The Pasco County Planning Commission recommended approval for the rezoning of nearly 20 acres of property in the Bayonet Point area for the construction of a 114-unit affordable apartment complex.
Tenants who rent the apartments will need to make 60% or less of Pasco County’s Annual Median Income (AMI), which is approximately $78,000 a year according to information contained in the rezoning application.
Households that make 80% or less of Pasco County’s AMI are considered eligible for affordable housing according to Chief Assistant County Attorney David Goldstein. The county can’t require a developer to have a lower AMI than that, but the applicant for the affordable apartments project has voluntarily agreed to the lower figure, according to Goldstein.
The Pasco County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) will consider the request by Bayonet Land LLC/Bayonet Gardens (Bayonet) at its Aug. 21 meeting in New Port Richey and will have the final say on whether the rezoning will be approved because the Planning Commission only acts in an advisory capacity regarding such requests.
Bayonet is seeking to have the zoning changed from an MF-1 Multiple-Family Medium Density District to an MF-3 Multiple-Family High Density District for the property located on the southeast corner of the Intersection of Lakeshore Boulevard, Dallas Drive and Community Court, approximately 650 feet west of Fivay Road.
If this request is approved, McDowell Housing Partners plans to build a mid-level apartment building with a minimum height of four stories that will contain the 114 units. A detached, roughly 5,000-square-foot clubhouse and a swimming pool and pickleball court also will be developed on the property, according to a representative for McDowell who attended the Planning Commission meeting. This will be Phase One of three proposed phases of the apartment complex.
Between 100 apartments and 180 apartments could be built in Phase Two of the project. The total amount of affordable apartments contemplated for the project is 294, according to the rezoning application.
One of the Findings of Fact for the rezoning request was that “Pasco County has seen an approximate 67% increase in housing costs over the past three years compared to an 18.6% average wage increase. This proposal will serve the labor force, which is currently being locked out of an otherwise tight market in housing inventory.”
“The build out year for the project is anticipated to be 2030,” according to an analysis done for McDowell by Lincks & Associates LLC.
In other business, the Planning Commission:
- Recommended approval of a zoning amendment with conditions requested by Sandhill Ridge MPUD Master Planned Unit Development – Habitat for Humanity of Pinellas County. The applicant wants to be able to build 23 affordable detached single-family homes on approximately 4.39 acres located on the west side of Little Road approximately 825 feet north of the West Pasco Government Center/Citizens Drive. The property is currently zoned R-1MH Single-Family/Mobile Home Zoning District.
The applicant is asking to be allowed to have lots that are a minimum of 40-feet-wide and to be excused from the requirement that lots of that size need to be rear-loaded. It said in the application for rezoning that county staff was amenable to a smaller MPUD because it will provide homes for working families, which is needed for the local economy and community, and will “be a transition from the commercial and heavy traffic along Little Road on the east, to the larger mobile home and residential lots to the west.”
- Recommended approval of a change in zoning requested by Shah Sachin K and Sarmila Shrestha for approximately 0.41 acres located on the south side of State Road 54 approximately 400 feet west of Meadowbrook. The property is currently zoned AR-1 Agricultural-Residential District. The applicant wants it to be rezoned to PO-1 Professional Office District so a medical office containing between 2,800 square feet and 4,000 square feet may be constructed on the site.
- Recommended approval of a small-scale comprehensive plan amendment requested by Tyler Suddeth for 2.06 acres of property located on the southwest corner of the intersection of State Road 54 and Ernest Drive in Wesley Chapel. The request is to have the property’s zoning changed from ROR (Residential/Office/Retail) and RES-3 (Residential-3 Du/Ga) to COM (Commercial) to allow for commercial uses that will serve the surrounding residential communities.
The BOCC also will consider these requests for zoning amendments and the comp plan amendment during its Aug. 21 meeting.
- Approved a request for a Special Exception made by R.&J. Properties of PascoInc/Disbrow Duplex. The applicant wants to be able to convert an existing 3,416-square-foot dwelling that was previously used as an assisted living facility into a duplex. The approximately 0.26-acre property is located on the north side of
Baumann Lane approximately 210 feet west of Grand Boulevard.
- Approved a request for a Special Exception requested by St Verena Coptic Orthodox Church Inc/St Verena Private K-5 School. The applicant wants to be able to have a K-5 private Christian religious day school for a maximum of 75 students with approximately 10 staff members, including teachers, from August to May for 180 school days. Of the 10 staff members, two would be full-time administration staff employees at the private school, according to the applicant’s agent, Angela B. Rauber, Esq., of the Tampa-based law firm of Hill, Ward, Henderson, P.A. The school will be located on 3.9 acres at 4125 U.S. 19 in New Port Richey.
The Planning Commission is empowered under an applicable portion of the Pasco County Land Development Code (LDC) to hear and decide requests for special exceptions.
Published July 03, 2024
