Special to The Laker/Lutz News

A proposal to develop an employment center and apartment complex in Pasco County’s Northeast Rural Area drew opposition from citizens during a Pasco County Planning Commission meeting Sept. 5 in Dade City.

Evans Properties Inc. is seeking a change in zoning that would allow the proposed development on the east side of Lake Iola Road about 1,350 feet north of Blanton Road.

The request is being made in the name of Evans County Line 80 MPUD Master Planned Unit Development to have the property’s zoning changed from an Agricultural District to a Master Planned Unit Development District. 

Evans wants to use 1,500,000 square feet of the property for light industrial purposes and develop 300 multi-family units (apartments) there.

However, a continuance was requested, pushing a potential planning commission recommendation until Oct. 3.

Ronald Pianta, a senior planner representing Coastal Engineering of Brooksville, said the continuance had been requested so additional evidence could be submitted when a formal hearing is held regarding the rezoning request.

Attendees were given the opportunity to make comments about the request because it hadn’t been advertised as a continued item. 

Joan Kerwin said she believes the rezoning request violates Pasco County’s Comprehensive Plan that outlines where and how development should occur. 

“Why would this community be approved when it directly conflicts with the Northeast Rural Protection Zone?” Kerwin asked. 

Pasco County officials established the rural protection zone in 2016. It is bordered by Bellamy Brothers Boulevard on the west, Green Swamp on the east, State Road 52 on the south and the Hernando County line on the north. 

Evans’ property is east of Bellamy Brothers Boulevard and south of County Line Road North.

Under policies in the comprehensive plan, Kerwin said, county officials are “mandated to protect Lake Iola Road and our rural northeast community residents.”

“To condone this plan, or any future plan by potential carpetbaggers, will be the obvious violation of the comprehensive plan and breach of public trust that could result in costly legal proceedings,” Kerwin said.

Resident Lisa Moretti expressed concerns about traffic hazards in the area where the project might be located. 

“We know what’s going on at that corner and the only people who are going to do well are Life Flight and a list of hospitals and trauma hospitals all the way across the county,” Moretti said.

Moretti also said she didn’t think 300 apartments should be put on property that may initially have to be served by wells and septic tanks. 

“This would be unsanitary and a health hazard not only to them but to all of the residents surrounding that area as well,” Moretti said.

And she added there’s no way to supply water to that area and there is also no wastewater treatment system in the area that Evans’ development could connect with.

“The beneficiaries of this proposed plan will only be the current owners of the parcel and the developers, not the current residents and farmers in the area,” Stephen Couture said. 

Couture added he thought the development Evans is considering would negatively impact wildlife in the area. 

“I urge you to vote against this irresponsible request,” Couture said.

County staff supports it but planning commission members weren’t able to offer a recommendation on the request because of it being continued until Oct. 3. The Pasco County Board of County Commissioners has the final authority regarding rezoning requests.

Pianta, who had requested the continuance, responded, in part, to some of the concerns people expressed at the meeting, including that:

• The property is located in a designated employment center and the uses the applicant is requesting are consistent with that designation so they are consistent with the county’s comprehensive plan.
• A traffic study was approved by county staff in which the applicant has agreed to make improvements to Lake Iola Road.
• Alternative public facilities – for water and sewer – will need to be provided if development occurs before public facilities – from Pasco County – are available; and that an agreement will be required to connect to public utilities when those public services do become available.
• And that all conditions of being a Master Planned Unit Development have been agreed to in what is “a long-term planning project,” Pianta said.

In other business on Sept. 5, the planning commission recommended commissioners approve changes to zoning, the small-scale comprehensive plan and the future land use plan map that would allow for 200 townhomes and 36,000 square feet of retail, office and commercial uses on 29.01 acres at 2154 Gall Blvd. in the East Market Area.