments from driv- ers or designated for vehicles with multiple passengers. "So that possibly is going to trigger this concept all along there." Patterson wondered whether FDOT officials could be persuaded to use a berm, "which really is a lot less ugly," instead of a wall to mitigate noise in areas where residents desire some means of sound reduction. "You need the distance to get the slope," Commissioner Joe Barbetta told her. "You'd need 80 feet [of right of way]." When Patterson then asked whether a berm would have to be 22 feet tall, Harriott told her, "You would need … almost half the interstate right of way to build a berm 22 feet high." "All right. That's hopeless," she conceded. "I think it's more the neighbors want [the wall]," Commissioner Carolyn Mason noted. "Wait till they start seeing 'em," Patterson responded. "They may not." COLOR, TEXTURE AND LANDSCAPING Harriott told the board FDOT had provided three color choices for the wall: two shades of beige — one light and one dark — and a gray tone. The residential poll showed respon- dents split in favor of one of the beige shades, he said, "and I guess in Florida sun, [the col- ors will] both be about the same light beige in a few years anyway." That comment also drew chuckles. When Vice Chairwoman Christine Robinson asked whether landscaping would be added, Harriott replied, "They do not have room to do landscaping" on the interstate side of the wall because of the placement of stormwater ponds. "But they are doing enhanced land- scaping at the interchange locations, the hubs at University [Parkway] and Fruitville Road." "Honestly, you could plant podocarpus there. They grow 40 feet and their breadth can eas- ily be kept to 15 feet at the most," Patterson suggested regarding the side of the wall adja- cent to North Cattlemen. "We can ask them to do [landscaping]," Harriott said. As for the color and texture: Commissioners Hines and Barbetta suggested the light beige, and Barbetta proposed the board go along with the neighbors' request for the Ashlar stone texture. The board approved those options unanimously. "Ultimately," Robinson said of FDOT officials, "they can do whatever they want." % Sarasota News Leader July 18, 2014 Page 51