The Laker/Lutz News

ELAMP

Pasco seeks to strengthen trade ties with German town

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The Pasco County Commission welcomed Andreas Siegel, the consul general of Germany, to its meeting last week and celebrated its Document of Friendship with Germersheim, Germany.

The Document of Friendship establishes the basis for developing and promoting a transatlantic exchange of mutually beneficial information, cooperation and fosters a relationship of understanding between the peoples of the District of Germersheim and Pasco County

The friendship pact also calls for the continued promotion of economic development, educational opportunities and cultural exchange.

The document came about during a trade mission to Germany last October.

Commission Chairwoman Kathryn Starkey, Commissioner Christina Fitzpatrick, state Rep. Amber Mariano and others accompanied Bill Cronin, president and CEO of the Pasco Economic Development Council, Inc., on the mission, which involved exploring opportunities to establish business relationships and to learn more about apprenticeship programs, among other things.

The ties between Pasco and Germersheim date back to 2008, when Pasco County Schools established a student exchange program with the German district.

Starkey said Siegel, who is based in Miami, has been instrumental in strengthening the relationship between Pasco and Germany. She said Seigel planned to meet with the Pasco EDC later in the week.

On another matter, the board delayed, until March 22, its consideration of a temporary moratorium on the submission and acceptance of applications for building permits, site plans, special exception uses, conditional uses, rezonings and comprehensive plan amendments proposing to increase entitlements on land around the airports in Pasco County.

The moratorium would apply to land near the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport, Tampa North Aero Park, Pilot Country, Hidden Lake Airport and a portion of the conical and horizontal surfaces of the Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport.

In other action, taken on Feb. 8 or Feb. 22, the county board:

  • Approved a task order for Coastal Design Consultants Inc., to perform work connected to an expansion at Starkey Ranch District Park.

The task order involves architectural, engineering, and related services for six multipurpose fields, an additional parking area, a concession stand, and to extend the multi-use path around the existing stormwater pond area.

The work is to be done for price is not to to exceed $177,600 for fiscal year 2022.

  • Approved of a task order with ESA Scheda Corporation to provide environmental engineering and consulting services for the county’s Parks, Recreation, and Natural Resources’ Environmental Lands Acquisition and Management Program. The consultant will work with its subconsultant, Wildlands Conservation Inc., to provide environmental and land management planning services for five Pasco County ELAMP sites. These sites will be referred to as:
  • Pasco Palms Preserve (116 acres)
  • Upper Pithlachascotee River Preserve (129 acres) with the northern portion of the Arthur Site (195 acres)
  • Five Mile Creek Conservation Area (179 acres) with the southern portion of the Arthur Site (647 acres)
  • Jumping Gully Preserve (1,839 acres)
  • Crockett Lake Tract (519 acres)

The effort aims to review all available information, former land management plans, desktop data reviews, and interviews with the county’s land managers, coupled with thorough site investigations to provide land management approaches that enhance, conserve, and protect natural resources, while achieving short and long-term objectives.

Funding for the project is budgeted at $190,806.00 and is in fiscal year 2022.

  • Amended the county’s land use plan from a designation for residential to a designation allowing commercial uses on 3.34acres at the Intersection of Gall Boulevard and Chancey Road.

Published March 02, 2022

Pasco approves apartments off Wesley Chapel Boulevard

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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

Pasco spends $22 million on environmental lands

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The Pasco County Commission has unanimously approved a $22 million purchase to secure ecological corridor sites and land for a future park in Central Pasco.

The purchase is the largest in the history of the county’s Environmental Lands Acquisition and Management Program (ELAMP) — which began in 2005, said Keith Wiley, the county’s director of parks, recreation and natural resources.

It took more than 1,000 hours and two years of negotiations to hammer out the agreement, Wiley said.

Commissioners Jack Mariano and Ron Oakley lauded the acquisition.

Commissioner Mike Wells praised the staff for their efforts to secure it. “It’s a great concept. The park is going to be phenomenal,” Wells said.

Before commissioners approved the purchase, Dr. Rene Brown, natural resources manager for the county, provided an overview.

The acquisition includes 843.50 acres at the southeastern corner of the Suncoast Parkway and State Road 52 in Land O’ Lakes, within the Project Arthur Master Planned Unit Development.

It includes land within two ecological corridors: the North Pasco to Crossbar Corridor, and the North Pasco to Connerton Corridor.

The acquisition includes a substantial portion of the remaining acreage not already protected in the North Pasco to Connerton Corridor.

It also includes about 647 acres in the Five Mile Creek Corridor, which is all of the acreage of that corridor that is located in Project Arthur, Brown said. That includes everything in the corridor from Starkey Wilderness Park to the railroad tracks, she added.

There’s also 147 acres for a new park, which will be mostly passive in nature because of its proximity to the two ecological corridors, but there will be some active components, she said.

The land is being purchased from Len-Angeline LLC, and the James and Mabel Family Partnership LLLP, et al, according to agenda backup materials.

It is being acquired under the county’s ecological corridor ordinance, which aims:
• To preserve a continuous network of wildlife habitat between existing public lands

  • To protect and conserve native vegetative communities, endangered and threatened species
  • To protect natural functions of wildlife habitats and invaluable ecosystems

Len-Angeline, and James and Mabel Family Partnership LLLP, et al. (Bexley) — elected compensation instead of density transfer.

This acquisition will protect the floodplain of the Pithlachascotee River, particularly the forested wetlands along the river channel, Brown said.

It also includes measures to sustain the mature forested communities along the Pithlachascotee River and the adjacent flatwoods, she said.

It protects the floodplain of Five Mile Creek, particularly the forested wetlands along the flow-way. And, it includes measures to sustain the native communities along Five Mile Creek and the adjacent flatwoods; and measures to sustain forested upland communities adjacent to this linkage.

This purchase builds on significant conservation efforts over the past 14 years to protect the ecological corridors, according to county staff.

The agreement also calls for Len-Angeline to contribute 40 acres of upland park land along with 40 acres within the Ecological Corridors to satisfy the 80-acre park level of service requirement.

The deal also stipulates that within five years of closing, Len-Angeline will collaborate with the county on park design and will spend $3 million to develop a portion of the park site.

There will be a trail connection to Five Mile Creek Corridor.

The agreement also includes extended possession provisions for both the Bexleys and Len-Angeline to facilitate continued cattle grazing.

No leasing fee will be charged to either entity until after December 2020.

It also allows for possible extended possession through Dec. 31, 2025 with a leasing charge dependent on: 1) whether Len-Angeline or another developer purchases the remaining area of the Bexley property, and 2) the finalization of Sunlake Boulevard and Ridge Road for access to the development.

Two appraisals were completed on the land. The applicants’ appraisal valued the ecological corridors at about $26.9 million, while the county’s appraisal put it at slightly under $17 million.

Published December 04, 2019

Withlacoochee River Park adds conservation land

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Withlacoochee River Park is larger by about 40 acres, following Pasco County’s purchase of additional conservation land at the park’s entrance.

The county’s Environmental Land Acquisition Management Program, known as ELAMP, recently purchased the property on Auton Road for about $132,000.

Plans for the new acreage aren’t certain, but some ideas are being considered.

Pasco County’s Environmental Land Acquisition Management Program purchased 40 acres to add to the Withlacoochee River Park. (Courtesy of Pasco County)

One possibility is to create an equestrian camp and the use of an existing building on site for 4-H classes.

“All of the uses will be passive in nature,” said Angela Fagan, program manager for Pasco’s Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources Department.

A portion of the newly purchased land is within the Withlacoochee River Ecological Planning Unit, which provides buffers to wildlife habitats along the river and in the Green Swamp.

The county’s land conservation program purchases properties with funds partly from the Penny for Pasco taxes. About 25 properties are currently on the program’s acquisition list.

So far, the county has acquired about 2,900 acres in conservation land.

Withlacoochee River Park is a regional park of more than 600 acres, located at 12449 Withlacoochee Blvd. It is near the Green Swamp Wilderness Preserve.

The park offers campgrounds for tents and recreational vehicles, cabins, bird-watching, canoe and kayak launches, and a fishing pier.

The Florida Trail Association maintains more than five miles of trail within the park.

For information, call Withlacoochee River Park at (352) 567-0264, or visit PascoCountyFl.net.

Published April 25, 2018

Pasco ‘super park’ land near Dade City

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Pasco County recently purchased 155 acres for a proposed “super park” at The Villages of Pasadena, off Prospect Road and Highland Boulevard, near Dade City.

The acreage is conservation land that is the second purchase of a three-phase acquisition process. When complete, the county will have nearly 320 acres for the super park.

Because the 155 acres will remain natural and be used for passive recreation, the $4.6 million purchase price will come from the Penny for Pasco funds set aside for the county’s Environmental Land Acquisition and Management Program (ELAMP).

However, the sale will be treated as a loan, with repayment in the form of park impact fees. Those fees will be collected from new residential and commercial development at The Villages master-planned community.

Also, new development within the Connected City corridor, including the master-planned community of Epperson, will contribute their share of park impact fees for the super park. A road is expected to link Connected City to the super park in The Villages.

“The county is still in the acquisition phase,” said Keith Wiley, the county’s parks, recreation and natural resources director.

Capital funds to design and build the park aren’t available as yet. The final land purchase of about 95 acres also must be negotiated, and approved by the Pasco County commissioners.

“It’s a step in the right direction,” Wiley said.

The inclusion of Connected City as a contributor of impact fees for the park should help in getting the needed funds, he added.

Pasco County commissioners approved the newest purchase in December. The sale closed in January.

When the park is built, it will essentially result in two parks that are the size of district parks, next to each other.

One will be kept in its natural state for passive recreation, such as walking trails and kayaking. It will provide access to Buddy Lake.

The other will be an “active” park with ball fields, playgrounds, trails and other amenities.

There also are plans to co-locate the active park area with a planned elementary school. Co-location is a trend, as the county seeks to make the most efficient use of funds.

The recently opened Starkey Ranch District Park, at Starkey Ranch, is an example of co-location. It was built in partnership with Pasco County Schools, which plans to build an elementary and middle school at the site.

Published March 14, 2018

Ft. King ranch land too costly for conservation program

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A volunteer advisory committee had recommended that 17 parcels of the former Ft. King Ranch be added to a list of conservation lands worthy of purchase by Pasco County.

But, the Pasco County Commission balked at the potentially pricey cost of buying nearly 3,600 acres, and voted against the committee’s wishes.

The property, owned by the limited liability partnership of Secret Promise, is situated off State Road 52, near the Ehren Cutoff. It stretches from the northern boundary of Cypress Creek to the Crossbar Wellfield, near Bellamy Brothers Boulevard.

Florida Estates Winery is located on land offered to Pasco County for its conservation lands’ program. (Kathy Steele)

“That’s a very, very large purchase,” said Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore. “It could crush future projects. It’s almost to the point if we add this, we can’t add anything else.”

Currently, the county’s ELAMP, or Environmental Lands Acquisition and Management Program, has nine properties under review for purchase. The program’s budget has a balance of about $27 million from the Penny for Pasco program.

The total value of land and buildings for the 17 parcels adds up to about $14.3 million, according to the Pasco County Property Appraiser’s valuations.

The county has more pressing needs than buying land of which only 20 percent is environmentally sensitive, said Pasco County Commissioner Ron Oakley.

“I would rather see that money go to properties in other parts of our county that actually helps flooded areas, and helps a lot of citizens,” he said.

The late Dr. Crayton Pruitt, a noted heart surgeon from St. Petersburg bought the property in 1997 for about $3.1 million.

Peter Wallace, registered agent for Secret Promise, made an offer to sell the land to the county.

The 11-member advisory committee took up the matter last summer and requested an evaluation of the property.

Committee members in November voted to recommend its placement on the ELAMP list, and for a negotiated deal to buy part or all of the property.

The county would be able to buy the land outright or buy only the development rights.

The site meets the definition of agricultural reserve land, and includes pastures, wetlands, pine flatwoods, freshwater marshes, and wildlife habitats.

On a graded scale, it earned 52 out of 80 points, according to the evaluation report.

Moore pressed for an opinion from Keith Wiley, the county’s interim director for parks, recreation and natural resources department.

“I always maintain my neutrality,” Wiley said. But, he added, “At the least, it’s one of our lower priorities.”

Years ago, the land was re-zoned for future development of single-family homes and retail, with about 2,000 acres left as open space.

Currently, there are three small houses on site, as well as a working cattle barn and two workshops.

Florida Estates Winery also is located on site.

Pasco County Commissioner Kathryn Starkey wondered if the winery owners would want to remain. She also had concerns about the county’s future plans to build a road through the property.

“I want to be real cognizant of the road system,” she said.

If the property were put on the county’s waiting list, Starkey said that didn’t mean the county had to purchase it.

“The devil is in the details of the deal,” she said.

After the vote to keep Secret Promise off the list, Oakley left the door open for reconsideration.

He asked Wiley to come back with new information, if it puts the land higher on the ranking scale.

Published January 31, 2018