Pasco County’s moratorium on multifamily applications continues, but the county board approved 400 new apartments off Wesley Chapel Boulevard at its Sept. 15 meeting.
The approved development is planned for 43 acres at the intersection of Wesley Chapel Boulevard and Hay Road.
The request had received recommendation of approval with conditions from county planners and the Pasco County Planning Commission.
No one signed up to speak on the issue.
The request was approved 4-1, with Commissioner Mike Moore voting no.
“It’s in the (temporary) moratorium area (for new multifamily applications), but they obviously submitted before the moratorium,” Moore said.
“I will say this, you know previous to the last hearing, a number of residents, people in the community had reached out in concern. But nobody is here to speak today.
“If you don’t come and speak, it is very difficult to convince a board of five why something should be denied,” Moore said, adding that those reaching out to him should show up, sometimes, too.
On another item, the county board approved spending $70,000 to purchase 4.25 acres from J.L. Tucker Inc., to add the property to its Environmental Lands Acquisition and Management Program.
The Environmental Lands Acquisition Selection Committee recommended the purchase, according to the county board’s agenda backup materials.
The property is in Shady Acres along Triple J Ranch Road and is adjacent to the ELAMP-owned Martinez and DeAngelo property.
The property is not within an Ecological Corridor nor an Ecological Planning Unit, but its acquisition would extend the more than 1,700 contiguous acres of conservation land, which extends along the North Pasco to Crossbar Ecological Corridor. Acquisition of the property would also include eliminating an ingress/egress easement, thereby reducing potential future access and land use conflicts, the agenda backup says.
The county board also approved a change order with Blackwater Construction Services LLC, in connection with the Hugh Embry Branch Library renovation. The change order is for the amount of $71,358.11 for fiscal year 2021, bringing the new cumulative not-to-exceed amount to $1,575,939.
The bids for this project were received on Oct. 20, 2020, with seven months elapsing between the receipt of the bid and the award of the contract. The time delay is beyond the required 90-day hold period for prices, and during that time, there were significant increases in the prices for both labor and materials, resulting in the request for the additional funding.
“This has been considered a unique case and does not apply to any other projects being procured by the county,” the agenda backup says.
In other action, board members:
- Heard a report on a proposal to increase mobility fees in some categories and decrease them in others. The fees are charged to help pay for impacts that growth has on roads and other aspects of the transportation network. A final adoption on the new fee schedule is set for Sept. 28.
- Found a proposed Property Rights Element to be consistent with the county’s comprehensive plan and authorized transmittal to state agencies for review. Adoption of the element is scheduled for Oct. 26.
- Continued to a date uncertain a request for master-planned unit development called Dayflower, seeking 1,469 single-family, villas and townhomes on approximately 1,014 acres, north of Wesley Chapel Boulevard and Lexington Oaks and west of Old Pasco Road.
- Continued until Dec. 7 a request from Acorn LLC, for a rezoning to allow general commercial development on 9.2 acres, on the south side of State Road 54, west of the intersection of River Glen Boulevard and State Road 54.
- Approved an increase of $515,355 for medical examiner services due to an increased number of autopsies being performed. The increase will cover the final months in this fiscal year’s budget.
- Appointed Joseph Ward and Rocio Rosie Paulsen to the county’s Jobs and Economic Opportunities Committee.
- Approved an increase of $13,787.50 in a professional service agreement with Rainey Leadership Learning, to provide leadership coaching and development for the executive team in the public infrastructure branch. The additional funding brings the total not-to-exceed amount to $63,412.50.
- Accepted a donation of hand sanitizer retailing at $34,524.62 from Joseph Di Sano. Di Sano, of Wesley Chapel, delivered 3,400 bottles of HYGN brand hand sanitizer to the administrative offices of the Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources department in July. Each 12.6-ounce bottle retails at $9.56.
Published September 22, 2021
