The Laker/Lutz News

Lisa Moretti

RVs will be rolling to a resort in Northeast Pasco

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The Pasco County Commission has approved the North Pasco RV Resort, a development that is planned for 550 RV spaces, and at least 10,000 square feet of resort lodge and clubhouse facilities.

Commissioners voted 3-1 to rezone the land from agricultural uses to a planned development. Commissioner Christina Fitzpatrick dissented and Commissioner Jack Mariano was absent.

The approval came despite urgings for the county board to deny the request from opponents who characterized it as a threat to the rural way of life.

The 132-acre site, bordering Interstate 75, east of Lake Iola Road and south of Blanton Road, is within the county’s Northeast Pasco Rural Protection Overlay Area.

The overlay district is intended to protect the character of the rural landscape, preserve scenic views and vistas, and ensure that on-site development is compatible with the character of the surrounding area, according to the county ordinance that established the district.

Lisa Moretti, who lives on Iola Woods Trail, spoke against the request and submitted documents detailing why the board should vote against the RV resort.

“I’m affected by this development. It will greatly impact my life and the life of those in our community,” said Moretti, who also questioned the legality of the proposed change.

Moretti told commissioners: “It’s important that you see the will of the community. This amendment will not benefit the rural area economically, culturally or in any other way. It will endanger our visitors, our wildlife, our water supply, our property values and our community lifestyle.”

She concluded by saying: “We built a community, I ask that you don’t let him (developer) tear it down.”

Nancy Hazelwood, active for year in efforts to protect the Northeast Rural area, put her objections plainly: “This thing just does not fit in a rural area. It’s going to stick out like a sore thumb.”

Margaret Woods, who lives on St. Joe Road, in Dade City, raised a question about whether it was appropriate for Commissioner Ron Oakley to be involved in the process.

“Mr. Oakley has not recused himself even though there appears to be a conflict of interest on his part, with regard to this property and with the project, itself.

“The property was owned and sold by his sister. He’s been actively involved in promoting this RV park, from the very beginning, even at the neighborhood meeting, he was there, promoting the RV park,” Woods said.

“So, in the appearance of impartiality, ethics and transparency, I believe that Mr. Oakley should recuse himself from both discussion and voting on this matter.”

Commission Chairwoman Kathryn Starkey asked County Attorney Jeffrey Steinsnyder for a ruling on the issue.

Steinsnyder addressed Oakley: “Commissioner Oakley, I understand from previous discussions that you had a family member that previously owned this property, it was sold not contingent upon any future approvals by the board. Correct? So, it wasn’t a zoning-contingent contract.”

Oakley: “I didn’t even know the property was up for sale at the time, and it sold. I never met the new owner until two or three months after it had closed.”

Steinsnyder: “So that transaction is done, and under state law, you have no conflict.”

Starkey, then addressed Oakley: “OK. So, legally, you must vote.”

Attorney Barbara Wilhite represented the applicants, VCARE Consultants LLC.

VCARE also hired Frances Chandler Marino, who wrote the Northeast Pasco Rural Protection Overlay Area plan, to review the proposed plan for compliance with the rural plan.

The plans, which are binding as part of the conditions, include substantial  landscaping — including an internal master landscape and tree plan, extensive buffering along Lake Iola Road and landscaping for each RV stall.

Conditions also address how the site will be graded; prohibit mining; require the splashpads to be recirculated; require a 6-foot paved shoulder extending beyond the property to accommodate bicyclists riding in the area; limit the height of the building to two stories; and require a sewage treatment plant for the project.

Wilhite also suggested the board make a finding of fact, in the ordinance, specifically stating that the request is compatible because of the project’s proximity to I-75.

The attorney said she heard both Marino and county staff cite the fact that the site is next to a busy highway, as a reason for supporting the request.

Wilhite said she realizes that residents are concerned about setting precedent, and noted that adding that language could address that concern.

But Hazelwood rejected that rationale.

“The I-75 reason for an RV park just doesn’t make sense,” Hazelwood said.

“I participated from the beginning, in the rural area plan. We would have never agreed to the rural area plan if we had said, ‘Hey, right through the middle of the plan we’re going to have high density because you’ve got an interstate.’ Nobody told us that.

“We hope that I-75 does not encourage more,” Hazelwood said.

In voting against the rezoning, Fitzpatrick said she didn’t feel “that this is the original expectations of the Northeast Rural Area protection plan.”

Published April 13, 2022

Proposed RV resort moves a step closer to approval

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The Pasco County Commission is moving through the process necessary to clear the way for the creation of the proposed North Pasco RV Resort.

The county board voted to send the request for a land use change to state agencies for review.

That’s a step that is required before the county board can amend the long-range plan.

Once the state’s review is done, the county board can act on the requested land use change.

That action is required before the board can consider rezoning the site, to allow its development for a RV resort.

Plans for the RV resort call for 550 RV spaces and at least 10,000 square feet of resort lodge and clubhouse facilities. It would be developed on a 132-acre site bordering Interstate 75, east of Lake Iola Road and south of Blanton Road.

The site, now zoned for agricultural uses, is within the county’s Northeast Pasco Rural Protection Overlay Area.

That overlay district is intended to protect the character of the rural landscape, preserve scenic views and vistas, and ensure that on-site development is compatible with the character of the surrounding area, according to the county ordinance that established the district.

Opponents to the proposed RV resort expressed their concerns during the Pasco County Planning Commission’s public hearing, but were unable to sway that board.

They reiterated their objections during the Feb. 8 county board meeting, but failed to persuade commissioners to reject the request.

Attorney Barbara Wilhite represents the applicants, VCARE Consultants LLC.

VCARE also hired Frances Chandler Marino, who wrote the Northeast Pasco Rural Protection Overlay Area plan, to review the proposed plan for compliance with the rural plan. The private professional planner testified at both the planning board’s public hearing and the county board’s public hearing that the proposed plan is consistent with policies within the rural overlay district.

The development will have its own wastewater treatment plant and will be on well water.

Wilhite told the board that her client has been working on the project for a couple of years.

Lisa Moretti, who lives on Iola Woods Trail, spoke against the proposal.

“We already know that growth doesn’t pay for itself,” Moretti said. “The Northeast Rural Area serves a purpose beyond community protection. It is your failsafe by not having to provide services and infrastructure into the rural area; you are balancing your budget.

“I would argue that you are legally obligated not to change the urban transition service area and not to move urban into the Northeast Rural Area,” she said.

“If you were to just follow the long-range plan and preserve the rural area, you are doing exactly the job of protecting the county,” she said.

“This project could be developed with a rural appeal. A barn. Turning half of the spaces into horse-trailer pads. Putting in a pasture, instead of a water feature. You could lower the density to an acceptable level. Maintain the rural character. Create a portal to Pasco County that was inviting and rural, rather than a hillside covered in RVs and concrete,” she said, but the developer did not want to seek out residents’ input.

Other opponents raised concerns about the lack of compatibility to the rural area, potential dangers posed by large RVs traveling down the area’s roads, and impacts on the wildlife habitat for turkeys, bobcats, foxes and other creatures that dwell there.

The county board asked the developer to provide an additional paved area to accommodate bicyclists riding along the edge of the project.

The requests for the land use and zoning changes are expected to come back for a vote by the county board at its April 5 meeting.

Published February 16, 2022

Pasco county board disbands rural advisory committee

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The Pasco County Commission has disbanded the Northeast Pasco Rural Advisory Committee.

The committee was formed to develop recommendations and guidelines for commercial development within the Northeast Rural Overlay District.

The advisory panel was approved by the Pasco County Commission and was empaneled by Commissioner Ron Oakley — whose district includes the area — and the Pasco County Planning and Development Department.

At the county board’s Jan. 11 meeting, Oakley told his colleagues that the chairwoman of the advisory committee had appeared to speak at a Pasco County Planning Commission, during a case involving a proposed RV resort.

Lisa Moretti, the chairwoman of the advisory committee, asked the planning board to delay the RV park request until after the advisory committee completed its recommendations.

Oakley said: “I don’t think anyone directed her to do so (speak at the planning commission meeting in her advisory panel role), but she did.

“I don’t think that’s the way that this advisory committee should work,” Oakley said.

He then expressed frustration about the way the advisory committee had been operating.

“To let you know, we’ve had three or four meetings. We haven’t gotten a lot of good advice from this committee —  to say the least —  to be able to advise you on much of anything.

“Most of the answers from it (the committee) are negative, are ‘No, we can’t do that. We don’t want to do that. We don’t want traffic down County Road 41.’

“That’s an arterial road (County Road 41) from the Interstate (75) to Dade City. We have to have traffic on that.

“But they’ve said ‘No’ to that. They don’t want any development around that intersection, which is a major intersection of Pasco County, as you come from the north, down (Interstate) 75.

“They don’t want anything there.

“I’m not getting advice. I’m getting negative, Nos, about a lot of things,” Oakley said.

When the committee began, Oakley said he told panel members he didn’t expect them to say yes to everything, but also didn’t expect them to say no to everything.

He said he told them: “You’re an advisory committee. I want your advice about how things should look in this area, or how you would like to see it look, for the best of all of the citizens.

“Closing the whole area off just doesn’t work,” Oakley said.

Commissioner Mike Moore noted: “We have a planning commission that gives recommendations to the board when it comes to items we’re actually going to vote on. I think the last thing you want to see in an advisory role, or an advisory committee, is debating on projects that are going to come in front of us for a vote.”

Moore then told Oakley: “Listen, if you’re asking this board — I don’t know if you are, or not — to do away with it, I’m on your side, man. It’s your call. If you want to be done with it and move on, be done with it.”

Commission Chairwoman Kathryn Starkey asked: “Is that what you’re thinking?

“We have the rural protection ordinance for residential and we do not have the rural protection ordinance for commercial.

“I thought you were working on the commercial rural protection ordinance because we do need to address that,” Starkey said.

Oakley said the initial meetings were not productive, but they did give him an idea of how development should occur in a rural area.

“The only way you could have development of any significance in that area, you would have to have numbers. You’d have to have density.

“But I think there’s a way to have density, in areas you don’t see from a roadway,” Oakley said, through the use of trees, landscaping and setbacks.

“My vision has been — you ride down Trilby Road, which is a collector road, from Lacoochee/Trilby area, that goes all of the way to Blanton.

“You could ride down that road and maybe you’ll come a nice entrance into some property, but you don’t see any houses. You don’t see houses next to each other … because that setback has landscaping and things of that nature …”

At the same time, Oakley said: “It would allow property rights for those who have property in that area, to develop something.”

Moore told Oakley the panel could be disbanded, if it’s not taking the advisory role that was intended.

He continued: “We’re here to support you as a district commissioner,” adding, “if you don’t feel it’s a good use of your time or staff’s time, be done with it.”

County Attorney Jeffrey Steinsnyder told the board that it’s their advisory committee, so the board can disband it, if so desires.

Typically, when the board forms an advisory committee, it is to review staff work or a consultant’s work product, Steinsnyder said.

Oakley made the motion to disband the committee “because we’re not getting anywhere with it.”

He said he would meet with staff to “try to come up with something better than what we were trying to do. It’s not working.”

Starkey said: “Let’s have staff and commissioner Oakley come back to us with ideas of how to move forward with the East Pasco Rural Protection Ordinance for the commercial because we need that.”

Later in the meeting, Steinsnyder asked the board to repeal Resolution 21-137 that established the rural advisory committee, which board members did.

Published January 19, 2022

Pasco board moves ahead on jail expansion funding

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The Pasco County Commission has authorized county staff to secure funding from the county’s general obligation bonds to pay for expansion of the Land O’ Lakes Detention Center.

The expansion is funded through general obligation bonds that Pasco voters approved in November 2018. The board unanimously authorized an amount of nearly $108 million of those funds to pay for the work.

The project will add 1,000 new beds, plus major upgrades to the jail’s central services, including medical, laundry, kitchen, intake and administrative facilities to meet a larger capacity.

At completion, the 352,700-foot-facility will be about 200,000 square feet larger.

The current facility has 1,432 beds, but is operating above capacity.

Completion of the expansion will allow the facility, at 20101 Central Blvd., in Land O’ Lakes, to house more than 3,000 inmates.

Commissioner Jack Mariano requested an update on the project for the board and County Administrator Dan Biles said he would schedule a presentation sometime in July or August.

On another matter, the board agreed to amend an ordinance, at the county administrator’s request, to permit greater flexibility in how the county spends it transportation tax increment funds.

Chief Assistant County Attorney David Goldstein told the board the proposed change would allow the funds to be transferred to the general fund for other public facilities and services — to the extent they’re not needed for mobility fee subsidies.

“The exact amount of this transfer will be determined yearly, as part of the budget process,” Goldstein said.

The change also will apply to the Villages of Pasadena Hills, which has its own tax increment financing district. Those funds also had been restricted to transportation-only related costs, Goldstein said.

No one from the public spoke either for, or against, the change.

In another item, the board appointed members to the Northeast Pasco Rural Advisory Committee.

The county’s planning and development department sought applicants for the 13-member volunteer board and received 22 applications.

The committee’s task will be to  evaluate policies and regulations related to the Northeast Pasco Rural Protection Overlay District, and to recommend commercial development design standards and guidelines to the Pasco County Commission.

The northeast rural area is bordered by Bellamy Brothers Boulevard, the Green Swamp, State Road 52 and the Hernando County line.

Those appointed to the committee are:

  • Area residents: Nancy Hazelwood, Anthony Midthun, Lisa Moretti, Mary Kaye Harrison and Diana Hughes Diaz
  • Area business owners: Craig Linton Jr., James N. Hancock, Paul Boetcher, Frank Greco and Ronnie L. Deese
  • Land-use attorney: G. Randall (Randy) James
  • At-large members: Cyndi Tarapani and Chris Williams

The board, at the suggestion of Commissioner Kathryn Starkey, also appointed Seth Weightman, one of the applicants, to serve as an alternate.

Commission Chairman Ron Oakley, whose district includes the area, said “the staff did a good job of selecting the 13 out of the 22.”

With Northeast Pasco’s growth, the board will be able to address issues regarding the need for workforce housing and other issues, he said.

Oakley said the board will provide an avenue for input.

“People will be able to voice their opinion,” the commission chairman said.

Advisory committee members will serve until a final recommendation is made to the county board and then the committee will disband.

On another issue, Commissioner Kathryn Starkey said she would like to pursue a board workshop on the issue of the county’s vacation rentals ordinance.

She said she knows that opinions are divided on the issue, but she thinks something must be done regarding the county’s current ordinance — which she said is not working.

It is not yet known whether a workshop will be held.

In other action, the board:

  • Authorized the acquisition of 7.41 acres on State Road 54 for what will become Fire Station No. 5, and will serve central Wesley Chapel and communities within a 5-mile radius. A market value appraisal was completed on Feb. 8, using a sales comparison approach and it came in at about $3.1 million. The parcel is vacant and is zoned for commercial uses. The county’s purchase price is $2,450,000.
  • Approved a task order with Fleishman and Garcia Architects and Planners, AIA, PA (FGA) to perform architectural, engineering and related services for the design and construction of Fire Station No. 18 on Chancey Road in Zephyrhills in an amount not to exceed $261,230 for fiscal year 2021.
  • Accepted the donation of an electronic varsity scoreboard from the Dade City Little League, Inc. for John S. Burks Memorial Park. The 8-foot-by-4-foot LED scoreboard with wireless remote control, is valued at $3,090. It will be used for baseball games.

Published June 16, 2021