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Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission

Frolicking in the Florida snow?

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Children, and adults alike, will have a new recreational option when a new winter park opens for business in Northeast Pasco.

The Pasco County Commission on Aug. 6 approved the addition of a snow park, which will be situated next to Tree Hoppers Aerial Adventure Park, on the north side of St. Joe Road, about 800 feet east of Bellamy Brothers Boulevard, in Dade City.

The conditional use, approved by the board, applies to a western parcel that makes up about 58.5 acres and an eastern parcel that makes up about 60 acres.

The western parcel, which consists of areas of dense vegetation and a mature tree canopy, will be used for the winter park. Under the conditions, it can operate up to 120 days a year

The eastern parcel, which is the Tree Hoppers site, consists of zipline and rope ridge obstacle courses, concession areas, and a gift and pro shop. It also is used for fall festivals and Halloween festivities, including Scream-A-Geddon. Those activities will be allowed for up to 56 days a year, according to the conditions.

Both attractions will operate between two days and seven days a week, and they will not be allowed to operate at the same time, the conditions say.

The Pasco County Planning Commission and the county’s planners recommended approval of the request. They also recommended approval for the sale of beer and wine for consumption at the sites, which the county commissioners also approved.

Attorney Clarke Hobby, representing the applicant, detailed plans for the winter park, which he said will have a snow hill, where people can go snow-tubing, an area where people can play in the snow, and other features.

The snow is made using new technology, and the snow will stay in place for long periods, provided the weather doesn’t exceed 80 degrees, according to Hobby.

“I will tell you, as a native Floridian, staying under 80 degrees doesn’t happen a lot and, even though we’re allowed 120 days to operate the snow hill here, something tells me that it’s probably going to be more like 45 days,” Hobby said.

“We think we can be good neighbors and not create what is going to be a traffic or noise issue for our neighbors,” Hobby added.

Access to the properties will be off St. Joe Road, Hobby said.

Thousands of trees will be planted, which will create an evergreen condition and provide a noise and visual buffer, for the neighbors, he added.

He cited a dozen letters in support of the project.

But, there were opponents, too.

Judy Geiger submitted a binder full of documents and expressed opposition to the request.

She also introduced Bob Hunter, a planning expert, who said he was there to speak at her request.

Hunter, former executive director of the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission and a former president of the American Planners Association, told commissioners that the request is inconsistent with the county’s comprehensive plan. He also said the use is inappropriate and should not be approved.

Stephen Gonzalez, who lives on St. Joe Road, put it like this: “It’s just in the wrong place. Why isn’t this on (U.S.) 301, up where there used to be a golf course, north of Dade City? That’d be a perfect spot for this business.”

Gonzalez also complained to commissioners about the trash left behind on his road from people attending Scream-A-Geddon.

Hobby said the location works well for his client because of the natural topography.

“We’re working with the hills; we’re not cutting them down, we’re going to augment them,” Hobby said.

Commission Chairman Ron Oakley told Hobby: “You worked very hard with that neighborhood. I appreciate everything you did.”

Commissioner Jack Mariano weighed in with words of support: “The Tree Hopper thing, I think was a great addition to the county. Scream-A-Geddon was tremendous. I think this will be a nice amenity, as well.”

Commissioner Mike Moore, who is chairman of the Pasco County Tourist Development Council, agreed: “I think this is going to bring a lot of great things.”

But, Moore also asked Hobby to ask his client to keep an eye on St. Joe Road, to address any problems with trash.

Published August 14, 2019

Hearing officer approves Lutz charter school

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A proposed charter school in Lutz has received approval, despite objections from nearby residents, homeowner associations and community organizations.

Land use hearing officer James Scarola approved a special use permit for the Tampa Academy of Math and Science, a charter school for up to 870 kindergarteners through eighth-graders.

In his April 6 decision, Scarola found that the request complies with the county’s land development code and the Hillsborough County’s comprehensive plan.

The ruling will stand, unless an appeal is filed with the county’s Appeals Board.

Plans call for the charter school to occupy 7.46 acres of an 8.45-acre tract, on the west side of Sunlake Boulevard, just south of Lutz Lake Fern Road.

The remaining acre is being reserved for a future development.

Besides clearing the way for the school, Scarola also approved a request to waive buffer requirements between the school and the remnant 1-acre parcel.

The applicants — Charter Schools Properties Inc., and Charter Schools Associates Inc. — scaled down their original request for a school for more than 1,000 students. They also agreed to numerous conditions addressing transportation issues, building height, buffering, phasing of development, placement of the school buildings, and the outdoor play area. They also must turn off outdoor lights by 9 p.m.

Phase one plans call for a two-story classroom building, with 33 classrooms for a maximum of 670 students.

Phase two, which is contingent upon an additional traffic analysis, would serve 200 students, in 11 classrooms, in another two-story building.

Both classroom buildings will be situated near Sunlake Boulevard.

Access to the site will be from one driveway on Lutz Lake Fern Road, which will be a right in/right out only, and two driveways on Sunlake Boulevard. One of those driveways would be right in/right out only, and the other would be right out only.

The applicant has agreed to build new right-turn lanes and a new U-turn lane in conjunction with the project.

Opponents have objected for months about the traffic the school would generate. They also have expressed concerns about potential flooding, fumes from vehicle exhausts and noise from outdoor activities.

County planners recommended approval of the request, with conditions, and staff from the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission did not object.

During the hearing, Tom Hiznay, a county planner, told Scarola that the site’s design, along with conditions for approval, provides “sensitivity to surrounding uses.”

But Jay Bockisch, a traffic engineer, speaking on behalf of the opponents, characterized the proposed use as “an intense traffic generator” that would have the same kind of traffic impacts as a regional mall, four Publix shopping centers, or the tallest office building in downtown Tampa.

“This is not a transitional land use,” Bockisch said. “We have safety concerns.”

Pat and Joe Serio, who live directly behind the proposed school, voiced strenuous objections to the hearing officer’s decision.

“We were very disappointed, but hardly surprised,” Pat Serio said, in an email.

“It was a totally uphill battle on our part, the most immediate and most impacted residents, neighbors and citizens of Lutz and Hillsborough County and others who will have to live with the consequences of this ill-conceived project and deal with the traffic issues on a daily basis whether commuting or delivering children to and from the numerous already existing area schools,” she wrote.

She also noted that she and her husband were disappointed that county commissioners did not respond when they reached out to them regarding concerns about the school.

“Once again, the Lutz Comprehensive Plan was ignored and the decades’ long efforts by the residents to keep Lutz quasi-rural have been for naught,” she added.

Joe Serio, also via email, said the hearing officer ignored testimony by a traffic expert representing the opponents.

The hearing officer also disregarded testimony at the hearing that “clearly showed the violation of the Lutz Community Plan,” he added.

A brochure for the Tampa Academy of Math and Science says the school is planning to open in the 2016 school year. It plans to focus on science, technology, engineering and math and will use hands-on learning and a solid foundation in core disciplines.

To find out more about the school or for early enrollment inquiries, email , or visit CharterSchoolAssociates.com.

Published April 15, 2015

 

Competing interests at Sunlake and Lutz Lake Fern

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James Scarola is deliberating the future of a parcel at the southwest corner of Lutz Lake Fern Road and Sunlake Boulevard.

Applicants for a special use permit want to use a 7.4-acre parcel to become the new home of the Tampa Academy of Math and Science, a charter school specializing in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Ruth Gimpel Stables is next door to a proposed charter school in Lutz. Ruth Gimpel said the proposed school could destroy her livelihood. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
Ruth Gimpel Stables is next door to a proposed charter school in Lutz. Ruth Gimpel said the proposed school could destroy her livelihood.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)

Ruth Gimpel, who owns a horse stable next door, wants Scarola to deny the request.

So do residents living west of the proposed school.

A number of organizations also have weighed in against the proposed school, including area homeowner associations, the Lutz Citizens Coalition, the Lutz Civic Association and the GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Clubs.

Scarola, a land-use hearing officer for Hillsborough County, had a public hearing on the request on March 16. He has 15 working days from that public hearing to issue his ruling.

Scarola has the final word on the request, unless it is challenged to the county’s Appeals Board.

Representatives for the applicants — Charter Schools Properties Inc., and Charter Schools Associates Inc., contend that conditions required by Hillsborough County staff address the proposed project’s impacts.

The applicants scaled down their original request for more than 1,000 students, to a school that now would have no more than 870 kindergarteners through eighth-graders.

As it stands now, the school would be developed in two phases, with 670 students housed in a two-story classroom building with 33 classrooms in phase one. The second phase, which is contingent upon an additional traffic analysis, would serve 200 students, in 11 classrooms, in another two-story building.

Both classroom buildings would have a maximum height of 38 feet and would be situated near Sunlake Boulevard.

The applicants have agreed to spend about $500,000 for transportation improvements, said Michael Horner, a planner representing them.

Conditions for approval also call for substantially greater buffering requirements to protect adjacent properties than is required under the county’s code, Horner said.

Michael Raysor, a traffic engineer representing the applicant, said access to the site would be one driveway on Lutz Lake Fern Road, which would be right in/right out only; and two driveways on Sunlake Boulevard. One would be right in/right out only, and the other would be right out only.

The applicant has agreed to build new right turn lanes and a new U-turn lane in conjunction with the project.

Opponents have objected for months about the traffic the school would generate, as well as expressing concerns about potential flooding, fumes from vehicle exhausts and noise from outdoor activities.

Despite those objections, the proposed use has received a recommendation for approval from county staff and garnered no objections from the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission staff.

The school is an acceptable transitional use, according to Tom Hiznay, a county planner.

The site’s design, along with the conditions for approval, provides “sensitivity to surrounding uses,” Hiznay said.

Jay Bockisch, a traffic engineer, speaking on behalf of the opponents, said the proposed school would create the same traffic impacts as a regional mall, four Publix shopping centers, or the tallest office building in downtown Tampa.

“This is not a transitional land use. This is an intense traffic generator. We have safety concerns,” Bockisch said.

The traffic waiting to get into the school’s site will cause backups on Lutz Lake Fern Road, Sunlake Boulevard and North Dale Mabry Highway, he predicted.

The backups on North Dale Mabry Highway, he said, will pose a safety nightmare.

“This is an adverse impact not only to the local community, but to the motoring public along Dale Mabry Highway.”

But Raysor said, “There are multiple safeguards written into the conditions.”

Joseph Serio, who lives directly west of the proposed school site, is concerned about potential flooding. “Where are you going to put the water from the additional highway lanes?” Serio asked.

In rebuttal, an expert representing the applicant said drainage requirements must be met.

Gimpel, of Ruth Gimpel Stables Inc., urged Scarola to deny the request. The stable, at 18920 Sunlake Blvd., has produced 75 world champions and 63 reserve champions, as well as providing fun and learning experiences for riders.

The charter school would change that, Gimpel said.

“It’ll force me to sell my farm. It would destroy my livelihood.”

Published March 25,2015

Lutz pushes proposed urban service area south

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Lutz has survived more than a century with no municipal water or sewer. And it might end up going another century without it as well.

In a workshop Dec. 8, members of the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission will hear something they may not like: Lutz residents are turning their backs on a proposed plan to extend the county’s urban service area up U.S. 41.

Getting an urban service area designation is a significant step in helping to bring more business — and even more residents — to an area, planners say. In fact, 80 percent of all county growth would take place in those areas, countywide planning team leader Stephen Griffin told a small group of Lutz residents Nov. 18.

“When you are inside that service area, you are going to see growth and development,” Griffin said. “But being in an urban service area doesn’t mean you can’t have other uses like agriculture. That would still be permitted inside the urban service area.”

For decades, Lutz has maintained its independence from the high population growth taking place in the rest of Hillsborough. Although six lanes of U.S. 41 were laid right through the heart of the downtown Lutz, existing water and sewer infrastructure along the way requires septic tanks and well access — both undesirable and even outright impossible for larger businesses to move in.

But that’s exactly what many of the residents want there, said Mike White, president of the Lutz Citizens Coalition.

“I’ve polled our members, and the resounding answer that has come back is that we don’t want water and septic,” White said. “We like our wells. We don’t want to take a chance of losing control of the rural character of Lutz.”

Community resistance means when the urban service area is expanded, it will stay south of the Lutz apex where U.S. 41 and North Florida Avenue split near the entrance to the Avila subdivision.

“We will conclude our expansion opportunity and leave it to that little area on the south,” Griffin said. “That is what we’re going to move forward with. We are going to leave it the way that it is.”

That’s not what one land and business owner in Lutz was hoping to hear. William Payne, the owner of the engineering firm WSP Consultants in Lutz, says it’s time the area moves forward and embraces some of the amenities their neighboring communities have.

“It is a real shame that the comments from non-commercial parcel owners could so easily sway the planning commission,” Payne said in an email to community planner Yeneka Mills before last week’s meeting. “I hope this decision is not final, and the planning commission will reconsider expanding the (urban service area) further north by meeting directly with commercial parcel owners.”

Payne owns two 1950s-era commercial buildings at 19006 N. U.S. 41 and 19008 N. U.S. 41 he purchased through his company, William & Mary Investment Group LLC, for $585,000 in 2006. He said he was the only person who attended an August meeting with planning commission officials who actually owned commercial property in the potential expansion area.

However, part of the appeal of Lutz is its unchanging nature, White said, despite the suburban growth that’s occurring around it, including Pasco County to the north. The fear is that Lutz would turn into another Dale Mabry Highway, with high commercial density and a lost community spirit.

“There are a lot of people whose kids move, and they will be gone for five or six years,” he said. “And then they come back. My daughter has been gone for 10 years, and she can’t wait to move out here.”

Upgrading infrastructure to help support a more suburban community does not mean it has to be developed that way, Griffin said.

“The county does not force you to hook into the system,” he said. “We wanted to help precipitate improvements so that more local and small businesses have the ability to tap into the water and sewer lines, if that is available.”

However, one older resident who didn’t identify himself felt it was still too much.

“The risk of changing to an urban service area far outweighs any benefits from it,” he said.

Once the planning commission decides how it wants to pursue an urban service area, it will hold another public meeting to discuss that plan with affected residents and business owners in the spring.

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Lutz on fast track to finally developing downtown center

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Hillsborough County wants to bring parts of the Lutz community — especially land along U.S. 41 — into the 21st century with county water and sewer. But some vocal residents in the community are still giving the idea a big no.

Officials want to make the Lutz Downtown Center Zoning District a reality, which would not change the development pattern or density of parcels along U.S. 41, but instead create the infrastructure necessary that might help business grow more on the popular corridor connecting Pasco County with Tampa.

“It’s the opportunity for parts of that area to receive water and sewer service,” said Yeneka Mills, a community planner for the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission. “We know that people there don’t want this to turn into a Dale Mabry (Highway), with traffic, and water and sewer. They think that this is going to be a lot of growth that will make roads congested.”

What it would likely create instead are amenities like restaurants and coffee shops, the kind of businesses that can’t operate off septic tanks without a huge financial investment, said William Payne, who owns some parcels of land in the proposed downtown district.

“The concept of public utilities brings fear to the local residents,” Payne, the owner of the engineering firm WSP Consultants in Lutz, said. “There is a very, very small group of vocal people, and they are very, very united. They oppose any potential development from County Line Road, all the way (south) to Avila. We could have downtown Lutz as a destination, and not just watch people go by us at 55 mph. Right now, those drivers have no reason to stop, and that’s hurting Lutz.”

However, Lutz has worked hard to maintain its small town atmosphere, despite the population explosion surrounding it. Some of the residents there have fought for decades to maintain the small-town character that has defined Lutz for so long, and feel improvements at this level could turn the community into just another retail district.

“There is this misnomer out there that our coalition is against growth, but we’re not against growth at all,” said Mike White, president of the Lutz Citizens Coalition. “We’re just against unplanned and bad growth that negatively impacts the community.”

Another misnomer, White said, is that it’s the lack of water and sewage infrastructure that’s preventing businesses like restaurants from finding their way into the Lutz downtown area along U.S. 41.

“What’s keeping the chain restaurant from coming into Lutz has nothing to do with infrastructure, and has everything to do with the market,” he said.

Mills and other Planning Commission officials met with a small group of residents in September to explore some of the ideas. But even if they do get approved, Payne says he doesn’t expect to see any actual work being done for at least another decade.

Septic tanks can be problematic beyond just wastewater disposal because it limits the number of parking spaces available on a property, Payne said. For example, his land on First Street Southwest that is currently home to a jazzercise center could be a great spot for the kind of business Lutz rarely sees.

“It’s a perfect spot for a coffee shop and drive-thru,” he said. “We’re in a high-income area, and the demographics suggest something like that can do well. But we can’t open something like that without sewer lines.”

The affected areas, according to Mills, include Lutz’s historic downtown area to Newberger Road, Crystal Lake Road to Sunset Lane, and the Crenshaw Lake Road area.

The way county officials talked, these pending upgrades already are a done deal, White said.

“Well, there isn’t much that we can do about it, to be honest with you,” he said. “Right now, the county is very pro-development, and we’ll just have to wait and see what comes down the pipeline.”

In the meantime, work crews are installing a water pipeline along U.S. 41, with businesses along the line able to connect if they are directly on it. Payne said he would connect his parcels to it as soon as the county allows.

“I look at it as positive development,” he said. “And this is what the zoning and planning commission are here for. They restrict what goes in there, so you can still keep a community protected, but welcome the amenities you need and want, too.”

Published October 1, 2014

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