By B.C. Manion
How to handle traffic on Gunn Highway may become one of the central issues as residents of Keystone and Odessa continue making plans to shape their Northwest Hillsborough communities.
The planning process began in December 2009, and stakeholders have attended 13 meetings to discuss the Keystone/Odessa area’s future, said Pedro Parra, project manager for the community plan update for the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission.
The planning commission is not pushing any particular plan, said Parra, who is a principal planner for the commission. But he said there are issues of density and intensity outside of the planning area that have created an increase in traffic through the area.
Unlike Lutz, Keystone doesn’t have US 41, North Dale Mabry Highway and the Veterans Expressway to handle the flow of motorists streaming through the community.
Instead, motorists coming from Pasco and Pinellas travel on Gunn Highway and Crawley, Patterson, Wayne and Boy Scout roads, Parra said.
The debate over whether Gunn Highway should be widened through Keystone is nothing new. It’s been raging for decades.
Some say the road needs to be widened for the safety of motorists.
Others say that widening it will only attract more traffic and will increase commercial pressures in an area that has tenaciously fought to maintain a rural quality of life.
The character of the area west of Gunn Highway has not changed much since the last community plan was adopted in 2001, Parra said. The development pattern there is generally large lots and tracts of environmentally sensitive land, he said.
On the east side of Gunn Highway, there are approved developments, he said.
Most of the pressures, however, are coming from Pasco and Pinellas counties, Parra said.
Barbara Dowling, a former member of the planning commission and a long-time Keystone advocate, said the issue essentially boils down to: “Do people want to keep the open spaces and star-filled nights or do they want it more commercialized, like Dale Mabry?”
If the community decides that a wider Gunn Highway is needed, Dowling wonders if it will significantly improve safety.
“The MPO (Metropolitan Planning Organization) told us — widen Gunn Highway and the traffic increases by 61 percent.”
She’s concerned that a wider road will lead to a bigger push for commercial development.
“Who wants to live on a four-lane road?” Dowling asked.
Although Keystone still has a rural tranquility treasured by many of its residents, not everyone who moves into the area shares that sentiment, Dowling said.
“Sometimes the people want to bring the city with them,” Dowling said.
Exploring ways to enhance traffic safety is just one of many issues that will be tackled in the community planning process, which is an ongoing process. A community open house on the plan is slated for June and the Hillsborough County Commission is expected to vote on the plan at the end of the year.
To learn more about the plan, go to www.theplanningcommission.org and click on Hillsborough, then click on community based planning and then Keystone-Odessa Community Plan.
