Editorials
We're small but still considered a metro region
TBO.com
Published: January 23, 2013
No traffic choppers buzz over Sebring and Avon Park every morning alerting commuters to traffic snarls. No national political conventions are lined up to pack our cities with thousands of visitors. We can't even get presidential nominees to visit. But we are a metro area these days, according to federal program that labels areas with more than 50,000 residents a metropolitan region.Published: January 23, 2013
The Sebring-Avon Park area falls under the Metropolitan Planning Organization, which means that an "MPO" can be set up to provide transportation improvement planning for this area. The idea is that this organization would make sure infrastructure transportation plans are made where they are needed most and not pet projects drummed up by a specific city council member or county official wanting improvements for themselves or their buddies.
About $350,000 would be provided to the organization for planning fees. A citizens' advisory board would be required to provide more input on transportation needs.
A few options exist with setting up this MPO. Highlands could join Polk County but would probably lose its power dealing with bigger metro areas. It could also join counties such as Hardee and Glades, but the only area that's considered metro is Sebring-Avon Park.
So it appears that the best solution is for our two cities to have their own MPO.
It seems odd that Sebring-Avon Park is considered a metro area but they fall under the guidelines, and if they don't set up an MPO, big money could be lost. That's the last thing our area needs. Just ask anyone who has been away from Highlands County for 20 years, and they are shocked at the growth that has happened in those years.
In another 20 years, we will grow even more, regardless of our current poor development market. It won't always be like that.
No, no huge traffic cloverleaves are required but there are plenty of transportation improvement projects that this area needs now and definitely will need in the future. If setting up an MPO helps deal with these issues in a fair way, then let's do it. And in the meantime we'll enjoy our bucolic lifestyle — while we can.