The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Lutz since 1964 and Pasco since 1981.
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Scott Sheridan

Commissioners side with developer in road dispute

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The Pasco County Commission has sided with Wiregrass Ranch developers in a dispute with Pasco County Schools over covering the cost for a future road connection to Chancey Road.

Commissioners heard an appeal filed by the school district regarding a decision by the county’s Development Review Committee.

The committee had approved a new master road plan for Wiregrass that shifts Chancey Road to the south, and away from the anticipated access onto a proposed school site that is at least five years away from construction.

Scott Sheridan

The site isn’t within the borders of Wiregrass, but school district officials say construction costs would increase by $1 million, if the school board has to pay to build a road to link to Chancey Road.

The plan that was approved by the development review committee includes a compromise that would mean either the school district or developers would pay for the road work — depending on what comes first, the school or the Wiregrass development.

School officials said they had counted on the Chancey Road extension, within the original master road plan.

“Everybody liked it. It was a great plan,” said Ray Gadd, Pasco’s deputy school superintendent. “Now, we’re down to two access points, which I don’t think the commission will like. I don’t think the neighborhoods will like them.”

In the future, the school district will need the County Commission to approve a school site plan, including its entrances and exits for school buses, and other traffic.

Gadd said there are concerns the county might not approve access off Meadow Pointe Boulevard.

He also noted that English Turn Way, which is internal to Country Walk subdivision, will not appeal to homeowners.

The new school is expected to focus on mathematics and science, with appeal to students living in Wiregrass and other places, Gadd said.

The deputy superintendent also offered an unexpected compromise — which had not previously been considered.

Pasco County Commissioner Kathryn Starkey

If Wiregrass would grant the school system exclusive easement for the road segment linking to Chancey Road, the school district would build and pay for the road, Gadd said. But, when developers start building in the area, they would need to negotiate with the school district to buy the road.

“We’ll turn this beautiful road over to you, but if it costs us $500,000, we want $500,000,” Gadd said.

Scott Sheridan, representing Wiregrass Ranch owners, didn’t go for it.

“I’m not going to respond at the podium for some new proposal that popped up,” Sheridan told commissioners. “I think it’s inappropriate.”

Sheridan also pointed out that Wiregrass had met its obligations to the school district with plans for five schools within the Wiregrass Ranch community.

Three already are open, including an elementary, middle and high school. In the future, two elementary schools also could be built at Wiregrass, Sheridan said.

Sheridan agreed that the county’s compromise on who pays for the road wasn’t that appealing. But, he said, “We can figure it out and live with it. We have plenty of time to figure it out.”

Pasco County Commissioner Kathryn Starkey, who has served on the school board, was conflicted. But, she eventually sided with Wiregrass.

“I do hope you (schools) don’t have to build the road. I do hope development comes in first and builds the road,” she said. “But, I think Wiregrass has met their school requirements.”

Gadd conceded that the county might eventually approve a site plan with access off Meadow Pointe and English Turn Way.

“We feel this is a fait accompli,” he said, of the county commissioners’ vote. “Its’ a done deal, but it’s a matter of the record now.”

Published April 4, 2018

Committee recommends higher impact fees

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A committee appointed by the Pasco County Commission to suggest ways to boost funding for Pasco County school construction has recommended a hike in school impact fees.

The committee stopped short of initially suggesting the full amount recommended by a consultant hired by Pasco County Schools.

However, the committee said the full amount of the increase should be approved, if the Pasco County School Board votes to put at least a quarter-cent sales tax increase on the 2018 ballot so voters can decide the issue.

Members of the School Infrastructure Funding Advisory Committee discuss various options to boost funding for school construction. They vote to recommend an increase in school impact fees, and to suggest the school board seek an increase in the sales tax. Their recommendations will be considered by Pasco County Commission, which has jurisdiction over impact fees.
(B.C. Manion)

In other words, the recommendation calls for raising the impact fee for a single-family detached house to $7,175 immediately, then up to $9,028, when the school board approves putting the sales tax increase on the 2018 ballot. If the sales tax is approved by voters, the impact fee would drop to $8,101. Impact fee rates would be increased by varying amounts for other types of new residential construction.

Jennifer Motsinger, the committee members who made the motion, noted that the higher fee is not tied to voters approving the higher sales tax.

“It’s not tied to success. It’s only tied to it getting to referendum. It gives us the teeth that we need, in order to move forward,” said Motsinger, who called for that approach during an April 26 meeting of the infrastructure funding committee.

The committee approved Motsinger’s motion 7-3 during the meeting at Rasmussen College in Land O’ Lakes.

Stewart Gibbons, the committee’s chairman, said using this approach provides a greater incentive for the school board to seek the sales tax as an additional source of revenue.

Scott Sheridan, another committee member, said the committee needs to make it “emphatically clear” that other sources of revenue, besides impact fees, are needed to address the school district’s funding problem.

Ray Gadd, deputy superintendent of Pasco County Schools, agreed with committee members that the impact fee increase is not the total solution.

“The impact fee will not be a panacea. It will not solve all of our problems,” Gadd said.

Parents in the audience said the funding shortage must be solved.

“We are leaving our schools in a position, in Pasco County, of doing damage control. We are in a financial crisis. Our public schools are suffering,” said Heide Janshon, who lives in the Seven Springs area. “Please, as a parent, I am begging you to raise the impact fees,” she said.

“In all honesty, the impact fees are the source of revenue that we have that must be raised, in order to keep up with the building,” Janshon said. “Seven Springs Middle School, the capacity is 1,400, somewhere in that vicinity. We will, by the middle of next school year, have 1,800 students. Mitchell High School, is going to be in excess of probably 2,400.”

Claudine Judge, of Seven Oaks, said “nothing is keeping up with the development. The roads aren’t keeping up. The schools aren’t keeping up.

“This area, in the last four years, it’s insane the amount of housing that’s going in.

“We were part of a very nasty school board rezoning process, that was not the fault of the school board, but the school board bore the brunt of it,” Judge said.

Denise Nicholas, of Florida PTA, told committee members: “Ten-period days, overcrowding of schools, brand-new schools opening overcrowded — it’s not good for our kids. We need to fully fund our schools. Pasco County is in an absolute financial crisis. We need these impact fees. Please vote to increase them.”

The committee’s recommendation was scheduled to be discussed in a May 2 workshop of the Pasco County Commission in New Port Richey — after The Laker/Lutz News went to press.

The County Commission — not the school board — has jurisdiction over school impact fees.

If the Pasco County Commission agrees with the committee’s recommendation, it will go the county’s Development Review Committee for a recommendation and then come back to the County Commission for two public hearings before the new impact fees can be adopted.

Published May 3, 2017

Committee looking at ways to fund schools

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The Pasco County School Board is seeking to nearly double impact fees charged to new residential construction to help foot the bill for new schools, but a committee studying the issue wants to know about other possible sources of funding before making a recommendation.

There’s no doubt that Pasco County’s residential growth is generating increased enrollment, outpacing the school district’s ability to pay for new schools.

Bexley Elementary, which is scheduled to open in the fall, will alleviate crowding at Oakstead and Odessa elementary schools.
(B.C. Manion)

But, the 10-member School Infrastructure Funding Committee wants more information before making its recommendation to the Pasco County Commission on the school board’s proposed impact fee hikes.

The county commission, not the school board, has the authority to impose impact fees.

The school board justifies the need for an increase by pointing to an impact fee study it commissioned that was completed by Maryland-based consulting firm, Tischler Bise.

The impact fee study calls for increasing school impact fees on new homes from $4,828 to $9,174 for single-family detached; from $1,740 to $3,693 for single-family attached; from $2,843 to $5,634 for mobile homes; and, from $1,855 to $5,382 for multifamily.

Impact fees are expected to pay for new growth, and are assessed against new residential construction, excluding 55 and older communities.

Increased revenues from impact fees could be used to build new schools, add capacity to existing schools, purchase buses, furniture and fixtures.

Before deciding what it wants to do, the Pasco County Commission appointed the infrastructure funding committee to study the issue and bring back a recommendation.

That committee has met twice already and expects to have at least two more sessions before taking a vote on its recommendation.

While Pasco County Schools plans to open Bexley Elementary and Cypress Creek Middle High School in the fall, residential growth continues to outpace the school district’s ability to pay for new schools.

At its most recent meeting, on April 5, the committee sought additional information on what schools the district expects to build next, how much land the district owns for schools and whether any of it could be sold to raise revenue now, and whether the district could pursue other sources of revenue, such as general obligation bonds or real estate transfer taxes.

Committee member Scott Sheridan asked if the school district could sell some of the land it has banked for future school sites, to help raise money to build schools now.

The school district isn’t opposed to selling some of its land, but even if it did, it would fall far short of addressing its funding needs, said Chris Williams, director of planning.

But, Williams also noted: “Most of these sites are in future developments. It might be 10 or 15 years in the future, but if I don’t secure my school sites up front, they’re not there for me later on.”

The school district doesn’t oppose using general obligation bonds to build schools, but that would require approval by voters and a referendum couldn’t be put on the ballot until 2018, said Ray Gadd, deputy superintendent for Pasco County Schools.

A real estate transfer tax is another potential source of revenue, but the idea has been broached twice with members of the local legislative delegation and rejected both times, said David Goldstein, chief assistant county attorney.

Goldstein noted an impact fee increase could be adopted with the provision of reducing it, if revenue became available from a general obligation bond or another source.

Committee member Jennifer Motsinger said the committee needs to know what sources of revenue might be available beyond merely doubling impact fees.

“We’re trying to understand what the sources are, so we can help give you some ideas on recommendations on school funding or the capital plan,” she said.

Another committee member asked for a breakdown of how much a new residence must pay in impact fees.

That breakdown is among the items expected to be discussed at the group’s next meeting set for April 18, 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.

The committee also has scheduled another meeting, April 26, from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Both sessions are open to the public and will be at Rasmussen College, 18600 Fernview St., Rooms 102 and 103, in Land O’ Lakes.

Published April 12, 2017

Wiregrass Ranch names COO

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Scott Sheridan is a familiar face at Wiregrass Ranch.

As senior vice president of King Engineering Associates Inc., he has been involved from the start in the master-planned community’s development. Since 2004, he has taken on various roles with the planning, engineering and permitting of the project.

Sheridan now is putting on a new hat for the Wiregrass Ranch development company Locust Branch LLC.

Scott Sheridan is the new chief operating officer for Locust Branch LLC, the development company for Wiregrass Ranch.
Courtesy of Locust Branch LLC                           Scott Sheridan is the new chief operating officer for Locust Branch LLC, the development company for Wiregrass Ranch.

He is the company’s first chief operating officer, according to a news release from the development company.

His goals as chief operating officer will be to oversee the upcoming growth at Wiregrass Ranch, as it moves into a new phase of development.

“Under (Scott’s) leadership and expertise, we are confident that Wiregrass Ranch will thrive as the region’s premier master-planned development,” Bill Porter, president of Wiregrass Ranch, said in the release.

The construction of the satellite campus of Raymond James Financial is among the future projects in the development of regional impact.

The financial services company closed on a land deal in September to buy 65 acres of ranch property from the Porter family.

The Fortune 500 financial giant could build as much as 1 million square feet of offices near State Road 56 at Mansfield Boulevard, and bring hundreds of jobs to Pasco County.

Wiregrass Ranch is a 5,100-acre mixed-use community in the Wesley Chapel area. It is home to The Shops at Wiregrass, Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel, Florida Medical Clinic, North Tampa Behavioral Health and the Porter Campus of the Pasco Hernando State College.

Sheridan is a Florida registered landscape architect and an active member of the Urban Land Institute, a nonprofit research and education organization. ULI provides a forum for more than 40,000 members in the real estate and land use professions.

Sheridan shares his expertise with the ULI’s statewide Urban Development and Mixed Use Council.

In 2014, Governor Rick Scott appointed him to the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council for Hillsborough County.

Sheridan has a bachelor of science degree in urban and regional planning from Cook College at Rutgers University.

He worked for more than five years at Heidt Design as a landscape architect. He later worked in the land planning department at King Engineering for more than 14 years, and was a member of the board of directors.

Published Oct. 19, 2016

 

Commission candidate among those appointed to planning council

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Michael Moore is one of six appointments announced Monday by Gov. Rick Scott to the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council.

Moore, who is seeking Pat Mulieri’s seat on the Pasco County Commission, is the owner of VR Business Sales/Mergers & Acquisitions of Wesley Chapel. He was appointed for a term that began Monday, and would end in October 2015.

Also appointed to seats were John Neal of Bradenton, Robert Sebesta of Seminole, Scott Sheridan of Temple Terrace, Mary Yeargan of Brandon and Timothy Schock of Tampa. All the appointments must be confirmed by the Florida Senate.

The regional planning council was first formed in 1962, bringing together local governments and gubernatorial appointees to coordinate planning for the region’s future, according to the group’s website. It also analyzes issues and shares solutions among its 43 jurisdictions located in Pasco, Hillsborough, Manatee and Pinellas counties.

Moore told The Laker/Lutz News that he looked forward to serving in the group, and that the Pasco County Commission also appoints a member to serve on the council. If he is elected in November, he said, he would “comply with all newly applicable rules and guidelines established for membership.”