Commissioners Pat Mulieri, Steve Simon and Ted Schrader are reported for
their arrogant disdain and disrespect toward the residents of Pasco County
and now they attempt to portray themselves as victims.
Simon says (no pun intended) that he "shouldn't be afraid to do my
job." He was not and is not. Mulieri says, "Big Brother is
watching you, so don't go on the Internet." Allegedly responding to
students and friends while the commission is in session seems to be
legitimate in her shallow mind.
Put petty people in positions of power, and this is what occurs.
These three commissioners are a disgrace to the residents of Pasco
County. That they would even consider the need to ask an attorney for Web
rules shows they know nothing about decorum, dignity and duty.
-- Bob E. Dodd, Dade City
Webgate is politics as usual
I am following with great interest the saga of the online commissioners
and cannot resist venting my frustrations regarding this typical political
debacle.
First, I would say that I take no issue with Commissioner Pat Mulieri
checking her personal e-mail while sitting on the board. In fact, I think
any conscientious representative should check all communication resources
often to be sure he of she is up to date regarding the views of their
constituents. Let us not forget that we live in a diversified community and
that not all of our residents are able to attend commission meetings in
person. Likewise, I'm sure that not all of Commissioner Mulieri's
constituents are aware that she has an official county e-mail address, or
what that address is.
As for the other two commissioners, it just seems to be politics as
usual. I may be wrong but if I recall correctly we have gone from "I
didn't do it" to "I didn't know it was wrong" to "I was
only doing county business." Now we're at "All right, you caught
me with my hand in the cookie jar. I'm sorry. I'll never do it again. I
promise on my word as a politician."
I wonder if those county employees who have been fired for this very same
thing would have been retained or given their jobs back if they apologized
and promised not to do it again. Somehow I think not. And as far as the
excuse that the Board of County Commissioners is allowed to use county-owned
computers for personal business, well, I take great exception to that. As a
resident of Pasco County and as a taxpayer, in my eyes the commissioners are
county employees also. They should be held to the same standards as their
subordinates. Or at least the commissioners should understand that the first
rule of leadership: lead by example.
In closing, I would say this to Commissioner Steve Simon. When seeking
advice in establishing policy regarding Web use, perhaps you should ask the
property developers since they seem to be the only people that the Pasco
County Board of County Commissioners is interested in listening to.
-- Chuck Coffiey, Hudson [Last modified
March 2, 2006, 01:32:18]
18 mostly vacant acres put City Council in tight spot
By HOWARD TROXLER, Times Columnist
Published March 2, 2006
There's a nice patch of empty land at the northeast corner of Ninth
Avenue N and 66th Street N in St. Petersburg. Years ago, this was the
location of the girls-only Notre Dame High School, but it's long gone, save
for a couple of small unused buildings.
The fight now being waged over this 18-acre site, in many ways,
represents the Perfect Zoning Case.
The land today is occupied mostly by grass and pine trees and a big
retention lake on the north side. There are neighborhoods across Ninth
Avenue to the south and 13th Avenue to the north. To the west, across 66th
Street, there's a thin strip of light commercial use and then more homes.
To the east is the headquarters of the Catholic Diocese of St. Petersburg
and St. Petersburg Catholic High School.
The diocese owns the empty land too, but has a contract to sell it. The
contract depends on the city rezoning it. The proposed use is a neighborhood
shopping center on the northern part, and multifamily homes to the south.
Why does this constitute the Perfect Zoning Case, a perfect symbol of
these decisions?
First of all, because of the opposing arguments.
The city's comprehensive plan, as currently written, doesn't allow it.
Neither does the zoning.
The nearby neighborhood associations are unusually united and vocal in
opposing it.
The city's own staff has issued a 31-page report that recommends denial.
Too often, it seems that approval of development is automatic. This is
about as far from automatic as it gets.
The second reason this is the Perfect Zoning Case is because of the
proposed buyer and developer. It is the Sembler Co., one of St. Petersburg's
best-known business names, a developer of shopping centers and other
projects across several states.
The Sembler Co., of course, bears the name of Mel Sembler - former U.S.
ambassador to various nations, nationally prominent Republican Party
fundraiser, developer of St. Petersburg's downtown BayWalk project.
If there was ever a case to put the St. Petersburg City Council on the
spot, this is it. The city's Planning Commission will vote on a
recommendation on Tuesday; the City Council will accept or reject that
recommendation on March 16. It would take a vote of six of the eight council
members to overturn the recommendation either way.
I took a look at the site with Lance Lubin, president of the Eagle Crest
Neighborhood Association, which represents the homes to the south, and Ed
Carlson, a nearby resident. There wasn't much to see, so we stood around and
yakked. I thought about all the kids who had gone to school there over the
years.
Lubin said this dispute reminds him a little of the movie Independence
Day, where all the peoples of the world unite against a common foe.
"That's been a blessing in this whole thing," he said. Carlson
agreed: "This is the first thing in west St. Petersburg that's ever
drawn this much attention from so many neighborhood associations together.
This is huge."
I also talked to Craig Sher, president of the Sembler Co. The company is
offering a development agreement, basically a contract, that promises to
maintain a much lower density than the rezoning would allow. The company has
met extensively with neighbors and already has agreed to make changes, such
as eliminating access from 13th Avenue.
Today, without any rezoning, the rules would permit
"institutional" use for the property - a school or a government
building, up to 235,000 square feet. Sembler's plan calls for 88,000 square
feet of retail, the largest tenant being a supermarket.
But the neighbors told me a school or government building would be just
fine, much better than retail. Neither do they trust the development
agreement, which Carlson calls "the cute little pretty site plan."
They have a bird in the hand - the protection of the zoning category. They
are not willing to trade it for promises.
Unusual site, unusual opposition, unusual applicants - the Perfect Zoning
Case. What will the city do?
[Last modified March 2, 2006, 01:31:05]
Backers of luxury RV resort not giving up
Even though the developer trimmed the number of units from 810 to 499,
the county said it was simply too big to go next to Big Lake Spivey.
By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published March 2, 2006
INVERNESS - Attorney John Eden IV said he is considering legal action
against the county in the wake of county commissioners' unanimous vote
against a proposed 499-unit RV park on his family's property.
"I'll be exploring all of my legal and equitable remedies," he
said.
Meantime, opponents of "Preservation Pointe" praised
commissioners for standing behind the county's comprehensive plan and
protecting Big Lake Spivey.
Tuesday night's vote came after nearly four hours of presentations and
public comment.
Developer Century Realty Funds said the age-restricted luxury motor coach
resort would protect the environment and serve as a boon for Citrus County's
economy.
"For the future of this county, this is a development that needs to
be approved," said Ron Clark, an attorney representing the developer.
He said substantial and competent evidence from engineering,
environmental and traffic experts showed that commissioners should approve
the project.
But commissioners disagreed. They said the development's quality was
impressive, but the location - on 207 acres next to Big Lake Spivey off
State Road 44 E - was not appropriate.
"It's a great project. It's just in the wrong place,"
commission Chairman Gary Bartell said.
Commissioner Joyce Valentino said the park would be "too
commercial" and would set a precedent that would encourage similar
developments in the coastal lakes regions of the county.
Commissioners Jim Fowler and Dennis Damato said it was not compatible
with the surrounding area. And Commissioner Vicki Phillips said the impact
on the environment would outweigh any potential economic benefits.
The hearing drew a standing room only crowd to the commission chambers,
and more than two dozen people spoke during the meeting's public comment
period.
Marco Wilson, president of the TOO FAR environmental group, urged
commissioners to note the opinion of the Planning and Development Review
Board, which voted 5-2 against the project in December.
Joe Brannen, who lives next to the property, said the project would be
too intense for the area.
"This project is environmentally unfriendly and will set a dangerous
precedent if approved," he said.
But supporters said claims that the project would harm the environment
were false.
They said it would not bring heavy boat traffic to the lake. Clark noted
that Century had offered to pay more than $2-million to provide water and
wastewater services to the development, including $500,000 for upgrades to
the regional wastewater plant in Inverness. He also pointed to plans to
capture and treat stormwater and use slow-release fertilizer.
"Certain individuals were quick to pass judgment without actually
taking the time to learn all the facts," Eden said.
Former Inverness police Chief Joe Elizarde said Citrus County residents
should support the project.
"This isn't a strip club. It's not a toxic waste producing factory.
. . . I, too, am concerned about the way this county is heading and I think
this is the way to head," he said.
In September, Century Realty Funds submitted an application asking the
county to rezone the property from low intensity coastal lakes to
recreational vehicle park.
At a Planning and Development Review Board workshop in October, several
people spoke against the project. As the months wore on, opposition from
neighbors of the site and local environmentalists mounted.
Eden and representatives of the developer spoke before the chamber of
commerce in the fall to drum up support.
At a November planning board meeting, they said that rather than
eventually building an 810-pad resort as originally proposed, they would
stick with 499 units. They dubbed the project "Preservation
Pointe," and said developers and residents of the RV resort would be
committed to preserving Citrus County's natural environmental beauty.
Eden even climbed a 30-foot tree and took photos to prove that the motor
coaches would not be visible from nearby properties.
"This is a very important project for us. We spent a heck of a lot
of money. . . . My client has bent over backwards to do everything that the
staff has requested," Clark said Tuesday. After Eden spoke before
commissioners Tuesday, he asked supporters in the audience to hold up small
square signs with bright orange lettering that said, "Vote Yes on
Preservation Pointe."
Some people opposed to the project made their own, hand-written signs
that simply said "NO."
In the past week, Eden said he e-mailed about 40 people to ask for their
support. He described the project's advantages and asked recipients to
contact county commissioners and turn out for the meeting.
Those who supported the proposal, he wrote, would be treated to a victory
party with free food and an open bar at Stumpknockers and Coach's
restaurants if the project passed.
More than 100 e-mails in favor of the project were sent to commissioners,
Eden said.
"If it's approved, it's going to be something very well worth
celebrating," Eden said before Tuesday's meeting.
But several opponents at Tuesday night's meeting criticized Eden's
e-mail.
"We'll invite you to our party down at McDonald's," said Jim
Adkins, who spoke against the project on behalf of the Hickory Hills
Homeowners Association. "We'll have all the coffee you can drink, but
it's a dutch treat. We're not giving it to you."
RealtiCorp asks the county for a development agreement on a new
Preserve at Crystal River project.
By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published March 2, 2006
CRYSTAL RIVER - In light of local opposition and changing market trends,
representatives from RealtiCorp said they have scrapped their original plans
for 263 acres of property just south of the city limits.
Now they're asking county officials to hash out a development agreement
for a new incarnation of the Preserve at Crystal River.
In a letter to County Administrator Richard Wesch delivered Monday,
RealtiCorp president and chief executive Alan Ballew asked for the matter to
be placed on the agenda for the next County Commission meeting on March 14.
If commissioners agree to begin that process, the development agreement
would go before county staffers, the Planning and Development Review Board
and ultimately the County Commission.
Speaking to the Citrus Times editorial board Wednesday, RealtiCorp
officials said a site plan for the project still is in the works.
But they said they were seeking a "large national retailer" to
serve as an anchor for the commercial portion of the development, which they
said they would like to design in the "town center" style.
The South Carolina company's original plans for a Wal-Mart Supercenter on
the property were at the heart of a bitter annexation battle between the
city of Crystal River and the county. The project drew vocal criticism for
its impact on wetlands.
But aside from the divisive wetlands issues, project manager Jon Salem
said, the original site plan "was just very old and tired and
boring."
By using clustering and a "town center" approach, Salem said,
the company hopes to appeal to current market trends and better protect the
environment.
He said less than 20 acres of wetlands will be impacted by the
development. That impact will consist of 4 or 5 acres of connected wetlands
off of U.S. 19. And about 4 acres of wetlands will be created as part of the
project.
Salem said the company plans to donate 326 acres north of the property to
the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. That land will be added
to the Crystal River State Buffer Preserve.
The company bought the property for $1.1-million last week, according to
official purchase records.
RealtiCorp will also provide a cash donation of an undetermined amount to
the county to use "to acquire environmentally sensitive land that they
want to have preserved," Salem said.
About 70 acres of the property are zoned for commercial use, he said.
About 150 acres of the property is zoned for low density residential use,
but only about 40 acres of that property can be developed due to the large
number of wetlands on the property and the need for retention ponds, Salem
said.
That means there would be a maximum of 300 to 500 units on the site, he
said.
The "net residential density of the project will not increase,"
Ballew wrote in his letter to Wesch. Ballew, who joined RealtiCorp in 2004,
said he was hired to turn the company in a different direction.
He and other officials at Wednesday's meeting noted that the RealtiCorp
employees involved in the original plans for the Crystal River project no
longer are with the company.
For reasons unrelated to the project, Salem is leaving the company. Asset
manager Reggie Bell will become the project's new manager.
Other elements of the plan, according to Ballew's letter, include a U.S.
19 bypass to guide traffic away from the intersection of the highway and
West Venable Street and movement of business activity away from wetlands.
Salem said RealtiCorp also plans to submit new permit applications to the
Southwest Florida Water Management District and the Army Corps of Engineers.
Times staff writer Barbara Behrendt contributed to this report. Catherine
E. Shoichet can be reached at cshoichet@sptimes.com
or 860-7309.
[Last modified March 2, 2006, 01:32:18]
Public discussion of Hollinswood Ranch
By Times Staff Writer
Published March 2, 2006
YANKEETOWN - Development of the Hollinswood Ranch property in northwest
Citrus will be discussed during a community meeting at 7 p.m.
Wednesday at the Yankeetown School auditorium, 4500 Highway 40 W,
Yankeetown. The public is invited. Dixie Hollins announced plans this year
for 1,500 acres north of the Cross Florida Barge Canal. Hollinswood Ranch
would eventually include homes, an industrial area, a public marina and a
waterfront retail area.
82 more condos in works
The development would be east of South McCall Road
in Englewood.
ENGLEWOOD -- A Boston development group is planning to bring 82 condominiums
to a 10-acre parcel along Gottfried Creek.
The gated development, WatersEdge at Deer Creek, would be east of South
McCall Road and would front Deer Creek, which joins Gottfried Creek just
south of the Charlotte-Sarasota county line.
The development would be split into five buildings, which would have three
units above a level of parking.
For now, the only access to the property is East Bay Heights Avenue. But the
developer plans to add a driveway off South McCall Road by purchasing an
easement from Investor's Choice Realty, a South McCall Road business.
The development in Charlotte County is one of at least two projects that
will bring condos to the largely commercial State Road 776 corridor. In
Sarasota County, Westgate Condominiums, an 81-unit project, is going up on
South Indiana Avenue, behind Englewood Bowl.
The WatersEdge property is already zoned for 10 condo units per acre, so the
developer, Deer Creek Holdings LLC, didn't have to ask Charlotte County to
change the property's use. The county has already approved the preliminary
site plan for WatersEdge.
Deep Creek Holdings purchased the property in December for $4 million,
according to Charlotte County property records.
Despite the recent real-estate slowdown, buyers have already reserved the
first 34 units, which are scheduled to be complete in early 2007, said
listing agent David Walker of Coldwell Banker Sunstar Realty.
The entire development is expected to be finished in 2008, Walker said.
Walker said the first 34 units were made available in January, and reserve
deposits were made on all the units within a month.
"I was very surprised," Walker said. He said he thought the first
34 units would sell in "more like four months than four weeks,
especially with the current conditions in the market."
The units, which range from 1,500 to about 1,800 square feet, were priced
from $312,900 to $440,900. Walker said the prospective buyers included a mix
of customers, including investors and full-time and seasonal residents.
He said the local real estate market has been slow since fall, "and it
has not picked up this year like it has in previous years. Things priced in
a lower range are going to do much better than things priced $700,000 and
higher."
Last modified:
March 02. 2006 4:44AM
Wal-Mart
drops expansion plan Retailer instead will sell Punta Gorda site, build store
outside city
By DEVONA WALKER
PUNTA GORDA -- After hitting a brick wall of public opposition, Wal-Mart has
abandoned efforts to expand its discount center in the 3800 block of Tamiami
Trail into a Supercenter.
Instead, the world's largest retailer plans to put the property up for sale
for $6 million and to build its Supercenter on property it bought outside
Punta Gorda city limits, southwest of Jones Loop Road and Interstate 75.
The store is expected to open in summer 2007.
It was another victory for Southwest Florida homeowners against Wal-Mart,
which has become a favored target nationwide for neighborhood activists
worried about burgeoning traffic and their communities' character.
Neighbors of a proposed Supercenter at University Parkway and Honore Avenue
in southern Manatee County successfully blocked the store, persuading county
commissioners to deny Wal-Mart's proposal. After suing county government,
the Arkansas company agreed to a settlement in which it would convert its
store on Lockwood Ridge Road near University into a Supercenter.
In Charlotte County, Wal-Mart representatives first began meeting with
members of a very galvanized Burnt Store Isles homeowners association in the
winter and spring of 2004.
"We were able to really bring the community together. When it's an
issue that really affects everyone -- like this issue did -- it's really a
no-brainer," said Carolyn McDermott, a Punta Gorda resident and current
secretary of the Burnt Store Isles Association Inc.
The existing store on Tamiami Trail will close within three months of the
Supercenter's grand opening.
"The preference was to expand at the existing location," said Eric
Brewer, Wal-Mart's deputy manager of public affairs. "But there was
some resistance from community groups directly surrounding the site."
"After several attempts at resolving those issues -- and because we
felt we really needed a Supercenter in that market -- we decided on this new
location."
That "resistance" included standing-room-only bouts with Wal-Mart
officials, McDermott recalled.
Expansion plans included transforming the discount center into a Supercenter
that would be one-third larger and include groceries. That enlarged
footprint would have encroached on the deed-restricted community of Burnt
Store Isles, making it necessary for the store to receive a city-sanctioned
variance to begin construction.
"We really thought this was an inappropriate place for a Supercenter,"
McDermott said. "And we felt there were promises made in the past
concerning the existing store that were not kept, and we had no faith that
future promises would be kept."
The more issues the community presented to Wal-Mart, the less amicable the
meetings became.
"They were very arrogant, and I think that just strengthened our
resolve," McDermott said. "In the end, they walked away with a
sense that we were united as a community against the expansion, and we were
not going to stand for it."
Frank Petrosino, the current president of Burnt Store Isles Association,
said the fight was nothing personal.
"It happened, we handled it, and we each went our own way. It was
strictly business," Petrosino said. "In the end, I think even they
knew this was not the way to go."
In 2005, the discount store generated about $91,000 in tax revenue for Punta
Gorda, but the money from the new Supercenter will end up in Charlotte
County's coffers.
Wal-Mart began marketing the sale of the existing site last week, and has
already received responses from several interested parties, said company
spokesman Dan Fogleman.
"Really this underscores Wal-Mart's commitment to put these buildings
back to use. It's good for our bottom line, but it's also good for the
community as well, to not leave these buildings vacant," Fogleman said.
The company would not say who is interested. Final offers are due by March
29.
Murdock Village priorities Charlotte should consider factors besides price
Several variables should drive Charlotte County's choice of a developer for
Murdock Village. The first priority should be recouping a sizable return on
taxpayers' investment.
Charlotte has spent three years and nearly $80 million acquiring land in the
1,200- acre subdivision, originally platted by now-defunct General
Development Corp. Bitterness lingers over the county's controversial
decision to invoke eminent domain to evict several longtime homeowners and
clear the way for private enterprise.
Of six proposals made public Tuesday, Stock Development posted the highest
sales price -- offering to pay more than $94 million for the property.
The second driving force should be affordable housing. In weighing the
proposals, the commissioners should offer serious consideration to the one
that offers the highest percentage of affordable homes. Even though the
county's housing market has cooled somewhat in recent months, affordability
still presents major challenges.
Green space should also be a factor. The development area includes North
Charlotte Regional Park and is near Tippecanoe Environmental Park. The
development should also integrate public access to Murdock Village's green
space and connect pedestrians to county-owned parks.
County planners will pore over the proposals during the next week, selecting
three to present to the County Commission on March 10. In April, the
commissioners will choose a developer.
With so much time and county money invested in Murdock Village, the stakes
are high for everyone involved.
Bridling growth before it's too late
New rules on housing density and a citizens planning board are in the
works for Dade City.
By MOLLY MOORHEAD, Times Staff Writer
Published March 1, 2006
DADE CITY - Hoping to send a message to hungry developers, city leaders
on Tuesday night agreed to establish policies governing new development.
The message: Less is more.
In addition to allowing no home lots smaller than 50 feet wide, Mayor
Hutch Brock said he favors requiring that at least half the lots in a new
development be substantially larger than 50 feet, in keeping with the
pattern of existing homes in Dade City.
It's just one of many issues facing a city experiencing a flurry of
growth after years of stagnation.
During an earlier workshop, city planner Karla Owens said projects that
already have been approved could swell the population of the city from about
7,000 to more than 10,000 by 2010. And with more developers knocking every
month, she said issues such as home lot size and density are becoming
urgent.
"Let's address it now," she said. "You can control
density."
Three proposed developments already are raising flags. Developers are
requesting the maximum allowed density - in one case more than seven homes
per acre - in areas among large, rural home sites.
"You need to look at what surrounds it," Owens said.
A quirky provision in the city's comprehensive plan allows a developer to
transfer the density allowed on one piece of property to another piece for
environmental reasons. That means a parcel covered by wetlands, which cannot
be developed, could have its density pushed next door, allowing double the
density on the adjacent property.
But that provision, among others, appears headed for change.
Owens and other city staffers will formulate policies about density, home
lot size and other issues including stormwater retention, architectural
guidelines and parking. The commission will consider and vote on them.
In other news Tuesday, commissioners also finalized an ordinance creating
a citizen planning board to review rezonings and annexations and make
recommendations to the commission. Until now, the commission also has served
as the planning board, essentially making recommendations to itself.
The new board will have seven members: five appointed by individual
commissioners and two at-large. Members must live or own property in the
city.
Commissioners also finalized a transfer of code enforcement violations
from a city board. Such cases will now be prosecuted in county court.
DADE CITY - Housing developers coming to Dade City may not be able to
squeeze as many homes into new developments as they might prefer.
The city commission can cap the number of new homes in developments,
even at levels lower than current zoning laws allow, Karla Owens, the city
attorney and development director, said Tuesday.
Owens' comments came during a workshop before the city commission's
regular meeting. The commission wanted information on what it can do to
control growth in the historic Pasco County seat. Developers want to annex
land into the city from surrounding areas in Pasco County to build homes.
The city commission has given developers the green light in recent
months to build more than 2,000 homes, and the builders are lining up with
proposals to come into the city and build as many as 2,600 more.
Even if builders submit plans that conform to current zoning laws, city
commissioners still have the option to deem a proposed development as
being too dense, Owens said.
Various developers attended the workshop to listen but did not have the
opportunity to address the commission.
In formal action, the commission denied a petition from four families
who wanted to close a portion of 15th Street, between Meridian Avenue and
Church Street.
The families wanted to take over the street to better control speeding
traffic and keep school-age children from throwing oranges into their
yards. But the commission agreed with staff and neighbors who said they
didn't want to lose use of a public street. The city will consider
installing speed humps instead.
Also, the commission awarded a bid for almost $41,000 to dismantle the
city's old, unused water tank. The city wanted to complete the work before
last year's hurricane season but ran into delays finding qualified
contractors. Sample said the tower could blow over during a hurricane and
pose a hazard to the community.
It's clear that a majority of Pasco County commissioners don't
care what their constituents have to say. If they did, they wouldn't be
surfing the Internet for vacation spots, golf clubs and stock prices
during the lonely three minutes that a citizen gets to address them.
Commissioners Ted Schrader, Steve Simon and Pat Mulieri routinely used
their county-issued laptop computers to browse the Web during the public
comment portion of their meetings, according to a St. Petersburg Times
review of Internet records over the last three years.
On the other hand, the other two commissioners, Jack Mariano and Ann
Hildebrand, broke the mold and listened.
What an outrageous misuse of public property on the public's time. If
Schrader, Simon and Mulieri were county workers, they would be fired for
improper Internet usage, as were two workers last year. As elected
officials, you would think they'd want to listen to their constituents.
Worse, some of Schrader's Internet play occurred as residents pleaded
for the commission to reject a proposed town house project that was
approved in Land O' Lakes last fall.
It's difficult enough for citizens to muster enough courage to speak in
public. Failing to give them full attention cements the belief that
Schrader, Simon and Mulieri don't care what the public thinks.
Pasco commissioners don't need computers during meetings anyway. Plenty
of e-savvy government bodies conduct meetings the old-fashioned way - with
paper reports and charts that all can see.
County commissioners agree that the rules are necessary but say they
could create problems of their own and could be difficult to follow.
By GARRETT THEROLF
Published March 1, 2006
NEW PORT RICHEY - County commissioners on Tuesday asked their attorney to
draft a policy that would limit their use of public computers for personal
interests, but first came complaints that such a policy would present its
own problems and be difficult to follow.
"We got to have some protection, some policy or structure,"
Commissioner Steve Simon said as he presided over the board's public meeting
at the West Pasco Government Center. "But how do you substantiate what
the site actually was" when it is reviewed later, he asked.
The conversation was the first public debate over the use of public
computers by commissioners since the St. Petersburg Times reported Sunday
that three commissioners conducted personal business on the Internet during
public hearings.
Commissioner Ted Schrader frequently checked stock quotes and made travel
plans. Commissioner Pat Mulieri logged onto her e-mail account to answer
messages related to her other job as a professor emeritus at Pasco-Hernando
Community College. Simon checked eBay and golf-related sites.
Simon and Schrader have said they regretted the use, but Simon and
Mulieri complained during Tuesday's meeting that they now feel forced to not
only eliminate personal Web surfing but legitimate research as well.
Simon, who has cut his use of any Web pages from his work laptop until a
policy is finalized, said he was afraid to even look down to sign papers out
of concern that the Times would report that he wasn't paying attention.
"I shouldn't be afraid to do my job," he said.
Mulieri addressed the television cameras to tell the public that she
would be shutting down her America Online e-mail account, which she used to
respond to students, friends and constituents, because the Times reported
that she conducted the correspondence as the public, officials or staffers
addressed her from the lectern.
"Big Brother is watching you, so don't go on the Internet,"
Mulieri told her fellow commissioners, adding that the public can now reach
her through her county-supplied e-mail address.
Schrader, the most frequent Web surfer, remained silent during the
conversation but joined all fellow commissioners in a request for the county
attorney to draft a policy for the board's use of the Internet. They did not
tell him what provisions to include, but it will be taken up at a future
meeting for approval.
In other county news Tuesday:
Commissioners responded to the Department of Environmental Protection's
proposed $2-million fine for extensive failures to properly dispose
wastewater from the county-run system.
The county continued its effort to reduce the fine before it is
finalized, but Simon said he wanted to go on public record that the county
was addressing the department's complaints.
Chief among his concerns, Simon said, was the lack of communication among
county staffers that led to a large and extended sewage spill in a
Zephyrhills community and the DEP's finding that the county had quietly
constructed a valve to improperly release wastewater into a tributary of the
Hillsborough River.
"This board does not condone any building of any secret piping, or
any circuitous valve," Simon said.
Utility director Bruce Kennedy, who is in DEP records as the county
official who authorized the pipe's use, told commissioners that the charge
was untrue and that the pipe was constructed and used by a county
contractor.
"I support Bruce Kennedy," Mulieri said.
Also, Port Richey defeated a proposal to build a boat and RV storage
facility next to City Hall on Ridge Road. The city argued that it was an
improper use of land that also is adjacent to a bank and an apartment
building. County Commissioners agreed by a 4-1 vote.
[Last modified March 1, 2006, 00:57:16]
Will Catholic town infringe on freedom?
The Domino's founder is bankrolling a strict Catholic town east of
Naples.
By Associated Press
Published March 1, 2006
NAPLES - If Domino's Pizza founder Thomas S. Monaghan has his way, a new
town being built in southwest Florida will be governed by strict Catholic
principles, particularly when it comes to sex.
The pizza magnate, raised by nuns in orphanages, is bankrolling the town
called Ave Maria with millions of dollars, calling its construction
"God's will."
Stores won't sell pornographic magazines, pharmacies won't carry condoms
or birth control pills, and cable television will carry no X-rated channels,
he said in a speech last year to the Boston Catholic Men's Conference.
Civil libertarians say the plan is unconstitutional and promise lawsuits.
The town is being built around Ave Maria University, the first Catholic
university to be built in the United States in four decades, which Monaghan
also founded. Both are set to open next year about 25 miles east of Naples.
The community, developed through a partnership with Barron Collier Co.,
an agricultural and real estate firm, will be set on 5,000 acres with a
European-inspired town center. It will encircle a massive church and what
planners call the largest crucifix in the nation, standing nearly 65 feet
tall.
Robert Falls, a spokesman for the project, said attorneys are reviewing
the legal issues of the proposed bans. He said Monaghan would not comment.
"If they attempt to do what he apparently wants to do, the people of
Naples and Collier County, Florida, are in for a whole series of legal and
constitutional problems and a lot of litigation indefinitely into the
future," said Howard Simon, executive director of the American Civil
Liberties Union of Florida.
While Simon notes there are religiously homogenous communities across the
country, none can "wield governmental power along the lines of
religious principle."
Monaghan and Barron Collier will control all commercial real estate in
the town and could include provisions in leases that restrict the sale of
certain items.
Unlike in some states, Florida pharmacies don't have to provide
contraceptives.
"The law doesn't say exactly what a pharmacy has to stock or
sell," said Thometta Cozart, a spokeswoman for the state Department of
Health.
Naples Community Hospital, which plans to open a clinic in the town, will
not prescribe any birth control to students. The hospital has not decided
whether it will prescribe to the general public.
"I believe all of history is just one big battle between good and
evil. I don't want to be on the sidelines," Monaghan said in a recent
Newsweek interview.
However, Simon points to a 1946 Supreme Court opinion that
"ownership does not always mean absolute dominion."
Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist said it will be up to the courts
to decide the legalities of the plan.
"The community has the right to provide a wholesome
environment," Crist said Tuesday. "If someone disagrees, they have
the right to go to court and present facts before a judge."
Gov. Jeb Bush, at the university's recent groundbreaking, lauded the
development as a new kind of town, where faith and freedom will merge to
create a community of like-minded citizens.
Bush, a convert to Catholicism, did not speak specifically to the
proposed restrictions.
"While the governor does not personally believe in abortion or
pornography, the town, and any restrictions they may place on businesses
choosing to locate there, must comply with the laws and constitutions of the
state and federal governments," Russell Schweiss, a spokesman for the
governor, said Tuesday.
"This is country club Christianity," said Frances Kissling,
president of Catholics for a Free Choice, which opposes the church's bans on
abortion and birth control.
She likened the town's concept to Islamic fundamentalism and teaching
intolerance.
"I don't think in a democratic society you can have a legally
organized township that will seek to have any kind of public service
whatsoever and try to restrict the constitutional rights of citizens,"
Kissling said.
[Last modified March 1, 2006, 00:56:14]
Planners lament ugly buildings on the beach
Members of a Clearwater development board say that they are powerless
to stop unsightly construction projects.
By AARON SHAROCKMAN
Published March 1, 2006
CLEARWATER - Members of Clearwater's Community Development Board said
this week that they have regularly voted to support buildings that they call
"dead ugly" because city codes gave them no way to say no.
Speaking at a lunchtime summit with the City Council on Monday, planning
board members said they are hamstrung by overly pliable planning standards
that developers can manipulate to meet their needs.
Consequently, Clearwater Beach is turning into one giant concrete slab,
as one building after another is approved, board members say.
"It's a disaster," said planning board member Alex Plisko, who
finishes his term on the board this month. "It's very difficult to say
no. And even though I (want to) say no, the attorney says I can't say it.
City codes say board members must have factual evidence to deny a
developer's request, and whether a building's design is pleasing is a highly
subjective matter.
The board's revelations, which mimic public consternation over
Clearwater's redevelopment program, come as City Council members are set to
enact a series of code changes to a northern neighborhood on Clearwater
Beach.
But board members said Monday that broader changes are needed to a code
that is 7 years old and cost nearly $700,000 in consultant fees to craft.
The lively discussion, which ended after two hours without any official
action, will surely ignite another planning policy discussion. The city has
tried for years to balance the style and pace of its redevelopment in the
downtown and on the beach.
"We're not sure we got the product we envisioned," said David
Gildersleeve, the board chairman. "I've seen a number of buildings that
are dead ugly, but how do you deny that project? Sometimes you cannot
legislate an ugly building up or down."
At least four of the seven planning board members said they have voted to
approve the construction of buildings they thought were "ugly" or
"awful," only because the rules provided them no other option.
Plisko said the city needs to make its code more restrictive in order to
better predict the outcomes of redevelopment.
Specifically, members of the board said the city needs to increase
setbacks, or the space between buildings, in order to create airy, open
corridors - even if that means allowing builders some additional height.
Board members used Brightwater Drive, a street now redeveloped almost
entirely with townhomes, as a prime example of planning gone wrong.
And they believed in 10 years Clearwater Beach might be considered uglier
than the high-rise redevelopment of Sand Key, an island community built out
almost exclusively with condominium towers.
"Good setbacks," said board member Nick Fritsch, "make
good neighborhoods."
Board members also suggested increased landscape requirements and more
detailed, undulating, building facades. Too often, developers propose boxy
structures with small amounts of landscaping that are never maintained,
board members said.
"It's too easy now," Plisko said. "Staff still gets so
much pressure from the developers that they bend a lot of times. What (the
staff is) bringing to us is not what the code intended to do."
City Manager Bill Horne, who appeared surprised by the comments of the
planning board, said members were attempting to shift their responsibilities
to someone else.
Why couldn't the board, which is composed of a mix of lay people and
development professionals, be empowered to reject poor design? he asked.
"I would challenge the board. Why can't you say it doesn't look
good?" Horne asked. "If your gut tells you this doesn't look good,
don't approve it."
The city paid a Miami consultant nearly $700,000 starting in 1998 to
rewrite Clearwater's land development code and draft specific plans for the
downtown and for Clearwater Beach, where the plan is known as Beach by
Design.
The changes were meant to help encourage redevelopment, but city
officials now question if further encouragement is needed.
Already, more than $1-billion in development is planned for the beach,
and several major projects are coming together downtown.
"Some of the buildings are some of the ugliest things I've ever
seen," Plisko said. "Unless we put something back in the code that
gives us a little more restriction, it's just going to keep going."
Council member Bill Jonson, a critic of the current system, said
something needs to change. He started the meeting with a slide show
presentation showing how the beach has been redeveloped so far.
Later, he said, "I'm amazed some of this stuff gets through."
[Last modified March 1, 2006, 00:56:14]
Bayside 'dockominiums' could leave some boaters high and dry
The sale of the West Tampa marina continues the reduction of public
access to the water.
By SHERRI DAY
Published March 1, 2006
TAMPA - Bayside Marina, one of the few remaining docks where a boat owner
can rent space, may soon go condo.
Plans are afoot to turn the sprawling marina at 5200 W Tyson Ave. into
"dockominiums," or luxury condos for boats.
An associate of developer Steeven Knight says he recently entered into a
preliminary contract to purchase the property from CJ Marina, which owns the
land.
The property, which is near Rattlesnake Point just south of Gandy
Boulevard and west of West Shore Boulevard, is valued at $5.12-million,
according to Hillsborough County property appraiser records.
Officials at CJ Marina, which owns the site, and Bayside Marina did not
return calls for comment. The marina owners have previously said the
property may be developed for residential condos.
Knight, who runs several marinas around the state, also did not return
calls for comment.
Citing a pending contract at the Tampa facility, Chad Edmonds, general
manager at Knight's Sanibel Harbour Yacht Club, said he could not comment on
the terms of the deal. But he was hopeful that it would go through.
If it does, "it's pretty likely it will model after ours,"
Edmonds said, referring to the Sanibel property. "It's five-star
concierge service."
When dockominium owners arrive at the Sanibel club, valets will park
their cars and drive them to their boats, Edmonds said. Sanibel employees
will put boats in the water and can fully stock them with food and
beverages. At the end of an outing, boat owners will leave the boat cleaning
and storage to the club's staff.
Knight plans to open the Sanibel Harbour Yacht Club on April 1, Edmonds
said. The private club will feature 386 dry slips and five wet slips. So
far, boat owners have snapped up 90 percent of the slips, which range from
$124,000 per slip for dry storage to $425,000 for wet slips, Edmonds said.
The slips also have a monthly maintenance fee of $225.
At most rental sites, boat owners pay to store their boats. The owners
are responsible for moving their boats from their berth to the water. At the
end of their excursions, they must clean and re-store their boats, a process
that can take several hours.
If the Bayside Marina sale goes through, the public will lose another
boat dock rental space. State environmental officials said public rental wet
slips have decreased by 8.2 percent since March 2004.
Increasingly, state officials said, marina owners are cashing out when
developers offer to buy their property.
"They're basically winning the lottery," said Lt. Col. Jim
Brown, deputy director of law enforcement for the Florida Fish and Wildlife
Conservation Commission.
But the good fortune for marina owners could spell hard luck for some
boat owners.
"There's less and less opportunity for public access to waters
because of the cost of the land," Brown said. "When you take that
access away and put it into private hands, then it could end up where only
the rich have access to the waters."
Word of a pending sale at Bayside has circulated through the Tampa
boating community for weeks. Knight recently met with business owners at the
marina to discuss his plans.
Chuck Rogers, who owns Rattlesnake Point Outfitters at Bayside Marina,
returned from vacation last weekend to learn that he may soon have to find a
new home.
Rattle Fish Raw Bar and Grill owner Scott Estes has started to look for
another site. He met with Knight two weeks ago and recently visited his
Sanibel property. If the deal goes through, Estes said he would either
continue operating Rattle Fish as a public restaurant on its current site,
become a private club facility or relocate.
Estes hopes to stay put.
"I'd hate to see us change," he said. But with all the things
that are going on around here, it's a nice addition."
BROOKSVILLE — Until Monday, the citizens committee created to help
determine local government’s space needs dealt mostly with building
requirements with far less attention to where the money to pay for the
projects would come from.
But that all changed after Monday night’s meeting when costs jarred the
committee to attention.
Budget Director George Zoettlein told the group of 25 local residents the
county was looking at as much as a $400 million shortfall over the next 10
years unless new funding sources were created.
When the message sunk in, many committee members were stunned.
“I think we’re all a little shell shocked,” said Ferol Falzone-Long.
Until this week, the group focused mostly on the need for a new
government building with an estimated and manageable cost of about $40
million.
But Zoettlein said the county also needed during the next decade another
$30 million for two new parks, as much as $45 million to maintain existing
residential roads and $292 million for new roads.
Despite expectations of about $100 million in impact fee revenues during
that period for parks and roads, Zoettlein warned there will still be a
shortfall.
For many of the committee members, the news was overwhelming.
“It won’t matter what we say in this room,” said Tom Barnette.
“We won’t be able to solve the problem.”
With more than just the $40 million for a new government center at issue,
a frustrated Barnette said he no longer understood the purpose of the
committee, adding it might be nothing more than a “fall guy for some
people.”
Interim County Administrator Larry Jennings reminded the committee its
only job was to make general recommendations to commissioners later this
spring.
For committee member Lisa Hammond, the most daunting part of the
estimated $400 million shortfall was the $292 million for new roads.
“(Roads) are congested but not to the tune of $300 million,” she
said.
Many other needs “are bug spit compared to this $292 million,”
Hammond said.
Zoettlein said an additional $80 million was needed to pay for several
smaller construction projects, such as expanding the Animal Services
building.
Committee chairman Len Tria said the group should address the money
shortage issue by first prioritizing needs and discussing what projects
could wait.
He also asked Jennings and Zoettlein to provide the committee with a more
specific list of projects and all the county’s estimated revenues that
could be spent to pay for them.
But committee member Bob Kanner said he was not convinced the county
needed what Zoettlein and other county staff said they did.
“Are we utilizing all the square footage in the ...government
center,” Kanner asked. “I don’t think it’s being used properly.”
He complained of “tremendous waste” in some departments.
Kanner also called for the committee to create a list of priorities when
it came to county building projects.
The committee will meet again 6:30 p.m., Monday March 6 at the County
Recreation Department building on Fort Dade Avenue. Jennings said he would
bring the committee additional space information for that meeting.
“We can’t tell people we must raise $400 million,” Kanner said.
He equated the county’s financial woes to what many county families
face every day.
“Do we put food on the table or do we buy a wide-screen TV?” Kanner
said.
Reporter Fred Hiers can be contacted at (352) 544-5290.
Tab for growth estimated at $500M
The county budget director says that's about what will be needed over
the nextdecade.
By CHANDRA BROADWATER
Published March 1, 2006
BROOKSVILLE - It could cost the county nearly $500-million to pay for new
buildings, parks and roads in the next 10 years.
Members of the Hernando Citizens Advisory Committee on Capital
Improvements met Monday night to discuss how to pay for these projects.
At the top of the list of needs are a new county judicial complex, acres
of new parks and miles of new roads.
County budget director George Zoettlein said the $500-million figure is
based on projected population growth and the cost of maintaining county
buildings and roads over the next decade.
Zoettlein also went over a list of funding options, including loans,
bonds, a gas tax and dedicated millage.
Zoettlein said that a sales tax would probably be the best way to fund
the projects because it would spread the tax burden beyond property owners.
The County Commission created the 25-member advisory committee in
December.
The group has been charged with helping the commission determine how to
accommodate growth and finance the expansion of government offices and
buildings.
The next meeting is scheduled for March 6 at 6:30 p.m. in the Brooksville
Community Activity Center at 205 E Fort Dade Ave. The public is invited.
[Last modified March 1, 2006, 00:57:16]
Feb 28, 2006
City, county spat continues
By FRED HIERS
fhiers@hernandotoday.com
BROOKSVILLE — The fight between the county and the City of Brooksville
over annexation rights will have to wait — at least until the two
governmental agencies can agree on a meeting time.
In one corner of the political ring are Brooksville officials who require
property owners to agree never to fight city annexation in exchange for
Brooksville utility services.
The city’s position is based on a Florida law that gives cities first
right of refusal.
In other words, Brooksville has first choice over the county as to
whether it wants to offer utility services to new development within five
miles of its borders.
Brooksville officials do that now, but in exchange for utility services,
those property owners must sign away their right to ever refuse being
annexed if the city wants to incorporate them.
In the other corner of the political ring, county officials complain that
Florida law only gives the city the right of first refusal but says nothing
about tying that privilege to forcing property owners to promise not to
resist potential future annexation.
During Tuesday’s county board meeting, commissioners and city officials
agreed to meet and try to hammer out their differences.
“If there was such an outcry by the people, why haven’t they come
before the city council to get it changed,” asked Brooksville Mayor Joe
Johnston during a break in the county meeting. “The only people I ever
hear complain about it are county commissioners.”
Four years ago county and city officials struck a deal, creating a new
first right-of-refusal area that was less than five miles in some areas
around the city.
That deal diffused a likely legal battle in court between the two
governmental bodies.
But the agreement meant to avert a political slugfest never addressed the
issue of annexation in conjunction with first right of refusal.
The deal worked — for a while.
Last month, Sea Gate Land Holdings asked to build a series of apartments,
commercial space and residential homes in the area, on the south side of
Wiscon Road.
Under Florida law, the site fell within Brooksville’s five-mile right
of refusal area.
But Sea Gate representatives said they would rather deal with county
officials when it came to building rules instead of the city.
Commissioners offered to help Sea Gate fight the city’s annexation
clause if the developer wanted the assistance.
That was enough to make Johnston see red.
He fired off a warning letter that if the county continued on its current
path, the city would probably have to reconsider its four-year-old deal with
the county.
Yesterday, both sides agreed to meet again to discuss their differences.
Meanwhile, not all county commissioners are spoiling for a brawl.
“It’s a private matter (between property owners and the city),”
said Commissioner Robert Schenck. “I don’t see how this board has the
right...to use tax money to sue the county.”
Reporter Fred Hiers can be contacted at (352) 544-5290.
Citrus votes down luxury RV resort on lake
County commissioners reject the plan, 5-0. One commissioner says it is
too big and incompatible for the residential area.
By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published March 1, 2006
INVERNESS - The Citrus County Commission voted unanimously late Tuesday
to reject a proposed 499-unit RV park on Big Lake Spivey.
The meeting drew a standing-room-only crowd to the Citrus County
Commission chambers.
Representatives of developer Century Realty Funds said the 207-acre site
was perfect for the "Preservation Pointe" luxury motor coach
resort.
But local environmental advocates and neighbors of the site criticized
Century's plan, saying it would destroy the lake and disrupt the area.
After a nearly four-hour meeting, commissioners voted 5-0 to reject the
plan.
"It's too big, it's too intense and it's incompatible for the area,
which is basically residential," Commissioner Jim Fowler said shortly
before the vote.
To break ground, the developer needed to change the property's zoning
from coast lakes to recreational vehicle park. That required changes to the
county's comprehensive plan and land development code.
County staffers recommended approval of the project.
In December, the Planning and Development Review Board voted 5-2 against
the application.
Opponents of the project have been vocal at recent meetings. But
supporters of the project were a visible presence at Tuesday night's
meeting.
They pointed out that the developer has offered to pay more than
$2-million to provide water and wastewater services to the development,
including $500,000 for upgrades to the regional wastewater plant in
Inverness.
"This is economic growth. It's going to help the businesses, and
it's good for the government," said the Rev. Doug Alexander of the
Church Without Walls in Inverness.
Many in the audience at the hearing clutched small square signs with
bright orange lettering urging commissioners to "Vote Yes on
Preservation Pointe."
Inverness attorney John Eden IV handed out the signs as people filed into
the meeting room around 5 p.m. In the past week, Eden, who owns the
property, said he e-mailed about 40 people to ask for their support of the
project. He described the project's advantages and asked recipients to
contact county commissioners and turn out for the meeting.
Many of the e-mail's initial recipients forwarded the message, he said.
By Tuesday evening, Eden said he had received more than 100 e-mails in favor
of the project and only a handful of messages from people who opposed it.
At Tuesday's meeting, commissioners approved a series of amendments to
the county's comprehensive plan.
They include policy changes involving wetlands, springs protection,
coastal high hazard areas, affordable housing and hurricane shelters.
One change would require developers of new mobile home parks to build
hurricane shelters for their residents, create a hurricane mitigation fund
and a new impact fee to pay for upgrades of public shelters.
Bill Turney, assistant executive director of the Florida Manufactured
Housing Association, told commissioners the change would unfairly burden
owners of mobile home parks and further undermine the availability of
affordable housing in the county.
CHARLOTTE COUNTY -- Charlotte County's new impact fees add more than $5,000
to the cost of building a typical single-family home here, possibly
signaling an end to the county's status as a prime spot to build cheap
housing near the Gulf of Mexico.
It is the first time the county has updated the fees in 12 years.
The increased fees, which are taxes charged on new construction to help pay
for population growth, were approved by the County Commission on Tuesday and
take effect on June 1.
The fees will charge a builder $4.19 per square foot for a new house, which
amounts to $8,380 for a 2,000-square-foot home. The current fees, which are
not based on square-footage, are $2,510 for a single-family home.
The commission voted to adjust the impact fees every year so future
increases aren't so dramatic.
The county originally considered raising the impact fees even higher, to
$9,263, but cut the amount after some builders and homeowners charged that
increase was too high.
"Consider looking at additional revenue sources so the burden is spread
throughout the county, not just on new construction," said Suzanne
Graham, president of the Charlotte-DeSoto Building Industry Association.
The new fees are based on a study by University of Florida professor James
Nicholas. He is also working on a school impact fee for Charlotte.
Charlotte County's current impact fees were $3,700 less than the state
average, about $3,000 less than Sarasota County and about $9,000 less than
Manatee County in 2005. It was hard to avoid the sticker-shock this time,
County Commissioner Matt DeBoer said.
"Impact fees are a bitter pill," he said. "We need to just
get it done."
The county's new impact fees set rates for all new buildings, including
offices, medical facilities and stores. The fees range from $1,281 per 1,000
square feet for a mini-warehouse to more than $19,000 per 1,000 square feet
for a movie theater.
Builders who are about to start work might be able to avoid the new fees.
Residential builders who have a signed contract can pay the old fees if they
submit an application by Dec. 1. Builders handling nonresidential
structures, such as stores, offices or medical buildings, have until May 31,
2007.
The increased fees help generate revenue to fund the county's roads, public
buildings and parks, budget officer Ray Sandrock said. However, the county
also will need to look at other sources of funding for infrastructure to
keep in step with growing population, he said.
Sandrock has cited the fact that the county's road budget is operating at
more than a $100 million deficit as evidence that Charlotte's taxes aren't
in step with growth.
"It's going to take more than just impact fees," he said.
Sandrock could not say when a proposal for a school impact fee would be
ready. Charlotte has grown from 111,000 residents in 1990 to more than
157,000 last year, and the county's school system has grown in step.
Affordable housing advocates have cautioned the county that higher fees
could price working residents out of a home. Commissioners said the county
might debate that issue at a later meeting.
Representatives from the building industry have questioned the need for
heavy impact fees since the summer, when county officials started talking
about raising them. Some builders, several of whom spoke Tuesday, fear heavy
fees will stunt business.
County Commissioner Tom D'Aprile said Charlotte needs to spread the cost of
growth around the county in the future or risk hurting the building
industry.
"It the largest industry we have in Charlotte County. If we cripple it,
we will be crippled," D'Aprile said.
Palmetto
officials detail why housing plan scrapped
STAFF REPORT
PALMETTO -- Complaints from builders were not the only reason the city
scrapped a proposed affordable housing law earlier this month, the City
Commission said Monday.
On Feb. 6, without discussion, the commissioners struck down a proposal they
had been tooling for months and had intended to adopt that night. The law
would have required most developers to build homes for moderate-income
buyers or pay a hefty penalty.
The media and public got the impression they withdrew the measure strictly
because of complaints from the Home Builders Association of Manatee County,
the commissioners said. Yet, on Monday, their staff presented them with a
position paper outlining several concerns.
City attorney Michele Hall said she asked that the proposal be pulled
because she had concerns about its legality.
City planners said they also wanted more time to explore the notion of a
nonprofit land trust, an idea under way in Sarasota County and Punta Gorda
that can be used for affordable housing.
NEW PORT RICHEY - County commissioners today are slated to consider
hiring their Orlando-based planning consultant to write three ordinances
for their proposed comprehensive growth plan.
At a 1:30 p.m. meeting at the West Pasco Government Center, the board
will decide whether to pay Gladding Jackson Kercher Anglin Lopez and
Rinehart $162,000 to write regulations for conservation subdivisions,
employment centers and planned developments, all new zoning designations
in their comprehensive plan. The firm would be paid an additional $3,000
for each public meeting consultants are requested to attend.
Gladding Jackson is being offered the contract without competition
because the county is facing a deadline to complete its 20-year growth
plan, Chief Assistant County Attorney Barbara Wilhite said. Gladding
Jackson, county officials and a citizens advisory committee developed the
plan during the past two years. The consultant has been paid about $2
million so far.
Conservation subdivisions, required on parcels larger than 100 acres in
northeast Pasco, call for clustered development combined with open space.
Employment centers are designated for industrial businesses, offices and
multifamily housing. Planned developments allow for a mix of uses.
Gore's Dairy is rezoned for some 500 houses, and two townhome
communities get the go-ahead.
By MOLLY MOORHEAD, Times Staff Writer
Published February 28, 2006
ZEPHYRHILLS - City Council members moved forward Monday night on two
townhouse projects and a large housing development.
More than 200 acres of Gore's Dairy along Wire Road at the north end of
town will hold some 500 houses and 54 townhomes after City Council members
finalized the rezoning. The part of the dairy fronting U.S. 301 is targeted
for commercial development.
Two townhome communities proposed along Court Street south of State Road
54 also gained approval, despite opposition from nearby residents.
"Nobody wants to live next door to it," said Court Street
resident Sandra Warrell.
She said traffic on Court Street will only get worse with hundreds of
additional cars.
"I can't get out of my driveway half the time now," Warrell
said.
Resident Richard Allen said allowing high-density development amounts to
downgrading the quality of life in the city.
"How do you ever reverse that process?" Allen said.
All three projects passed 3-1, with council member Danny Burgess voting
against each. He vowed to help find ways to alleviate the traffic problems.
Member Clyde Bracknell defended his vote, saying the city cannot halt
growth: "We're trying to control it to some degree."
[Last modified February 28, 2006, 00:35:17]
Commissioner says he regrets Web use
Ted Schrader says his focus is on regaining the public's trust.
Another leader suggests a policy.
By GARRETT THEROLF
Published February 28, 2006
County Commissioner Ted Schrader, who had steadfastly defended the use of
his public computer to surf the Web during public meetings, said Monday that
he regretted the use.
"From this commissioner, it is not going to happen again," said
Schrader, who scanned stock quotes and travel sites as the public spoke.
"I just view it as a hard lesson."
The St. Petersburg Times reported Sunday that Commissioners
Schrader, Pat Mulieri and Steve Simon used their public computers to scan
Web sites that were unrelated to county business as they presided over
public meetings. In Schrader's case, the use amounted to hours.
During the three-year period reviewed by the Times, rank-and-file
county staffers were fired for using public computers for personal reasons,
including two last year.
After the report, Schrader said he was focused on regaining the public's
trust
"Whether (the use) was right or wrong, the public perception is
certainly harmed. It is tough to get that confidence back again. That
troubles me the most, quite honestly," Schrader said.
Simon said he proposes that the commission establish a policy for its Web
use - possibly at today's public meeting in New Port Richey.
"I've disabled my Web browser until we are able to decide what we
want to do. What do we want our policy to be?" Simon said.
The policy that prohibits county staffers from using public computers for
personal use "at all times" applies to everyone except the
commissioners.
Mulieri, who scanned her personal e-mail account and the Web site for
Pasco-Hernando Community College, where she is a professor emeritus, did not
return messages Monday.
Both Schrader and Simon maintained that they never diverted substantial
amounts of attention away from the public meetings. They said the Web
surfing was merely in the background.
"I never even dreamed it would be a real problem," Schrader
said.
Garrett Therolf covers Pasco County government. He can be reached
toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6232 and in west Pasco at 869-6232. His
e-mail address is gtherolf@sptimes.com
[Last modified February 28, 2006, 00:35:17]
Commissioners must keep their eyes on board business
A Times Editorial
Published February 28, 2006
Three Pasco County commissioners are taking multitasking to a new level.
Instead of focusing on the business at hand in public meetings,
Commissioner Ted Schrader is surfing the net for stock quotes, airline
ticket prices or vacation information.
Pat Mulieri is checking an e-mail account or visiting the Web site for
Pasco Hernando Community College, where she is a professor emeritus after
retiring in spring 2005.
Steve Simon looks for golf equipment, whatever else strikes his fancy at
eBay or clicks on www.Simonsez.com the
home page for entertainer Steve Max, who bills himself as "the nation's
leading Simon Sez caller." Does Simon say, Put your finger on the mouse
and click?
The inattention to their commission duties is insulting to residents, the
county staff and even other elected officials. Simon once visited eBay three
minutes after a commission meeting started. Schrader used his laptop to
check the stock market on the afternoon of Aug. 23, 2005, at the precise
time the staff of Pinellas-Pasco Public Defender Bob Dillinger was at the
podium seeking a budget increase to pay for mental health services for
indigent misdemeanor defendants.
Schrader is the biggest abuser of the county-owned laptop computers,
accounting for more than 9,700 page visits (86 percent) of the Internet use
by commissioners, during and outside of meetings, over the past three years.
His penchant for monitoring the stock market during public meetings is
disturbing. He should be able to set aside interest in his portfolio for two
afternoons a month to give Pasco's citizens his undivided attention.
Schrader, it must be noted, also is responsible for commissioners'
spending less time in the board room. After his election in 2000, Schrader
persuaded commissioners to cut their work load in half from four commission
meetings each month to two. That leaves him plenty of down time to surf the
Web. The public should be his exclusive focus on commission meeting days.
Ditto for Simon and Mulieri.
We suspect some of the Web surfing is the electronic equivalent of
doodling. But commissioners' initial explanations were problematic and
reinforced a perception in some quarters that the public can't get a fair
hearing.
Simon, for instance, rationalized his eBay visits as research for county
purchases. To his credit, Simon later accepted responsibility for his
actions. After the early denials, he acknowledged using the computer for
noncounty businesses and said he would have the Web browser removed from the
laptop.
Mulieri doubted the authenticity of the county's computer records, which
showed her perusing an AOL e-mail account seven minutes after commissioners
returned from a recess on Jan. 24. Mulieri championed the county's move to
computerization in the late 1990s and suggested at the time that computer
literacy was a professional prerequisite for applicants for the then-vacant
county attorney's position. It is understood she uses e-mail to stay in
touch with constituents, but it does not justify being distracted during
public meetings.
If Mulieri believes the county software produces inaccurate results, will
she ask the personnel office to refrain from using it as justification for
terminating rank-and-file employees using county computers inappropriately?
Schrader initially argued that spending hours on the Internet over the
past three years is insignificant and that he has fulfilled his duties as
commissioner. Tell that to the people in the Aloha Utilities service area
who continue to fight, after more than a decade, to get rid of dark, smelly
water in their homes. Schrader surfed Expedia.com "probably checking
flight fares" for 18 minutes on May 10, 2005, during discussion of a
county ordinance to force Aloha to improve its water quality.
The public would be better served if Schrader followed the lead of
Commissioners Jack Mariano and Ann Hildebrand. County records for the past
three years show Mariano, who joined the board in November 2004, and
Hildebrand rarely access the Internet and then only to check Web sites
relevant to county business.
Their behavior should be the rule, not the exception. The public deserves
a County Commission that will dedicate its undivided attention to the
business of governing.
County Commissioner Jack Mariano wants to impose greater restrictions
on development in areas that are known to flood but have not been
identified among Pasco's "drainage basins of special concern."
He has tried to stop projects in his district based on residents'
accounts and photographs showing flooding. However, county attorneys have
cautioned Mariano that such testimony does not constitute a legal basis to
oppose the projects.
Chief Assistant County Attorney Barbara Wilhite said scientific studies
and a formal ordinance would be needed as a legal basis to vote against
the projects.
Mariano is seeking support from fellow commissioners to pursue studies
and regulation changes that would require larger retention ponds and other
measures to prevent stormwater runoff from flooding nearby properties.
The Southwest Florida Water Management District requires developers to
create drainage systems that can handle once-every-century storms. The
county last year imposed stricter drainage requirements, but only in areas
declared "basins of special concern." The idea was to keep
conditions from getting worse in certain critical areas.
There are other areas, however, where the county has pumped out
floodwater but no additional restrictions have been created.
"When we have these sensitive areas, we need to have something in
place," Mariano argued at a recent county commission meeting in Dade
City.
Engineering Services Director Jim Widman agreed there is a problem. He
noted that a recent study of the Hammock Creek drainage basin showed 1,400
subbasins where drainage is poor and flooding is a concern.
"We might want to look at a global change," Widman said.
"It seems to be a rather widespread problem, and there are many more
areas we're going to have to address."
Wilhite said county planners should be working with developers early in
the approval process to ensure they are taking proper precautions.
Commissioner Pat Mulieri said she thinks Mariano is "on the right
track" in pursuing a new ordinance.
The idea surfaced in January, when Dream Catcher Estates LLC sought
county commission approval to build 76 single-family houses on 19.24 acres
in Mariano's district. The project would sit north and south of Bolton
Avenue, between Hicks and Little roads.
Mariano opposed the project, and the commission delayed action on it
until Tuesday. Mariano said at the time the neighborhood has flooded
before, and additional development would aggravate problems. Steve Booth,
an attorney for Dream Catcher Estates, questioned whether the county could
hold the developer to higher standards than the water management district
without an ordinance.
Fixing utility's pipes and process is an imperative
A Times Editorial
Published February 22, 2006
A planned $220-million renovation of Pasco County's water and sewer
system just got more expensive.
State environmental regulators say millions of dollars worth of
additional work is needed and they also are seeking a substantial penalty
for past mismanagement by the county. The proposed Department of
Environmental Protection consent order and $2-million fine, an average of
$28.57 for each of the county's 70,000 customers, is indicative of the
severity of the previous transgressions. They include:
Eight plants spilling nearly 22-million gallons of raw sewage. Most
notably, a substantial breach near Lake Bernadette in east Pasco went
undetected for more than a month and sent untreated sewage into a drainage
pond leading to Indian Creek and eventually the Hillsborough River.
Delivering more than 18-million gallons of treated wastewater for
customers' irrigation that did not meet disinfection standards.
Doubling the size of the county's Wesley Chapel sewage treatment plant
without state approval and ignoring orders to stop the construction.
Building an unpermitted pipe to dump stormwater and partially treated
wastewater into a tributary of the Hillsborough River. DEP documents
indicate retired utilities director Doug Bramlett authorized that
construction and his successor, Bruce Kennedy, ordered the pipe valve's use.
Kennedy told St. Petersburg Times staff writer Garrett Therolf the county
would seek to negotiate the terms of the consent order, particularly the
aggressive timetable established by the state for repairs. He said heavy
rainfall triggered much of the system's failures.
Scapegoating Mother Nature is an inadequate response. It fails to explain
the arrogance of ignoring DEP's authority on the Wesley Chapel plant
expansion, or building and using an illegal pipe. Using secret valves to
dump unwanted waste is the kind of activity the county sought to end when it
bought up the small privately owned package plants in west Pasco more than
two decades ago. Heavy rainfall fails to address the preponderance of
rickety pipes and an inadequate inventory of spare parts for repairs at
county plants.
The county also must be accountable for its own bumbling. The leak near
Lake Bernadette, for instance, continued for 43 days because the utility's
operations and maintenance divisions did not coordinate even though
personnel at the southeast wastewater treatment plant knew 500,000 gallons
of sewage disappeared each day. The leak continued until a DEP inspector
found the cracked pipe while answering complaints from nearby residents
about the stench from sewage leaking into their pond.
County Administrator John Gallagher has promised changes including a
staff reorganization and modernized parts and equipment. That is imperative.
A county loath to slow its construction permits even when it strains its
infrastructure must do better than the status quo of an underfunded and
poorly maintained utility system.
[Last modified February 22, 2006, 01:04:18]
Guest column
Chassahowitzka water projects need to be funded
By JIM FOWLER
Published February 27, 2006
Once again I find myself vilified by the press for expressing my right
and responsibility as a county commissioner on a controversial issue. This
time it is my steadfast belief that Citrus County must establish a dedicated
funding source for utility service to our environmentally sensitive areas.
According to the University of South Florida, there is a documented
health risk related to contaminants from septic tanks serving Chassahowitzka.
These septic tanks are more than likely perfectly legal. What is known today
but was unknown years ago is that septic tanks sitting just above our
groundwater pollutes. Not enough percolation (filtering) occurs from the
drain field as it filters down to our drinking water.
Many years ago, development was allowed where it would never be permitted
today. In Chassahowitzka, Riverhaven, Indian Waters and many other areas,
the water table is within reach of a round point shovel.
Because science now tells us this pollution is taking place, shouldn't it
be our goal and commitment as a community of people who love this place to
clean up the mess that has been made?
Let's begin the effort to stop the decline in the water quality of our
rivers, lakes, streams and the very water we drink and let's not place 100
percent of the financial burden for these very expensive projects on the
backs of those living in these areas like Chassahowitzka, a community of
moderate means.
The county had authorized its staff to move forward on providing water
and sewer to Chassahowitzka. Grant money of $4.3-million was to be used to
fund 40 percent of the project. Even that leaves the 600 Chassahowitzka
homeowners with a tax bill of more than $10,000 each to replace their legal
septic tanks.
We, the County Commission, have been told by state legislators that
future grants of this nature will not be available for these projects in
other areas of our county unless we are willing to put up matching funds.
That requires that a dedicated funding source be established by the County
Commission. No one else can do it.
It requires that the County Commission, which loves to "talk the
talk" to now "walk the walk." It requires that commissioners
who built their careers on claiming to care for this county and making water
quality their top priority to do something more than talk about it. It's
been talked about for 30 years.
At our last meeting Feb. 14, needing three votes in favor and knowing
Commissioner Dennis Damato and I had both stated publicly that we were
committed to this cause, I sought to get a commitment from Commissioner Gary
Bartell. It was a long, civil, courteous discussion.
Finally, I asked Commissioner Bartell for just a gentleman's agreement to
direct the staff who are working on next year's budget to build that $175-
to $200-million budget around our top priority, water quality. He refused. I
failed to persuade him to do the right thing.
The next day, I read in the local paper Commissioner Bartell referred to
this discussion as being illegal. The county attorney was present during
these discussions and made no comment. The fact is nothing could be further
from the truth. The only legal place county commissioners are allowed by law
to discuss these issues is at a public meeting. I've since received a
written opinion from the county attorney and, of course, the discussion was
legal.
In the days following and in the local papers, Commissioner Bartell
called me a "bully" for engaging in these discussions, a peculiar
choice of words given the circumstances. Bullheaded, maybe.
I made it clear in January 2006 that I desired a dedicated funding source
and an assessment cap. Only one of my fellow commissioners is willing to
make that commitment, Commissioner Dennis Damato.
I am not going to engage in name calling. This is too important an issue.
I am prepared to discuss the provision of water and sewer at any time. I am
willing to consider any viable alternative or counter proposal to establish
a permanent funding source. I am willing to consider alternative special
assessment caps.
What I am not willing to do is continue haphazard hat-in-hand,
project-by-political whim approach to utility provisions. Nor am I willing
to place extreme financial burdens on county homeowners in the name of
environmental protection when there is clear documentation that we are all
contributors to the problem.
It's unfortunate these decades have rolled by with nothing done. Just
consider how much less it would have cost 20 years ago. But guess what. The
costs will continue to rise. It will never cost less than it will today, and
someday the state might force us to do it.
Let's begin now.
In this discussion, we must remember that Chassahowitzka is the beginning
and not the end of what must be a long-term commitment to bring central
sewer to the environmentally sensitive areas of our county.
We must remember that we are one county. Even if we do not live on the
water, we do all benefit from a clean, healthy environment. Now is the time
for discussion and leadership, not issue avoidance and name calling. I
implore my fellow commissioners to at least engage in a meaningful
discussion to find a resolution to this important issue.
--Jim Fowler is the District 4 county commissioner. Guest columnists
write their own views on subjects they choose, which do no necessarily
reflect the opinions of this newspaper.
Photo
by: JASON BEHNKEN / Tribune Plant
City resident Jon Butts installed solar panels on his barn roof to
save on energy bills and reduce emissions of greenhoue gases.
PLANT CITY - Jon Butts knows the array of solar panels on the roof of his
barn won't pay for itself anytime soon. He's content knowing the less power
he buys from Tampa Electric Co. the more greenhouse gases can be kept out of
the atmosphere.
Even so, the power of the sun will help energize Butts' bank account.
In January, he became the first Tampa Electric customer to connect his
home's solar electric system into the utility's power system that serves
Hillsborough County and parts of Pinellas, Pasco and Polk counties.
Butts estimates he'll save 40 percent on his monthly energy bill. The
utility also will give him a credit equivalent to the cost of fuel Tampa
Electric won't have to burn to generate electricity because of Butts' solar
use.
It will take a long time for him to recoup the $16,000 he spent on the
solar panels and other equipment that help power his home at 4451 Needle
Palm Road in Plant City.
"Obviously, I wasn't looking at it for a monetary payback,"
Butts said. "In Tampa, we have cheaper power than in most places
because we're using cheap, dirty coal" to generate electricity.
"I've read articles on people who have analyzed the whole thing of
doing a system," he said. "The payback is 16 years. Maybe, in the
future, it might be a really good investment on my part."
Tampa Electric's program to tie customers into the grid has existed for
six years, but no one, until now, had taken advantage of the program, said
Alan Denham, program manager for renewable energy at Tampa Electric. The
utility has just one other customer scheduled to be connected to its power
system.
That slow pace to adopt solar power can be seen throughout Florida. In
the Sunshine State, where one would think solar use would sizzle, consumers
have been cool to invest in either of the two types of solar power: solar
photovoltaic or electric, where the sun's energy is converted to power for
the home, and solar thermal, where the sun's rays are used to heat water and
pools.
Subsequently, in terms of installed solar systems and manufacturing of
solar equipment, Florida lags behind other states that have a great deal of
sunny days year-round: California, Arizona and New Mexico. But the Sunshine
State also trails a northeast and northwest contingent of states, such as
New Jersey, Massachusetts, New York, Washington and Oregon. Those states
have high electric rates and offer significant incentives, making it
reasonable for consumers to install solar systems, experts said.
The Sunshine State is behind because of the high cost of installing a
solar electric system ($20,000 to $24,000), relatively low electric rates
and very few financial incentive programs from the state.
Even at Progress Energy Florida Inc., the second-largest utility in the
state with 1.5 million customers, just 11 residential customers and 26
commercial customers have had their solar systems tied into that company's
electric grid.
Looking At Other States
Noah Kaye, a spokesman for the Solar Energy Industries Association in
Washington, said growth in solar installations, businesses and jobs involved
in the industry indicates locations that provide the most financial
incentives.
California and New Jersey are leaders in solar installations in the
United States because they have programs that help reduce their residents'
costs significantly.
The cost to produce solar power on average is six times the
5-cents-per-kilowatt-hour average of electricity generated by burning
natural gas. Although it can vary depending on the size of the system, the
average cost of a kilowatt-hour of electricity from solar power is about 30
cents, according to Solarbuzz Inc., an international solar research and
consulting firm based in San Francisco.
The cost of solar power competes directly with retail electric rates,
Kaye said.
Solar systems in the Northeast may not generate as much power as those in
the South, but because of higher electric rates, the impact on the bills is
the same.
Changes On Horizon
But experts expect Florida's role in solar power to change this year.
Last year, President Bush signed an energy law that allows consumers to
take a tax credit of 30 percent, up to $2,000, for solar systems installed
from Jan. 1, 2006, to Dec. 31, 2007. Florida legislators also have filed
several bills that would encourage consumers and businesses, beyond the
current break on sales taxes and a program for new home builders, to invest
in solar technologies.
A bill filed by state Rep. Dorothy Hukill, R-Daytona Beach Shores, calls
for the creation of the Florida Solar Incentive Program by July 1. House
Bill 713 also would establish a $1.2 million fund each year for five years
to provide rebates for owners of solar photovoltaic systems that tie into
the state's electric grid. The maximum rebate for residential systems would
be $20,000, according to the proposed bill.
Another bill, HB 767, would create the Energy Efficiency Incentive
Program by July 1. Under the program, consumers could seek a matching grant
to pay for solar water heaters or low-interest loans to purchase solar
panels to generate electricity.
The average cost of a solar water-heating system is about $4,000.
Companion bills in the state House and Senate call for the creation of
the Alternative Energy Technology Center that would promote research,
conservation, distributed generation, advanced transmission, pollution and
renewable energies, including solar power. Still other bills seek to
encourage contractors to install energy-efficient and renewable-energy
systems when building.
"I think the tax credit will increase interest" in solar
energy, said Kevin Lynn, a senior research engineer at the Florida Solar
Energy Center at the University of Central Florida in Cocoa. "Prices
are coming down. But no one is kidding anybody. Right now, it's not
competitive with utilities. You're not going to save money off your utility
bill."
Lynn said many Floridians are considering solar power systems as backup
power for their homes after finding themselves in the dark for days or weeks
the past two hurricane seasons.
A Growing Demand
But experts suggest putting in orders early if consumers want to get
solar equipment in the near future.
Worldwide demand for solar photovoltaic and solar thermal equipment is
far outstripping supply, creating a shortage of the polysilicon that makes
up the solar panels and buoying prices.
Since 2001, the solar industry has grown 35 percent each year, said Kaye,
the spokesman from the Solar Energy Industries Association. From 2003 to
2005, the manufacture of solar equipment doubled, he said.
Solar power is a $15 billion industry worldwide.
Not surprisingly, the top two countries using solar power, Germany and
Japan, offer the most grandiose financial incentives, experts said.
Kaye said Germany went from having 18 percent of the world's solar
installations to just less than 50 percent of the market last year.
"They sucked up 50 percent of the panels," he said. "The
German government rewards owners of photovoltaic systems by paying them a
fixed rate guaranteed for 20 years. It allows owners of the system to treat
it as an investment."
Although such a sweeping program is unlikely in the United States and
Florida, John Gambill, who runs Tarpon Springs-based Hotwire Enterprises
with his wife, Libbie Ellis, thinks the time for Florida residents to begin
investing in solar has arrived.
He designed the 16-panel, 2.8-kilowatt system Butts installed on his
barn, and Gambill is working on five more systems.
With all the new homes going up in Florida, he said, he doesn't
understand why homeowners and builders aren't taking advantage of SunBuilt,
a state program that helps reduce a builder's cost for a solar water-heating
system.
"It's just making sense, especially if you're building a new house
right now and you live where there is a lot of sunshine," Gambill said.
"You can incorporate the cost of the solar into the house. It's not
going to cost as much as if you were to retrofit it onto the house.
"Put it in the mortgage."
WHAT'S IN IT FOR YOU?
Here are some federal and state incentive programs and policies on solar
power. For details on these and other programs, go to www.dsireusa.org.
Federal
• Residential Energy Conservation Subsidy Exclusion (Corporate):
Corporate tax exemption for energy conservation subsidies.
• Residential Energy Conservation Subsidy Exclusion (Personal):
Personal tax exemptions for energy conservation subsidies.
• Business Energy Tax Credit: Increases tax credit to 30 percent from
10 percent on equipment installed from Jan. 1, 2006, through Dec. 31, 2007.
The credit reverts to 10 percent in 2008.
• Residential Solar and Fuel Cell Tax Credit: Personal tax credit of 30
percent, up to $2,000, for installing solar system.
• Renewable Energy Systems and Energy Efficiency Improvements Program:
Grants and guaranteed loans for agricultural producers and small, rural
businesses.
• Tribal Energy Program Grant: Financial and technical assistance for
tribes to promote energy efficiency on tribal lands.
• Energy Efficient Mortgage: Benefits on most home mortgages to help
pay for solar technologies on a home.
• Veterans Housing Guaranteed and Insured Loans: Guaranteed or insured
loans for veterans to install solar systems at home.
Florida
• Solar Energy Equipment Exemption: No sales tax on solar equipment
purchases.
• Interconnection of Small Photovoltaic Systems: State rules on tying
solar electric systems up to 10 kilowatts into Florida's power grid. The
rules apply to investor-owned utilities, not municipals and cooperatives.
All customers must have $100,000 in liability insurance for interconnected
systems. Details vary from utility to utility. TECO, for example, credits
customers for the fuel it saves.
• Renewable Energy Access Laws: Florida law protects homeowners' right
to install renewable energy sources, including solar.
Source: Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy
LEARN MORE
People interested in installing a solar photovoltaic, or solar electric,
system on their home and tying it into the Tampa Electric Co. power system
can call Alan Denham, program manager for renewable energy, through the
utility's customer service center at (813) 223-0800.
Feb 26, 2006
Tortoises Lag Developers In Fight For Florida Land
Photo
by: JIM REED / Tribune A
gopher tortoise, the only type of tortoise that lives east of the
Mississippi, ventures out of its burrow near the Little Manatee
River. Land in that area could become residential property, possibly
threatening wildlife.
TAMPA - The gopher tortoise, a slow-moving, low-key land turtle that
plods among the palmettos, munching stubby plants, is finding itself on the
losing side of a love triangle.
The tortoise shares its love of high and dry land with one of Florida's
faster-moving creatures - the home developer. And the developer is
definitely winning this race.
State biologists are hoping to improve the odds for the tortoise,
scurrying to devise a full-scale management plan that may save the creature
from imminent demise. They also are working to reclassify it from a species
of special concern to a threatened species, which, theoretically, would
afford it more protection.
The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is expected to vote
on the change in June. The management plan should be finished within a year
of that vote.
"Tortoises are being pushed so much, there are places where there
are nine or 10 tortoises on one half-acre piece of property," said Matt
Singer, a nongame biologist with the commission. Tortoises typically need
1.5 to 4.5 acres each to roam.
In Hillsborough County, less than 1 percent of undeveloped land is
suitable for gopher tortoises. Most of the county's tortoises were
exterminated before protective rules were written. The situation is
worsening in Pasco and Hernando counties, where more tortoises and more
habitat face intense development pressure, Singer said.
"They're being pushed into a corner and eventually being
exterminated," he said.
Because it opens its home to so many others, the gopher tortoise, known
as the hospitable landlord, is considered a keystone species. Tortoises
share their burrows with more than 300 other critters, many found only in
Florida.
Scientists think that if the gopher tortoise disappears, many of the
animals that depend on its burrow also could disappear.
A Daunting Task
Striking a balance between the rights of private property owners and the
need to protect tortoise habitat has for many years proved a daunting task
for state regulators.
Protections have been loudly criticized as inadequate, ineffective and
even cruel.
Developers can get a state permit to relocate tortoises on-site or
off-site. Or they can get an "incidental take" permit, allowing
them to develop property despite the presence of tortoises. To mitigate,
they pay into a state fund used to purchase and maintain large tracts of
tortoise habitat.
But incidental take means the tortoises are left to fend for themselves
when the bulldozers move in. Many are buried alive in their burrows, slowly
dying of starvation, scientists concede.
In Hillsborough County, 226 permits for incidental take have been
reviewed since permitting began in 1992, state biologist Jim Beaver said.Of
those, 187 permits were issued.
When FishHawk Ranch was developed in eastern Hillsborough County and
Heritage Isles was developed in New Tampa, the developers were required to
set aside preserve areas for tortoises. But finding large tracts of land for
the state to purchase is getting harder and harder.
Still, nobody sees incidental take as a solution, said Joan Berish, one
of the state's foremost authorities on gopher tortoises. "All of us
realize there is a lot of room for improvement.
"Our goal is to do everything we can as quickly as we can," she
said.
Statewide, only about 30 percent of the tortoise's historic range remains
undeveloped.
"Seventy percent habitat loss is staggering for a slow-growing,
long-lived, slow-reproducing species," Berish said. "It is not an
animal that bounces back easily."
An estimated 3.3 million acres of potential tortoise habitat remain in
Florida, Berish said. Just more than 1 million acres of that land is
protected, Berish said. The rest is not. "That is what we are basing
the reclassification on."
Bulldozers March On
In recent months, county planner Keith Wiley has seen numerous projects
come through the Planning and Growth Management Department that would affect
gopher tortoises, he said.
The county does have an ordinance to protect essential wildlife habitat,
he said, but it affects only large tracts.
And on-site relocation doesn't always work out, Wiley said. "We're
trying to figure out exactly what we can do" to better protect
tortoises.
Environmentalists also want to see more protections.
Hillsborough County's remaining sand pine scrub and gopher tortoises
should not be traded for just another subdivision, said Mariella Smith,
co-chairwoman of the South Hillsborough Sierra Club.
"If you have suitable habitat and a viable [tortoise] population,
the answer isn't to dig them up and move them," Smith said. The answer,
she said, is to preserve their habitat.
The Humane Society of the United States recently wrote a letter to the
county opposing rezoning of a 60-acre parcel wedged between Mill Bayou and
the Little Manatee River that is home to at least 20 tortoises.
"Fast-paced urban development in Florida ... is probably the primary
threat to the species in the Sunshine State," the letter states.
Berish said Florida has put together an action team and put it on a fast
track to outline the best conservation measures for tortoises. And there is
a stakeholders' committee made up of builders, environmentalists and others
who are giving input on how to protect the tortoise while also protecting
the rights of property owners.
TORTOISE FACTS
•The gopher tortoise, the only tortoise living east of the Mississippi
River, opens its home to more than 300 other species.
•In Florida, its habitat has dwindled by about 70 percent over the past
90 years. Much of the remaining viable habitat is in north-central Florida.
•The tortoises typically live in dry habitat such as sand hills where
longleaf pines and scrub oaks grow, oak hammocks, pine flatwoods, dry
prairies and coastal dune systems. They often find themselves competing with
housing developers, who also find high and dry habitat the most suitable for
their trade.
•To survive in a healthy environment, gopher tortoises need
well-drained sandy soils for digging burrows, low plant growth for food and
sunny areas for nesting.
•A gopher tortoise will dig a burrow up to 40 feet long and 10 feet
deep, which it shares with creatures such as the threatened black indigo
snake; gopher frogs; Florida mice, which are a species of special concern;
lizards; and burrowing owls. Some of the species that share tortoise burrows
could not survive without it.
Source: University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural
Sciences Extension
CRYSTAL SPRINGS - Where Central Avenue dead-ends, this small community
looks like it has for generations: tall oaks and pines, dirt roads, a
barn-style roller rink with smooth Tennessee maple floors.
But look at a Pasco County planning map, and you'll see how the landscape
is changing. Thousands of houses - and people - soon could close in on this
former socialist colony.
To the west, a mini-city of 7,000 houses is planned. Other projects to
the west and north will add more than 2,500 units. Slowly, suburbanization
will creep around this rural community in southeast Pasco, where the springs
that supply Zephyrhills Natural Spring Water flow.
Home prices in Hillsborough County have fueled a hot housing market in
Pasco. Until recently, rural east Pasco - long a haven for middle-class
retirees - stayed under the radar. Southeast Pasco wasn't even a blip.
Developers ignored the Crystal Springs area, which seemed too out of the
way for commuters.
Not anymore.
Tucked just south of Zephyrhills, near the Pasco-Hillsborough county
line, most of the community sits west of State Road 39. For motorists
heading south toward Interstate 4, Crystal Springs slides by the
passenger-side window: a few small houses, a church, a carny selling
elephant ears from a roadside stand, a Circle K gas station, an ancient sign
advertising the roller rink.
Most of the community lies beyond that fleeting glimpse, in a network of
modest mobile homes and dead-end dirt roads.
"We're just one little town trying to survive," said Betty
Giles, 82, a Crystal Springs native whose grandmother was among the original
socialist settlers.
Residents worry that Crystal Springs, which is not incorporated, could be
overwhelmed by development. Growth from Zephyrhills to the north,
unincorporated Pasco County to the west and the Plant City area in
Hillsborough County to the south is expected to bring about 9,500 homes.
A planned development that would be built at an old dairy farm would
front Crystal Springs Road, one of two paved roads that wind through the
community and pass the springs.
As their cars kick up dust on their way to S.R. 39 or Chancey Road, the
main routes leading to Tampa, newcomers will see aging double-wides and
concrete block houses - places valued at less than half or a third of what
the new houses will go for.
But they won't see the rich, complicated past of this almost forgotten
piece of Old Florida. In Crystal Springs, there's not a library or museum to
preserve the history, which lives almost entirely through longtime
residents.
The Spirit Of Cooperation
At the turn of the century, idealists from the North thought they could
find utopia in Florida, buy virgin land cheaply and farm side-by-side.
Some went to Ruskin, a socialist community in south Hillsborough County.
In the early 1900s, an overflow of Ruskin settlers headed north. The
group grew and in 1911, as the Commongood Society, they founded Crystal
Springs. It was official the next year.
The settlers drew up plans for a town square, bathed in the springs, grew
sweet potatoes, strawberries and a "miracle vegetable" called
dasheen, a root vegetable similar to the potato and also known as taro. They
split the profits from the harvest.
"Everyone had a deed," Giles said.
That worked for a while.
Many settlers were urbanites drawn to the idea of rural life, but they
weren't wholly successful living it.
After 100 families had moved to the area, the founder of the community,
A.B. Hawk of Toledo, Ohio, was supposed to give over control to the
residents. He didn't.
Disputes about property rights split the community. Arguments broke out
at Commongood meetings. Some people moved away.
In 1927, Hawk sold part of the land to a New York financier, causing more
uproar. Much of the controversy centered on who owned the springs, the heart
of the community.
Generations later, a similar fight would erupt, further separating the
community from its roots.
By most accounts, Crystal Springs' socialist experiment had failed by the
late 1920s. The vegetables didn't bring in enough money. The town square
never materialized.
Still, the spirit of cooperation lived on. Much of the community's social
life revolved around the Crystal Springs Community Association hall, where
residents held meetings, attended school and danced to a player piano.
In many ways, that communal spirit lingers today.
Residents still participate in association meetings, voting on when they
should clean up the community cemetery or how much they should spend on a
Wal-Mart gift card for a needy family.
They also deal with a problem common to many isolated, rural communities:
methamphetamine. Every month, a Pasco County sheriff's deputy briefs the
community association on crime statistics. At recent meetings, he has urged
forming a neighborhood watch and talked about how to spot meth labs.
The crime talk contrasts with the hall itself, rebuilt in 1982 and
decorated with homemade floral curtains and sepia photos of past members. A
yellowed front page from a 1918 edition of The Crystal Springs Colonist
hangs on the wall. The paper boasts of open land and "our
springs."
"Through the competitive system, success is too often merely a
monument to superior cunning, skillful deceit and conscienceless
oppression," the newspaper reads. "We stand for true success - the
kind where cash dividends are accompanied by health and happiness -
mentally, morally and physically."
Lofty goals.
Such idealism likely will retreat further when big-box stores and
subdivisions surround Crystal Springs.
The Springs
Over the years, attendance at the association's monthly meetings has
dwindled. Of the estimated 1,175 people who live in the community, 39 belong
to the group. About 15 show up regularly.
"A lot of people don't know we're here," said Cindie Cornelius,
50, past president of the association.
Cornelius grew up in upstate New York but made Crystal Springs her home
19 years ago after her husband, Ron, became the postmaster. She was drawn to
the open spaces for her horses.
Cornelius became involved in community affairs, serving as the
association's president for seven years.
She's not sure she likes the changes she's seeing now.
"I don't think there's enough services, enough shopping. There's not
enough schools, that's for sure," she said. "And where are we
going to get the water?"
Part of Crystal Springs' identity slipped away 10 years ago when the
popular swimming hole at the springs closed, many say.
The springs have been the source for Zephyrhills bottled water for years.
In 1996, the owner, Thonotosassa rancher Robert Thomas, allowed Nestlé to
pump more water. Then he closed the springs to the public.
The prolonged fight drew national headlines and scarred the community.
Even today, many don't want to talk about "the water wars."
They do talk about the impending growth.
Development has been the hot topic at Crystal Springs meetings for
months.
The questions are typical for any place bracing for growth: What's going
to happen to our roads? What about the schools?
Though newcomers - and cars - will increase the need for services in
southeast Pasco, some current residents are skeptical that their needs -
such as paved roads - will be met.
"We're going to be ignored again," Judy Wagner, 42, who has
been lobbying the county to pave her street, said at an association meeting.
The Cemetery
One of the community's many dusty roads leads to Crystal Springs' dead.
The original settlers set aside land so community members could be buried
free. Residents still are.
To visit, go to the post office on S.R. 39 and ask the postmaster for the
key. Then travel down a dirt road shaded by pine trees and you'll come to a
locked gate, beyond which lies the cemetery.
In late summer, bugs bite at visitors' bare ankles. Dry earth crunches
underfoot.
But people come here - to visit relatives, lay fresh flowers and maintain
the grounds.
On a recent visit, Cornelius brushed aside long grass hiding gravestones.
She and other community association members regularly clean up. Vandals, who
break in to drink beer and party, leave behind trash and sometimes topple
gravestones.
"When we cleaned, we found markers in the woods," she said.
No one is sure how many people are buried here. The Hillsborough River
trickles through the woods nearby.
Soon, the back yards of 325 families in the planned Hidden River
subdivision could encroach on the woods, the river and this quiet place.
Hidden River is one of the smallest of the subdivisions that would
encircle Crystal Springs. Plans for Two Rivers Ranch, west of the community
on the west side of U.S. 301, call for 7,000 houses.
Cedar Crest Village, part of Rucks Dairy at S.R. 39 and Tucker Road, will
bring about 778 luxury apartments and a shopping center. Its residents,
expected to be young professionals who work in Tampa, will commute along
S.R. 39 - past Crystal Springs.
The Roller Rink
On a recent Friday night, kids lined up outside Crystal Springs Roller
Rink, a community institution since 1939.
It's at the west end of Central Avenue - the part where the asphalt ends
and gravel and dirt begin.
Here, moms who slipped on the rink's white suede rental skates as
children pull up in minivans and SUVs to drop off their children, who do the
same.
The rink is far from fancy: There's no air conditioning, no heat, no rock
or pop music.
"I wasn't born with no air conditioning," said owner Truman
Rooks, 75.
Beginners make their way around on spindly legs. Older kids glide by on
their own inline skates. This night, Trace Adkins' "Honky Tonk
Badonkadonk" whines over the stereo system.
Spring Becker, 33, who grew up skating on Friday and Saturday nights,
sticks around to watch her children.
"Nothing's changed," she said of the dimly lit rink and the
community she grew up in.
But she knows it will. Soon.
"I would rather my children grow up in a small community where we
knew everybody rather than it be so crowded," she said. "I don't
want to look out my window and, you know, see house after house after
house."
CRYSTAL SPRINGS
Population: 1,175 Racial makeup: 93.6 percent white 5.4
percent Hispanic 0.6 percent black 0.7 percent American Indian and Alaska
Native 0.1 percent Asian Median age: 36.5 Median household income:
$42,578 Median home value: $68,800 Percentage of mobile homes:
59.8 Average price of houses being built in nearby Zephyrhills:
$180,000 to $350,000 Estimated housing units to be built nearby:
9,500 Sources: 2000 U.S. Census, Zephyrhills city records
CRYSTAL SPRINGS - Judy Wagner worries that many of the qualities that
drew her to this quiet community in southeast Pasco County are slowly
eroding.
More people are moving here, more cars rumbling down the streets.
Much to Wagner's dismay, though, other aspects of Crystal Springs
remain the same - starting with the roads.
Jerry Road - the one that runs in front of her neat, ranch home - is in
the same dusty, dented shape it's been in for more than a decade. During a
hard rain, the water runs everywhere, and mosquitoes linger around the
puddles that are left behind, she said.
The road is so bad that the pizza guy won't come out here anymore.
"It's in disrepair," Wagner, 42, said. "There are huge
drops in the road."
Wagner, an account manager at a Lakeland insurance company, has been
pleading with Pasco County to improve Jerry Road, a rural thoroughfare
that runs for a mile and a half between State Road 39 and Hilda Ann Road.
To Wagner, her pleas seem to have fallen on deaf ears.
To pave a road, 51 percent of the residents must agree to the idea,
cede portions of their properties for the road-widening and pay for the
project themselves. The county sends residents assessments for the work
each year until the bill is paid, according to Pasco County's Web site.
That's how the process is supposed to work, at least.
Wagner has knocked on her neighbors' doors, gathered the signatures.
But nothing's happened.
"We're the red-headed stepchild of Pasco County," she said of
Crystal Springs, a small, community south of Zephyrhills and just north of
the Hillsborough County line.
County officials dispute suggestions that they've ignored the
unincorporated community, founded as a socialist colony in 1911.
"I've lived in Zephyrhills all my life," said county project
manager David Brown. "I went to school with people from Crystal
Springs. Is a paved road needed? It would be nice."
Plans to pave Jerry Road have been on the books for at least 10 years,
Brown said. This year, those plans could come to fruition if county
commissioners sign off on the project. If so, paving could begin in June
2007, he said.
Told of the county's revised timetable for paving her street, Wagner
remained skeptical.
"This is exactly the same thing I've been hearing," she said.
Twelve years ago, Wagner and her family moved here from Tampa. They
wanted to escape the traffic and the noise and have room to board horses.
Live oaks and water oaks pepper her property.
She likes it out here. A paved road would make things better.
"We'd have a better quality of life out here," she said.
And now's the time to do it, she said.
"Number one, you've got a lot more traffic on Jerry Road, and
you've got to look at the growth, too," Wagner said.
All around Crystal Springs, thousands of houses are slated for
construction.
Although most of the proposed subdivisions would not extend into the
community, residents here fear new people will clog the main streets. Most
are dirt roads. "I'm afraid eventually it will squeeze out the
essence that brought me out here," Wagner said.
Development threatens Crystal Springs' traditional way of life.
As the public pleads issues before the Pasco commission, three members
surf the Web.
By GARRETT THEROLF and MATTHEW WAITE
Published February 26, 2006
Ted Schrader tracks stocks on tbo.com. Fellow Pasco County Commissioner
Steve Simon favors eBay and golf-related sites like hirekogolf.com.
Commissioner Pat Mulieri fiddles with her America Online e-mail account.
The three commissioners regularly visited those Web sites and many others
the past three years, which is totally unremarkable except for one fact:
They did so during meetings of the Pasco County Commission while
ostensibly focused on public business.
Personal use of county computers, meanwhile, has gotten rank-and-file
county employees fired.
Karen Donahue waited two hours for her three minutes.
She hoped to persuade commissioners to oppose a proposed townhouse
development that she and other residents of a Land O'Lakes neighborhood
feared would snarl traffic and lower property values.
Donahue nervously adjusted the microphone as she approached the lectern
at 8:08 p.m. "Good evening," she began.
On the dais, Schrader looked down at his laptop computer. He typed in www.coppermountain.com
which took him to the Web site of a broadband Internet service provider in
Lake Oswego, Ore. Just before 8:09 p.m., Schrader shifted to Google.
At the lectern, Donahue spoke about traffic on her street, Peninsular
Drive.
Schrader moved on to onthesnow.com to check on snow conditions for the
Copper Mountain ski resort in Colorado. He stayed on the site for the final
minute and a half of Donahue's presentation, clicking among five Web pages
at the site.
* * *
Schrader said his Web use during Donahue's presentation was in
preparation for a vacation. He bristled at the notion that he did not give
her his full attention.
"You're implying I can't do two things at one time," he said,
insisting that he did nothing wrong.
He also said he did not see any connection between his Web use and that
of county employees fired for the same activity.
Simon at first said, "There is a reason for every single site I
visited." His eBay visits, he insisted, could be justified as research
on prices for county equipment.
After he was presented with additional data, he acknowledged checking
"what Elmo costs or what the latest golf club is going for."
By the end of the interview, he said he regretted his Web use and would
remove the Web browser from his computer.
Mulieri said she could not recall the personal Web use during meetings,
suggesting that the county records were wrong.
She said repeatedly that she was a hard-working commissioner and that the
St. Petersburg Times should review how many constituent e-mails she
returns at night and on weekends.
* * *
Donahue and her fellow residents faced an uphill battle. The county staff
had recommended that the townhome project be approved; it would be unusual
for even one commissioner to oppose the staff on such a routine issue.
But that evening, two commissioners went along with the residents.
Donahue needed one more vote. A thumbs down from Schrader would have given
her a victory. But Schrader voted yes, allowing the townhome project to
proceed.
"This was probably routine to them," Donahue said when a
reporter told her that Schrader had visited eight Web pages while she spoke,
"but this was very important to us, and I was very respectful. ... I'm
very surprised but mostly disappointed."
Schrader said, "She's entitled to her opinion ... I think I've
fulfilled my duties and responsibilities in this case."
* * *
Pasco County rules prohibit employees from using the Internet for nonwork
purposes "at all times."
Like many other workplaces, the county uses software to track employees
suspected of misusing their computers, and has fired people for it, said
personnel director Barbara DeSimone. She fired two employees last year.
Has she ever looked into Internet use by the commissioners, who make
$76,497 a year?
"No," she said.
Each Pasco commissioner uses a publicly owned laptop, connected
wirelessly to the Internet from commission chambers in Dade City and New
Port Richey.
The Times obtained the Internet records of all five commissioners
from the same software that DeSimone uses. The Times focused mainly
on the commissioners' Internet use during public meetings. This revealed the
secret lives of commissioners on the dais.
The information dates to 2003 and shows that two commissioners - Jack
Mariano and Ann Hildebrand - apparently never visited a Web site unrelated
to county business.
"If I'm doing county business, I'm doing county business,"
Mariano said. "Even if the phone rings ... if it's not a county call, I
switch to my cell phone."
"I think I'm more comfortable using a public computer for public
purposes," Hildebrand said.
Schrader, Simon and Mulieri fall at the other extreme, though all three
used the Web less last year than in 2003 and 2004. Among the trio,
Schrader's personal use of the Internet during meetings is by far the most,
Mulieri's the least.
In 2005, Schrader accounted for all but 40 of the 708 Web pages visited
by the three commissioners while the year's 28 public meeting were in
session. (The numbers may somewhat overstate the page visits because the
county's tracking software records both pages visited and pages that
automatically come up, such as password screens.)
In all, Schrader visited
enough Web sites during meetings over the last three years that it would
have taken hours to view them all.
"Over the last few years, if it adds up to hours, that is definitely
insignificant," Schrader said.
* *
The big issue during the May 10, 2005, commission meeting was customers
complaining about "black water" from Aloha Utilities. The county
was considering an ordinance demanding that the private utility improve its
water quality. In the midst of the discussion, from 4:13 to 4:31 p.m.,
Schrader navigated six pages on expedia.com. "I was probably checking
flight fares," he said.
The commission meeting of Dec. 2, 2003, began at 1:30 p.m. By 1:33, Simon
was on eBay. At 1:46, it was on to hirekogolf.com. At 2:51, Simon clicked on
that day's agenda. But, four minutes later, he was back on hirekogolf.com.
The Jan. 24, 2006, meeting returned from recess at 6:06 p.m. Seven
minutes later, Mulieri went to the Road Runner Internet service provider
page, then to aol.com, where she spent the next 11 minutes checking an
e-mail account. Mulieri also visits the Web site of Pasco-Hernando Community
College, where she is a professor emeritus.
* * *
It is difficult to ensure that elected officials pay attention during
meetings, or even show up to vote.
In Pasco, rules that prohibit county employees from misusing the Web do
not apply to commissioners. No state law regulates county commissioners' Web
use; if there were, public officials could be punished for using the Web
with "wrongful intent."
A California appeals court intervened in a rezoning case involving the
Blue Zebra strip club after viewing a videotape showing the Los Angeles City
Council, dressed casually for Hawaiian shirt day, chatting and milling about
during the hearing. One council member talked on a cell phone. The court
ordered a rehearing, deciding that no one had really heard Blue
Zebra's arguments at the first hearing.
Simon said he agreed with that principle: "If I was convinced that
someone hadn't listened, would I look to give that person another
opportunity? Yes. Everybody should be heard."
Times staff writers Bridget Hall Grumet, Molly Moorhead and Jamal Thalji
and researchers Carolyn Edds and Angie Drobnic Holan contributed to this
report.
[Last modified February 26, 2006, 01:48:07]
Zoning Master Expected To OK Plan For Housing On Farmland
By MINDI DAVIS Tribune correspondent
Published: Feb 25, 2006
PLANT CITY - A county official is expected to issue a recommendation by
March 7 on a developer's request to build homes west of Plant City.
Developer Dennis Carlton and Citizens for One Acre, an organization
formed by neighbors who oppose the project, appeared at a Feb. 14 hearing
before Zoning Master Marvin Smith.
Residents are upset over Carlton's proposal to build houses on 45.2
acres of farmland south of Stafford Road and east of Bethlehem Road. If
rezoned, it would allow conventional single family houses on lots of
various sizes as small as a half-acre.
The citizens' group wants 1 acre minimum lots for the development.
Pamela Hatley, an attorney for Carlton, contended the rezoning request
will be good for the county tax base.
Steve Allison, of SONA Consulting, presented a proposed plot plan of
what he said will become a deed-restricted, high-value neighborhood with a
maximum of 40 lots.
Senior planner Tom Hinzy, Hillsborough County growth development,
recommended approval of the development because it complies with the
county's comprehensive growth plan, which helps guide growth.
Citizen For One Acre spokesman Pat Mahoney and a half dozen residents
voiced their opposition, contending the development would lead to
overcrowding at Cork Elementary School and flooding due to runoff.
Smith is expected to complete his report by March 7. His recommendation
goes to the county commission.
For years, the county failed to enforce concurrency rules, but with
traffic getting out of control, developers are hearing "no."
BILL COATS and MICHAEL VAN SICKLER
Published February 26, 2006
LITHIA - It's only a 7-mile drive along FishHawk Boulevard to Interstate
75 from Bill Hallman's home.
But Hallman, a computer company manager, knows what thousands of
commuters in Lithia know - that if he drives during rush hour, he could get
stuck in traffic for at least an hour. And that would be a good day.
"It's terrible," Hallman said. "It's obvious no one has
been planning for traffic."
Hallman is in the crucible of a problem that worsened as Hillsborough
County postponed dealing with it. The state ordered two decades ago that
local governments must either improve clogged roads or block development
along them. Hillsborough generally lacked the money for the first and the
political will for the second. It exempted the county's busiest boulevards.
But two years ago, with gridlock spreading, the county finally lifted all
exemptions.
Development still is being allowed for the most part. But developers are
waiting longer to build and finding themselves on the hook for major road
work near their projects.
In 2005, developers committed $250-million toward road construction in
the county, the most ever.
"Over the past year, I'm starting to hear a harder line," said
Bill Oliver, a Tampa transportation consultant.
"It's definitely leading to a slowdown in the industry," said
Don Amaden, president of Brooks & Amaden Engineering. "I don't know
if anyone knows what this will mean, but it promises to be an interesting
year in Hillsborough County."
* * *
In the late 1980s, tougher development restrictions along congested roads
formed the cornerstone of the landmark 1985 Growth Management Act, through
which the state sought to force local governments to plan for growth.
Developers feared that the restrictions - called "concurrency"
- would trigger widespread building moratoriums. A leading business magazine
called it the "Doomsday Clause."
But in Hillsborough County, development slowed only for economic
recessions. Building continued on some of the most gridlocked county roads.
How? The new law, while requiring adequate roads before development can
occur, let each local government define what was adequate.
Tampa, for instance, doesn't stop development along troubled roads south
of Fletcher Avenue on the premise that land there is more densely populated.
Because of that density, buses are considered a viable transportation
option. If more people take the bus, the theory goes, then fewer cars clog
the roads.
Meanwhile, Hillsborough County saw much of its growth, which far outpaced
the city's, swallow vast stretches of farmland, pastures and groves. Unlike
the city, it couldn't waive concurrency because of density.
Generally, Hillsborough decided roads were adequate so long as their
daily traffic didn't exceed their capacity, as measured by standard
formulas. But by the 1990s, the county was fudging on most major roads.
"The development community was very successful in getting
exceptions, or getting the level of service down to such a low point that it
was negligible," said Bob Hunter, executive director of the county's
Planning Commission.
The county raised the traffic limit on part of Ehrlich Road to 160
percent of what it was designed to hold. Anderson Road: 181 percent. U.S.
301: 165 percent. Dale Mabry Highway: 169 percent. Waters Avenue: 162
percent. Himes Avenue: 187 percent.
Development boomed.
State regulators objected in 1997, so the county vowed it would lower
such limits to 100 percent in 2002. After an extension, the deadline became
Dec. 31, 2003. Planners reclassified miles of boulevards from adequate to
failing.
"That overnight literally made it much more difficult to do business
in Hillsborough County," said Charles White, a transportation planner
who manages the county's road concurrency reviews.
Because of this tougher stance, but also because of the amount of growth
during the past few years, developers were increasingly told they couldn't
build along jammed roads until they waited for the necessary road
construction - or paid for it.
Developers bristled and began lobbying commissioners and County
Administrator Pat Bean for relief last year.
"For years, we hadn't enforced concurrency rules," Commissioner
Ronda Storms said. "Once we did, it's no wonder developers started
asking, "What are you doing?"'
One person who withstood pressure from developers was Jonathan Paul, a
former transportation reviewer in the county's planning and growth
management department.
He joined the staff in 2003 and quickly took a hard line.
"For the first time in Hillsborough County, we started telling
people "no,"' Paul said.
But his stance didn't make his job easier. Denying projects only ensured
more meetings to justify his decisions. As his load grew, he quit answering
the telephone or returning calls, posting a recording that told callers to
e-mail him.
"Your workload goes down tremendously when you say "yes,"'
Paul said.
He lasted two years, resigning in September to move to Gainesville as
Alachua County's impact fee administrator. Paul praised his former
supervisors in Hillsborough but said the planning staff is too small, making
it difficult to deny a big developer when it might lead to 10 staff meetings
down the road. Without an adequate staff, he said, it will remain difficult
to deny projects, even with tougher standards.
"Hillsborough County in general is sticking their head in the sand
and saying the sky isn't falling, when in reality it is," Paul said.
* * *
The map says it all.
County planners created the map to show the roads that carry too much
traffic. It also shows which roads are projected to reach overload because
of already-approved development.
It's not encouraging. Just about every major county or state route has,
or will soon have, too much traffic.
Yet only in the Brandon area has development been severely restrained by
the county's enforcement of road concurrency, said Campbell, the county's
transportation director in the planning and growth management department.
Much of that area, especially along Bloomingdale Avenue, is already
developed, making the widening of roads difficult.
The county reviews about 160 projects each month, Campbell said. Of
these, about half are approved by a transportation review committee. Those
projects are allowed to begin building. The other half of the projects must
either wait or pay for road construction.
Many developers say the county is hampering growth with road concurrency.
Since last year, developers have aired other wide-ranging complaints:
The longer developers wait for project approval, the more money they
lose.
"What's happening is that zoning used to decide what a developer
needed to do," said Michael Peterson, an Apollo Beach lawyer and
Realtor. "Now it's only a start. There's a second list of requirements,
meaning more time and more money."
Small developers are at a competitive disadvantage against larger
builders that can more easily borrow money for roads.
"Some of these guys are unable to make intersection
improvements," Amaden said. "So they are put in a position to wait
until those improvements can be made."
It encourages sprawl, by shooing development toward roads that haven't
filled up.
"If a developer wants to find a place to build where there's
capacity, then he's going to go out to the boonies," said Oliver, the
transportation consultant.
The county is penalizing developers for its failure to maintain adequate
roads.
"We should have put the currency in concurrency 20 years ago,"
said Ron Weaver, a Tampa land-use lawyer.
Bruce McClendon, the county's director of planning and growth management,
said he has heard all of the complaints before and doesn't think most of
them are fair.
"Other jurisdictions enforce concurrency," McClendon said.
"Somebody negotiated to postpone it for a number of years in
Hillsborough. Now they're beating me with an ugly stick for enforcing a
state statute and blaming me for not doing it early enough."
Many of the delays caused by concurrency are because developers think
they can bend the rules, McClendon said.
"There's still people who think if they ask the right person, they
won't have to meet state statutes," he said. "When they find out
that's not so, then they have to get a study and wait when common sense
should have dictated that they would have needed one."
All concurrency does, McClendon said, is get developers to widen roads to
accommodate their projects.
"We're not asking them to fix the roads," he said. "We're
just asking them to add for the traffic they're creating."
That's partly why motorists shouldn't get too excited that concurrency
will make their commutes easier. It won't.
Take U.S. 301. The county extracted more than $23-million from developers
to widen a stretch of the two-lane road to four lanes. But that extra lane
space will be consumed by the 94,000 daily trips generated by the projects
that the developers are now allowed to build - 9,000 homes and 725,000
square feet of office and retail space.
"This only keeps the congestion from getting worse," McClendon
said. "It's not to improve traffic flow. That's done with other
funds."
While Paul may have exacted some of the greatest transportation
improvements from developers, he said that approach won't meet all of the
county's needs.
"If they solely expect the developing community to make up for all
of the past sins," he said, "the county will see itself in court
forever."
LITHIA - County commissioners have sidelined a developer's plans to
build a massive new residential community, saying they want more details
on exactly where Pulte Homes plans to build 3,500 houses off FishHawk
Boulevard.
They also want to explore how the county might partner with Pulte to
ease congestion on overcrowded Lithia-Pinecrest Road, something neighbors
complained about during a hearing Tuesday.
The commission sent back a rezoning request for Lake Hutto, which puts
construction of the development of regional impact on hold. The rezoning
now goes back to the zoning hearing master, who also wanted more detail
than Pulte provided on its maps.
Representing Pulte, attorney Rhea Law said the developer would agree to
add more detail before coming back before the commission. She also said
Pulte already planned to provide more than its fair share of road
improvements, based on the impact Lake Hutto would have on the area.
If approved, Lake Hutto would be built south of FishHawk Ranch and east
of Bell Shoals Road.
A new rezoning hearing is set for 6 p.m. April 4. The requests for the
rezoning, a comprehensive plan amendment and development approval will go
back before the county commission at 6 p.m. May 11.
After hearing one FishHawk Ranch resident after another complain about
the already overcrowded schools and long commutes to work on jammed roads,
commissioners acknowledged the problems. They blamed the premature
approval of the FishHawk community without the appropriate infrastructure
to support it.
"Lake Hutto doesn't have to add to the problem," said
Commissioner Ronda Storms.
"We can do a different job and a better job of planning for our
development," Storms said, adding that she was prepared to deny the
entire project Tuesday night.
Other commissioners said continued growth in the FishHawk area is
imminent but needs to take place in an orderly fashion. The best way to do
that is by working with a developer such as Pulte Homes on a package that
includes parks and school and road improvements.
But they want more detail on where Pulte plans to build houses on its
1,100-acre site.
The county's zoning hearing master had recommended denial of an
upgraded zoning category that would give Pulte more flexibility in where
it can build houses, town houses and apartments.
Pulte wants what it calls "a blending of densities"
throughout the community. The zoning hearing master recommended against
this plan, saying there is no basis for it in the county's comprehensive
land-use plan. Each of the three parcels that would make up Lake Hutto
have separate land-use designations.
In addition to asking for more detail, Commission Chairman Jim Norman
said he has strong concerns that Pulte does not plan to make improvements
to Lithia-Pinecrest Road, but should as part of the development agreement.
"Lithia-Pinecrest has been the backbone of transportation
issues" in that area, Norman said.
While Pulte has agreed to contribute $64 million for road improvements,
"It doesn't go quite far enough to solve the problem," Norman
said.
BROOKSVILLE -- When the average residential lawn irrigation system is
working well, it sprays about 2,500 gallons of water onto manicured lawns
during a single watering cycle. And with so much water at stake, poor
irrigation efficiency can cost property owners thousands of gallons of
wasted water and money. County Utilities Department Water Conservation
Coordinator Alys Brockway wants to make sure that does not happen. She will
soon ask commissioners to approve accepting a Southwest Florida Water
Management District grant of $23,750 to help pay for irrigation contractors
to evaluate homeowners’ irrigation systems, educate them about setting
their irrigation clocks and recommend how irrigation efficiency could be
improved. The plan involves the county’s utility department matching the
state grant. “This is a way to help customers optimize water
efficiency,” Brockway said. Part of the plan also includes installing free
rain irrigation sensors that turn off sprinkler systems when it is raining
or just after a shower. The money would be enough for an estimated 250
inspections and 125 rain sensors, according to county records. Brockway said
irrigation efficiency was important because an estimated 75 percent of home
water consumption was for outside use. Previously, utility officials thought
about half of residential water use went for irrigation. If approved by
commissioners, rain sensors would be given to homeowners with irrigations
systems installed before June 2001 and did not already have rain sensors.
Brockway said she has not yet chosen irrigation contractors for the project.
But when future contractors detect problem irrigation systems, Brockway said
it would be up to homeowners to fix concerns. “We hope they will be
inspired to fix those things,” Brockway said, “but they are under no
obligation.” Brockway hopes to have the program underway by April. The
county had a similar pilot project a year ago. Residents can contact
Brockway to have their names put on a waiting list to be contacted once
contractors are on the county’s payroll. She can be contacted at (352)
540-4368 ext. 35139. Reporter Fred Hiers can be contacted at (352) 544-5290.
Residents aghast over Fenway plans
The developer plans an upscale hotel and 300-car garage for the
historic Schiller property.
By VANESSA DE LA TORRE
Published February 26, 2006
DUNEDIN - The new owner of the historic Schiller property plans to
convert it into an upscale hotel with 250 suites, its own cocktail lounge,
fine dining and a day spa.
Two four-story wings would be added at the front of the landmark Fenway
on the Bay building. It overlooks Edgewater Drive, which would be widened.
And a 300-car garage would be constructed.
Neighbors are aghast.
The town buzz started in November. Word spread that George Rahdert, an
attorney and developer known for preserving historic buildings in St.
Petersburg, was negotiating to buy the property from Schiller International
University.
"We were excited," said Jo Golson, 63, who lives across the
street from the Schiller campus. "I was absolutely in seventh
heaven."
Rahdert, who represents the St. Petersburg Times on First Amendment
issues, paid $8-million for the property. He announced plans to put the
1920s Fenway on the National Register of Historic Places, with a vision to
transform the building into a four-star destination hotel. Suites would rent
for about $310 per night.
After seeing preliminary plans, Dunedin officials asked the developer to
meet with residents who live near Schiller.
"People always hate change and I can understand that," said Bob
Ironsmith, city economic development director.
That was in January.
Tuesday night, about 35 angry residents convened at the Church of the
Good Shepherd to organize themselves against Rahdert's plans. Some of them
pushed for a Fenway on the Bay Homeowners Association. They discussed hiring
an attorney to represent them before the City Commission, and said that
traffic on Edgewater Drive is already horrendous.
And now this big hotel? That would suffocate them.
"Once you start with one, I promise you have two, then three. And
your children are playing around big buildings," said Golson, a
psychotherapist.
"Rahdert lives in St. Petersburg, has his office in St. Petersburg,
does his business in St. Petersburg," said her husband, Bill Golson, a
real estate attorney. Rahdert is "not part of this community."
Some in the group cheered; some scribbled notes. They also mocked the
Mediterranean Revival style and got affirmation from Vivian Grant, a Dunedin
matriarch and former city commissioner, who said the two boxy additions in
the plans look like warehouses.
"An aesthetic horror," she declared.
Rahdert did not attend that meeting. However, in an interview last week,
he described the backlash as mostly involving "one or two neighbors who
were particularly outspoken and negative toward the project," including
its parking garage.
The plan shows three levels of 100 parking spaces each, with matching
parapets on the exterior, faux windows, and the same canary yellow paint and
architecture of the original Fenway on the Bay. Rahdert said the garage
would blend in with the hotel, and like other planned additions, would be no
taller than the highest point on the property, estimated at 38 feet.
"It's certainly not going to be monstrous," he said, adding
that a parking garage should ease concerns over congestion on residential
streets. "Really, you need a parking garage to keep it self-contained
and keep it from spilling into the neighborhood."
Dunedin planning officials say the city position on Rahdert's plans will
hinge on this major tenet: saving the old Fenway.
"The only reason we would go forward with this concept is for the
historical preservation of the property," said community services
director Kevin Campbell. Redevelopment on the 6.4 acres will be considered
after that initial step.
Matters can get complicated in a hurry, because current zoning in that
neighborhood is for single-family homes. The Schiller campus, where about
200 students attend classes, has a special-use exemption.
The proposed additions could mean rezoning and land-use amendments, or
rewriting existing codes if the hotel is granted an historical designation,
Campbell said. But until a site plan is submitted to the city, he added it
is merely speculation.
"They need to show us how they're going to preserve the old quality
of the Fenway, and how they're going to integrate it with the
neighborhood," said Ironsmith, the economic development director.
"If they can do that, that can have a lot of potential," he
said. "But they have to work hard at it."
Rahdert said forming the site plan is an "organic process" that
keeps changing, based on resident outcry and demands from interested hotel
companies. So far his planners have spoken with three, the latest being
Sheraton.
Neighbors at the protest meeting said they would do everything in their
power to block the project.
Since the grand plans call for renovating the pier across Edgewater Drive
and offering canoe rentals, some of those speaking Tuesday night worried it
might become a late-night party spot. Others were outraged by proposals to
widen the two-lane road and create a landscaped island in the center, as
well as a crosswalk, a turn lane and a bus stop.
Jo Golson still thinks Rahdert can "do a beautiful job."
"He can't do any worse than Schiller," Golson said. "But
it's not landscaping, it's the traffic."
The architect for the project, Jim Graham, said several changes have been
made to the conceptual drawing in recent weeks:
The parking garage would be limited to valet access.
The destination restaurant has been scaled back. Merchants worried that
it might detract from Main Street dining.
The number of suites may be reduced to 200.
Rahdert, who lives near the Don CeSar Beach Resort in St. Pete Beach,
said he envisions the future of Fenway on the Bay as a premier tourist spot
- one that would benefit Dunedin and help revitalize the county's top
industry.
"I know firsthand if a hotel is done properly, it's a really nice
amenity," Rahdert said. "We very much hope that even the naysayers
will come to see that, and see it as adding value to the community and their
property."
Some critics, such as Bill Golson, have even suggested that Rahdert's
motives are suspicious.
"Because he paid $8-million for all these hurdles," Golson told
others Tuesday. "The numbers aren't right."
Rahdert says his overriding intent is to preserve and restore Fenway on
the Bay, but that the project must also be economically viable and have
enough mass to support a luxury hotel.
Rahdert conceded that new construction might block residential views of
the waterfront "for one or two people."
"And this is not meant as a threat at all, but so would another
development coming down the pike.
"If, theoretically, the building was torn down and the property was
sold off as a housing site, you think the next developer would not build
intensely on the waterfront? That's the way the world works."
Neighbors will discuss the new Fenway plans during an open meeting at
7:30 p.m. March 7 at the Church of the Good Shepherd, 639 Edgewater Drive,
Dunedin.
Black Diamond residents want luster to last
As LandMar describes a proposal to add homes and golf club members,
some residents worry their lifestyle will suffer.
By CATHERINE E. SHOICHET
Published February 26, 2006
LECANTO - With prize-winning golf courses, million-dollar homes and a
top-notch restaurant, Black Diamond Ranch is one of Citrus County's most
exclusive developments.
Realtors pitch it as a luxurious escape from overdeveloped land and
overcrowded golf courses. Black Diamond's official Web site boasts that
"one of the world's most acclaimed golf communities will soon be more
exclusive than ever."
Original plans for the project cap it at 795 homes on 1,320 acres and 750
full golf club memberships. And that's just the way Robert Dion likes it.
"I bought into a particular lifestyle," said Dion, 63, a
businessman who moved from Naples to Black Diamond in 1998.
But behind the tony golf community's gates, he said, residents are
buzzing about a plan that some worry would destroy the lifestyle they were
promised.
In presentations to Black Diamond residents earlier this month,
representatives from Jacksonville-based developer LandMar said the company
wants to add more members to the club and add 1,005 additional homes on
about 600 surrounding acres.
Representatives of LandMar and Black Diamond Properties have said the
development won't lose any luster with the addition of more homes and golf
club members. In fact, they say, the changes would help fund major capital
improvements and help keep the club afloat.
LandMar spokeswoman Margie Martin declined to comment Friday on what she
said was the company's "very preliminary plan."
The company wants to work out the details of its proposal privately with
residents, she said, not with the press.
According to a slide in LandMar's presentation, "without substantial
changes to the community and club plan, future property values and the
club's viability is in question."
Dues at Black Diamond have more than doubled since 2000, but marketing
for the community has been tepid and home prices have declined, they said.
"Black Diamond is not keeping pace with sales volume and
appreciation in relation to the Tampa Bay area in general and similar
communities that LandMar has acquired and currently manages and
markets," the presentation said.
The new housing would include attached villas, townhomes and cluster
homes, estates and mansions ranging from $200,000 to more than $1.5-million,
according to the presentation.
Some of those homes would border Pine Ridge. Earlier this month, LandMar
representatives met with members of the Pine Ridge Property Owners
Association to discuss their plans.
LandMar would spend more than $1-million on marketing during its first
year and invest $55-million in Black Diamond. The investment would include
landscape upgrades, a new entrance off County Road 486 and new amenities
like a $3.5-million addition to the club's fitness center and a new
$1-million golf maintenance facility.
LandMar, founded in 1987, typically builds high-end homes and anchors
them with golf courses.
In their presentations last week, LandMar representatives pointed to
several of the company's large projects and compared them with Black
Diamond. They described Grand Haven, a 1,901-home development in Flagler
County that features a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus, and Osprey
Cove, a 972-home community on 1,230 acres in St. Marys, Georgia with a
course designed by Mark McCumber. Both of those projects, they said, have a
lower percentage of residents with full golf club memberships.
LandMar's proposal would decrease the number of full equity golf club
memberships at Black Diamond from 750 to 650. Currently there are about 542
issued full golf club memberships, according to LandMar.
Adding associate and social members to the club would shore up the club's
finances without overcrowding facilities, they said. Associate members,
capped at 400, would only be able to play three rounds per month at the
club. Social members would be able to access all club facilities except the
golf courses.
In November, Black Diamond administration director Marina Taylor informed
residents that LandMar had entered into a purchase agreement with Black
Diamond Properties. She said the company was conducting a feasibility study
to determine whether it would become the successor developer of Black
Diamond Ranch.
Black Diamond Properties vice president Joe Cappuccilli said in an
interview Friday that Black Diamond sought out LandMar because of the
company's strong reputation and track record.
He said Black Diamond president Stan Olsen "wants somebody that will
basically see this community finished on a proper note."
This month's meetings with LandMar officials offered many residents the
first glimpse of the developer's plans. In April, current club members are
slated to vote on LandMar's proposal.
Before finalizing the purchase agreement, Cappuccilli said, LandMar wants
to make sure that the community supports their plan.
And without approval from current club members, the membership structure
cannot be changed.
"It's something that everybody practically is talking about,"
said Mike McMichael, a retired American Airlines captain who lives in Black
Diamond. "I don't think . . . that the members have a fair return for
what they're being asked to give up."
He said he was concerned with the possibility of more members joining the
club. But he said current members are interested in negotiating further.
McMichael said he's been talking with other members to try to
"identify what changes need to be made for (LandMar's proposal) to be
acceptable."
Linda Youell, 56, one of the original charter members of Black Diamond,
said she was optimistic about LandMar's willingness to hear residents'
opinions.
"Essentially, what we're looking for is more information from
LandMar, greater specificity and the opportunity to discuss with them at
greater length what their intentions are for the property," she said.
County Commissioner Dennis Damato, who has owned vacant property in Black
Diamond since 1998, said he attended LandMar's presentation and liked what
he heard. Surrounding Black Diamond with a planned residential development
will improve property values for existing residents, he said. He said he
also supported changing the club's membership structure.
"A lot of people don't play a lot of golf and want to live in a nice
community like that," he said.
Community Development director Chuck Dixon said Friday that the county
had not yet received any applications for the proposed changes at Black
Diamond.
Adding more than 1,000 homes, he said, would meet the state's definition
of a development of regional impact and require an extensive review process.
Before the April vote, Dion said he is trying to organize a membership
meeting to clarify what Black Diamond residents want.
He said many residents are skeptical of LandMar's proposal.
"These people are profit motivated," Dion said. "Members
are not so profit motivated. We just want the lifestyle we bought
into."
SARASOTA COUNTY -- State planners have rejected a proposed affordable
housing district because it would be outside the county's urban services
boundary.
But county officials aren't giving up on the idea so easily. They hope to
persuade the Department of Community Affairs to change its opinion.
In a report that the county received Friday, the DCA endorsed the idea of
the district but recommended that "a more suitable location be selected
within the Urban Service Area closer to jobs, shopping and services."
The county wants to create the district on 292 acres of orange groves owned
by Billy Springer. The site is east of Palmer Boulevard and the Bee Ridge
Road Extension.
The County Commission rejected numerous other sites bordering the county's
urban boundary because of narrow roads or concerns about sprawl.
The Springer property is locked in by canals and environmental features that
would prohibit urban development there from spreading east into rural areas,
county officials said.
Water and sewer pipelines are beneath streets fronting the site, but cannot
be extended unless the county creates an exception to its urban services
boundary. Properties outside the boundary cannot receive county utilities
and, if developed, require wells and septic tanks.
County planner Wendy Thomas said she will try to make the DCA more aware of
the proposed district's geography and limitations.
"We had a general feeling this would probably happen," Thomas
said. "Perhaps the language wasn't specific enough for them. I think
we'll be able to address that."
"I would suggest we talk with them (DCA) about it," Commissioner
Shannon Staub said. "It's a matter of balancing priorities. The
opportunity to do something like this doesn't come along in many places
within the urban services boundary."
County officials and the DCA had a similar difference of opinion in 2002
about the hotly debated Sarasota 2050 villages plan.
In that case, the DCA eventually agreed that a village form of development,
with a combination of clustered housing and preserved open spaces, would be
preferable to multiacre-lot subdivisions in selected areas east of the urban
boundary.
In November, the County Commission unanimously included the "affordable
housing overlay district" in a draft of the county's next comprehensive
plan. Before that plan can take effect, it must be approved by the DCA.
As they wrote the plan, the commissioners included several initiatives that
they hope will boost the county's stock of affordable housing.
Last year, the median price of a home in the Sarasota-Bradenton market
reached $322,700 -- a 32 percent jump from the previous year and well out of
reach for many working families.
The commissioners were willing to consider two to five homes per acre on the
Springer property instead of the two- to five-acre home sites permitted by
current zoning. Yet the higher densities would be contingent on future
developers there agreeing to keep a third to half of the homes affordable
for moderate-income buyers.
The DCA also objected to the county's proposed shift of the urban services
boundary in Englewood so that 131 acres can be zoned for offices and
multifamily housing. The agency said the proposal has not been adequately
reviewed for its possible impact on roads, schools and other public
services.
County officials said they wanted to make potential land uses in the area on
the east side of State Road 776 consistent with what they are encouraging
for other areas along the highway.
Behind the De Soto debacle
The plan for the Pinellas park, while shocking to many, was the result
of an effort that started years ago.
By WILL VAN SANT, Times Staff Writer
Published February 26, 2006
Pinellas County's move to expand concessions at Fort De Soto Park died a
sudden death last week after residents raised a full-throated outcry.
The County Commission office was swamped with more than 1,000 telephone
calls and e-mails within a week. Some commissioners said the outpouring
topped any in memory.
While the Fort De Soto plan shocked some, it was rooted in a yearslong
effort to expand county park services and to open public land to moneymaking
ventures that offset operating costs.
"It wasn't like we sat around one night and said, yeah, let's do
this," said assistant county administrator Jake Stowers, after the
commissioners' decision.
"It was a thought-out process. And quite honestly, I guess we
misjudged some of the feeling in the community."
Stowers said the county began a park system review in 2001, hiring a
consultant and holding 11 workshops to determine what the public wanted in
its parks.
By June 2005, the county had assembled a master plan that Stowers said
reflected comments from the workshops. The plan called for
"energizing" parks such as Fort De Soto with outdoor concerts,
cafes and art exhibits.
While developing the master plan, the county brought in another
consultant to explore the moneymaking potential of increasing park
concessions. And in May the county hired Front Row Marketing Services to
identify county assets ripe for marketing.
Municipal marketing is that firm's specialty - think of a shoe company
such as Nike paying to sponsor a stretch of the Pinellas Trail. The park
system, and Fort De Soto in particular, struck the firm as a place rich with
marketing possibility.
Enlisting private companies to boost services at public parks is nothing
new, said Paul Cozzie, Pinellas' parks and recreation director.
"That has been a trend going on for many years," Cozzie said
last week. "Call it commercialization, call it privatization. People
are looking for certain amenities they didn't see 20 years ago."
The county's effort has led to some modest park changes, none of which
produced the kind of public anger that killed the Fort De Soto plan:
In August 2004, the county struck a deal with a private concessionaire at
Sand Key Park. The vendor sells suntan lotion, snacks, soda and beach
umbrellas. The county gets a piece of the proceeds, which vary greatly from
month to month.
Pinellas' take hit a high of $3,990 in May.
In August, a private company began renting canoes and kayaks at Weedon
Island Preserve. The county took in $758 from that venture in October, the
most profitable month to date.
These operations have little impact on Pinellas' $1.7-billion budget. But
county leaders see them as a way to give residents more park services while
defraying taxpayer costs.
Seven months ago, the county began soliciting bids to handle concessions
at Fort De Soto. The Apostolu family has had the contract since 1976.
Twenty-nine-year old Jody Apostolu, who took over the job from his father,
runs a camp store, a bait and tackle shop, two snack bars and a larger food
concession and gift shop.
Last year, the Apostolu operation brought in more than $146,000 for
Pinellas.
When it sought a concessionaire last year, the county wanted companies to
bid not only on running the existing services but also to offer a vision of
more.
In December, the county chose Hollywood Promotions of Dania Beach. The
company proposed a new bait and tackle shop, beer sales, a restaurant with
seating for 225, an ice cream cart and a trolley service.
Hollywood Promotions also suggested marketing trips to Fort De Soto at
area hotels and creating a low-frequency radio station for announcements
about upcoming park events.
Stowers and other county leaders blamed the news media for distorting
what Hollywood had in mind. No contract had been signed, he said, and there
was no way the county would have approved all of what Hollywood proposed.
However, Stowers said the county could have done a better job of defining
for the public what it hoped to accomplish at Fort De Soto.
"It's part and parcel our fault because we didn't get the
information out well," Stowers said. "The rumor mill took
over."
St. Petersburg environmentalist Lorraine Margeson helped rouse the
opposition. She said the county failed to understand how precious unspoiled
land in development-heavy Pinellas is to residents.
Some plan advocates said embracing Hollywood's ideas would have little
impact on the park, whose 1,136 acres are home to a beach ranked the best in
the nation last year. Margeson finds that laughable.
"I'm sorry, but that is just such baloney," she said.
"These were not modest improvements."
The county is now negotiating with Pepsi, Pinellas' official soft drink,
about expanding the number of soda machines at parks. The arrangement could
be worth $3.2-million to the county over 10 years.
Other than the Pepsi deal, county officials say there are no plans to
allow private businesses to operate in parks. They are not backing away from
the concept, however - the current concessions at Fort DeSoto will be
offered for the time being - but officials say they will act cautiously
after the Fort De Soto plan backlash.
"It will be on our minds," Stowers said.
Margeson, 49, said the incident ignited public concern for the welfare of
the park system and convinced residents that they can influence county
policy. She plans to build on what she called a victory for the people of
Pinellas.
"I'm an official watchdog," she said. "There are places
the county has to preserve to protect the sanity of the people that live
here."
OCALA - President Bush's 2007 budget proposal suggests putting 973 acres
of the Ocala National Forest up for sale as part of an initiative to raise
up to $800 million for a federal program that helps fund schools and roads
in counties with federal forest land.
Up to 300,000 of the 193 million acres of federal forest land could go up
for sale if Congress approves the plan, said Denise Raines, spokeswoman
for the Tallahassee office of the United States Department of Agriculture
Forest Service.
"Quite frankly our piece of the pie is quite small compared to other
states in our region," she said. "Georgia has over 4,000
acres."
Raines said the 14 parcels in the Ocala National Forest, which range in
size from less than one and a half acres to two parcels of more than 210
acres, had already been identified as land the federal government would be
willing to swap for land farther into the forest in a consolidation
effort. On its Web site, the Forest Service describes the land in question
as small, outlying tracts "that are isolated or inefficient to manage
due to their location or other characteristics."
The president's plan has drawn the ire of the environmental protection
group, Audubon of Florida.
"If the way of shaving that deficit becomes selling off acreage in
places like the the Ocala National Forest, that would be devastating to
environmental management both here and across the country," said
Charles Lee, director of advocacy with Audubon of Florida. "To have a
fire sale of environmentally sensitive land to try and generate money for
the national budget is just nuts."
The Audubon of Florida has produced a map of the parcels, based on
location information the Forest Service provided on its web site. The
official federal map of the land will not be out until after the
President's proposal is published in the Federal Register and a 30 day
public comment period starts.
On the Audubon map, many of the parcels border lakes in the forest,
including Lake Bryant.
In a press release, U.S. Rep. Cliff Stearns R- Ocala said the idea is
"merely a proposal" and he wanted to withhold comment on it
until after the public comment period. Democratic Sen. Bill Nelson's
spokesman criticized the proposal as an ill-advised attempt to raise
revenue.
"It caught everybody by surprise," Nelson's spokesman Dan
McLaughlin said. "As far as we know, none of the delegation members
knew about it and we've heard from the national forest managers in Florida
that they didn't know about it either. The bottom line is we are certainly
opposed to selling off acreage in the Ocala National Forest ostensibly to
raise revenue. The administration has raised a huge deficit. It is a $2.5
to $3 trillion budget and selling off acreage on lakes in the Ocala
National Forest is not a solution to the budget crisis. The good thing is
it is just a proposal so we will have the opportunity in Congress to have
it debated and hopefully defeated."
The President's proposal is part of a plan to extend payments under the
Secure Rural Schools and Community Self-Determination Act of 2000 for an
additional five years. The program helps raise money for roads and schools
in counties with national forest land that cannot be taxed. Previously,
revenue sharing from timber sales on federal land helped fund the program,
but that source of money has dwindled in recent years. Raines said the
money would be paid to the State Comptroller' Office which would then
administer it to counties with national forest land.
__________
Christopher Curry may be reached at chris.curry@starbanner.com or (352)
867-4115.
Dade City
Published: Feb 18, 2006
East Side Residents Can Sound Off At Forum
City commissioners will hold a special session next month to hear the
concerns of east side residents.
The 40-year-old neighborhood is east of the railroad tracks.
Commissioner Steve Van Gorden, who suggested the forum, said people might
want to talk about topics such as policing, roads, houses that appeared
abandoned, mosquito control and drainage.
The discovery of a neighborhood man floating in a stagnant stormwater
canal was the latest reminder of such issues on the east side.
Benny "Harvey" Bryant, 39, who had epilepsy and was prone to
seizures, was pulled from the swampy canal in early January, several weeks
after his wife reported him missing.
The special session is at 5:30 p.m. March 16 at the James Irvin Education
Center, 35830 State Road 52.
Residents can call the city manager's office at (352) 523-5050 to find
out more about addressing commissioners at the forum.
NEW TAMPA - The man partly responsible for coining the moniker
"New Tampa" 15 years ago says the future of the fast-growing
community lies to the north.
"Someday it will be from Tampa Palms to State Road 54," Frank
Margarella said of New Tampa in a Wednesday address to the New Tampa Noon
Rotary.
"They are part of the New Tampa movement, in my mind, if they
patronize New Tampa businesses," Margarella later said of Wesley
Chapel residents.
The New Tampa Community Council, of which Margarella is president, long
has been involved with Pasco County, its politics and county commission
"because we share this highway called Bruce B. Downs," he said.
"I think we need to join forces, really."
There are indications Wesley Chapel embraces its Hillsborough County
neighbor, attaching the New Tampa name to a shopping center on Bruce B.
Downs Boulevard at State Road 56, which also is the site of Taste of New
Tampa on April 9, Margarella added.
Reminiscing about the "New Tampa" name, Margarella said he
and other community council members invented it to help draw attention to
Hunter's Green and subsequent north Tampa communities being developed on
former ranchland in the early 1990s.
"We wanted to be put on the map," said Margarella, 55, who
arrived in Hunter's Green in January 1991.
Not everyone liked the proposed name.
Margarella recalled that some protested, "You're not going to be
new forever."
His standard response: "Have you ever heard of New York?"
County Board Needs Ethics Code To End Appearance Of Impropriety
Published: Feb 18, 2006
Ruskin residents who oppose a developer's rezoning request to
build 360 waterfront homes are dismayed to learn that the developer and
his associates have combined to give Hillsborough County Commissioner Jim
Norman $6,000 for his re-election campaign.
Norman insists that the legal contributions, all at or under the $500
limit, won't affect his decision on the matter next month. Perhaps not,
but something feels wrong when a company, its employees and affiliated
businesses all suddenly focus their generosity on the same public
official. It doesn't look right or smell right, one resident told Tribune
reporter Liz Bleau.
Something can be strictly legal and still create an appearance of
unfair influence. That's why the Hillsborough County Commission should
adopt rules similar to those adopted last year by the City-County Planning
Commission. Those rules call on members to avoid situations where
"impartiality may reasonably be questioned."
As one example, the county's ethics rules could include reasonable
limits on campaign contributions from interested parties within six months
of zoning votes. Contributions could still be made, but the board's rules
could prohibit the county commissioner receiving the money from voting on
that particular case.
The code also could address other appearances of impropriety, such as
creating the impression that the outcome of an issue has been
predetermined. Consider a commission meeting last year involving
Championship Park, a $40 million sports complex that Norman wants the
county to build. Commissioners Brian Blair and Kathy Castor had spoken
against the project and Norman spoke for it. Then this exchange occurred,
suggesting Norman knew something the audience didn't.
Commissioner Ronda Storms: Well, I'm thinking that there aren't the
votes to make it, to make it happen today …
Norman: There is.
Storms: OK. Well, all right. So you're saying there are votes.
The motion to study Norman's proposal passed 5-2 with Castor and Blair
voting no. No one asked Norman to explain how he was certain of majority
support.
Under the planning commission's code of ethics, he would have had to
share any inside information or backroom communications with colleagues.
The information, such as the relevant facts in a phone call or e-mail,
must be forwarded to staff to be shared with board members. That puts
everyone on the same page and avoids "an appearance of
impropriety."
The planning commission's code of conduct also forbids bullying, a
requirement that county commissioners would be wise to copy: "Avoid
the use of abusive, threatening or intimidating language or gestures
directed at colleagues, citizens or staff."
Appearances matter. County commissioners should set higher standards to
enhance theirs.
Don Juan is no longer on the prowl. For the second time, wildlife
officials have removed a Florida panther from the wild for repeatedly
preying on domesticated animals.
The removal of Florida panther 79, named Don Juan because of his
reproductive prowess, comes after four panther highway deaths in the past
month as scientists consider a plan to introduce the panther to Central
Florida.
The 11-year-old cat is thought to have sired about 30 offspring.
It was the chicks he chased in his spare time that got Don Juan in
trouble.
Biologists confirmed that the radio-collared cat, which lived in Big
Cypress National Preserve, was responsible for a number of recent kills of
domesticated chickens - as well as a hog, a turkey and a house cat - since
Feb. 9 in the Ochopee area along U.S. 41 in Collier County.
The panther was tranquilized Thursday night and is being held at a lab
in Tallahassee, where it will be evaluated until officials decide where to
place it.
In 2004, an 8-year-old male panther was removed from the wild after
preying on animals in a petting zoo in southeast Collier County. That cat
has been relocated to White Oak Conservation Center, north of
Jacksonville.
Eighty adult Florida panthers are estimated to remain in the wild, and
biologists think their habitat in South Florida is nearing capacity.
Florida panthers require large areas of undeveloped habitat, often
several hundred square miles. Don Juan, for instance, had a home range of
620 square miles.
Florida panthers once roamed across the Southeast.
Now few live outside South Florida. Most are in the Big Cypress
National Preserve and the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. Rapid
growth in the Naples-Fort Myers region and in Miami-Dade County is
squeezing the panther from the west and the east.
"We feel we have an adequate deer population to support the
panthers that are there now," Big Cypress biologist Deborah Jansen
said.
A group of scientists from the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, the
National Park Service and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation
Commission decided the move made sense for three reasons:
•At 11, the cat was at the upper range of a panther's expected life
span.
•Its reproductive success had contributed mightily to the survival of
the species.
•Leaving a panther that had developed a taste for domesticated
animals could do more harm to the long-term recovery of the species than
removing it.
"A couple of bad panthers can really make recovery tougher because
you need to have public support," said Laura Hartt, an environmental
policy specialist with the National Wildlife Federation.