A rezoning request for property within Pasco County’s I-75 Interstate Employment Area gained initial approval from the Pasco County Planning Commission during its April 4 meeting.
The approximately 745-acre site is located north of State Road 52 and west of Interstate 75. It is currently zoned for agricultural, single family/mobile homes and general commercial purposes.
The request by Mulandco Liquidating Company LLC to have the zoning changed to Master Planned Unit Development (MPUD) will be considered by the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) during its May 7 meeting in Dade City. The Planning Commission (PC) acts in an advisory capacity to the BOCC.
If approved, the applicant plans to develop 190,000 square feet of retail/commercial space, 3,000,000 square feet of light industrial space, 500,000 square feet of office space, a 250-room hotel, 1,550 multi-family apartments, 150 townhomes, 600 single family homes and 27 single family estate homes.
“So far, it is the third largest employment project behind Speros (16.5 million square feet) and Double Branch (4.7 million square feet),” said Ryan Hughes, a Pasco County public information officer.
Plans call for between 375 acres and 400 acres of the property to be used to help increase the number of people working in Pasco County, said Clarke Hobby, an attorney with the law firm of Hobby & Hobby who was representing the applicant.
However, the PC didn’t give Mulandco Liquidating Company LLC everything it had asked for in its request for rezoning the property — they had to withdraw three variances they had requested from Pasco County’s Land Development Code.
Those variances would have provided for the amount of land that had to be set aside for neighborhood parks to be calculated differently, the amount of buffering and screening required within the development to be reduced, and for being allowed to have a minimum width of 1.7 parking spaces per apartment unit rather than 1.9.
Those requests may be made to the county’s planning staff in the future and then presented to the PC or BOCC depending on which has final authority in the matter.
In other business before the PC last week:
• Agreed to send a request by Timber Ridge MPUD – Timber Ridge Dade City LLC for a zoning amendment to the BOCC. Approximately 48.2 acres of property on the west side of U.S. 301, west of 14th Street, is currently zoned R-3 Medium Density Residential District. The applicant is seeking for it to be rezoned to a Master Planned Unit Development (MPUD) so a maximum of 190 single family detached units may be constructed on the site.
Some area residents told PC members they were opposed to the request because of concerns the traffic flow on 14th Street would be adversely impacted.
Traffic on 14th Street south of the proposed project is currently using 20% of the street’s capacity in the afternoon, said Michael “Mike” Raysor of Tampa-based Raysor Transportation Consulting. After the project is completed, traffic would use 35% of the street’s capacity, Raysor said.
Traffic on 14th Street north of the proposed project is currently using 15% of the street’s capacity. Traffic there would be 35% after the project is completed, Raysor said.
Nancy Hazelwood, a resident of Trilby, asked the PC to restrict where traffic could come from out of the development, and to reduce the subdivision’s density.
The applicant withdrew its request to be able to have a stub-out for future connection to a vacant parcel on the northwest portion of the site. The plans still call for Catalina Drive to be used for emergency access purposes. Also, there never was any intention by the planners to connect to Powerline Road, said attorney Clarke Hobby, who was representing the applicant.
And 291 single-family homes could currently be built on the property so the developer is proposing to reduce that amount by 101 homes, Hobby said.
The BOCC will consider Timber Ridge’s request during its May 7 meeting in Dade City.
• The PC also agreed to send a request by Russell K. and Leann Finlay for a change in zoning from an A-C Agricultural District to a C-2 General Commercial District to the BOCC. The request is for approximately 3.49 acres located on two lots on the east side of US 301, approximately 200 feet north of Marka Drive. If the request is approved, the Finlays plan to construct a small commercial center containing approximately 21,000 square feet.
The Finlays plan to use part of that space for a business of their own, said Anne Pollack, an attorney with the St. Petersburg-based law firm of Fletcher Fischer Pollack P.I, representing the Finlays. This would make it possible for them to employ an additional six people, so they would then have 10 people working for them, said Pollack.
The number of people employed in the area could also be increased by other businesses leasing the six or eight other spaces that could be available in the commercial center, Pollack said.
The PC made some changes to the Finlays request prior to agreeing to send it on to the BOCC. The Finlays had agreed to some voluntary deed restrictions that PC members didn’t think were appropriate since the proposed commercial center would be in a rural setting.
The BOCC will consider the request at a future meeting.
Published April 17, 2024