The Laker/Lutz News

Tyndall Road

Pasco County adopts new budget

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The Pasco County Commission has adopted a new budget for fiscal year 2021-2022, which includes an increase of $106 million in general fund expenditures.

“The county realized a 10.8% increase in taxable assessed values the past year,” said Robert Goehig, the county’s budget director.

Goehig identified some of items included in this year’s budget:

  • A wage increase for board and constitutional officer employees
  • Bringing Fire Station No. 3 and Fire Station No. 9 online. Adding a second rescue unit at Fire Rescue Station 30
  • Adding a veterans service officer
  • Adding positions in the planning and zoning divisions
  • Reaching the recommended reserve level of 16.7% of budgeted expenditures.

Not on that list, however, was full funding for a request by Nikki Alvarez-Sowles, who is Pasco County’s clerk and comptroller.

In previous discussions, the clerk said her office has been covering expenses, which, by law, are the obligation of the county.

In essence, she said her office has been subsidizing the county.

The clerk maintains she is just asking for what she is entitled to, by state law.

During the public comment portion of the hearing, three speakers urged the county board to step up to cover those costs.

The county has agreed to provide the funding, but only 40% of it this year.

In previous discussions, County Administrator Dan Biles said paying the full amount in a single year is too big of an ask.

During the budget hearing, however, Commissioner Christina Fitzpatrick made a motion calling upon the county to cover the entire cost.

Her motion failed, for lack of a second.

In action earlier in the day, the county board:

  • Approved a request by Pasco County Fire Rescue for emergency authorization to purchase $627,481 worth of equipment to enable the department’s personnel to safely respond to needs of COVID-19 patients. Items include patient lifts, infection control airway bags, specialized aerosolized nebulizers, safety goggles and others. The expenditures will be paid for with Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act funding.
  • Approved $865,000 for the purchase of library books, resource subscriptions and other items by Pasco County Libraries for fiscal year 2022.
  • Held the first reading on a change to the land development code relating to solar facilities, in response to state legislation. Under the change, solar facilities shall be allowed as a principal use in all agricultural zoning categories and as a special exceptions use in commercial/light manufacturing, light industrial and general industrial categories. The second and final hearing is scheduled for Oct. 12.
  • Approved an amendment to the county’s land development code to change the planned alignment for Tyndall Road, in the Villages of Pasadena Hills, and to make changes relative to administrative review fees in the special planning area.
  • Approved renaming water and wastewater service impact fees to instead call them connection fees. At the same time, the board approved increasing the charges associated with the connection fees and moving the fee schedule out of the land development code. The new connection fees call for an increase of $499, phased in over four years, for water and sewer connections; and an increase of $475, also phased in over four years, for water, sewer and reclaimed water connections. The last time the rates were modified was 2006.

Published October 06, 2021

Borrow pit approved, despite neighbors’ objections

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The Pasco County Commission has approved a request to allow 500,000 cubic yards of dirt to be excavated from a site on the south side of Tyndall road, about three-quarters of a mile west of the intersection Tyndall and Curley roads, in Wesley Chapel.

The permit and conditional use request were approved unanimously by the Pasco County Commission on June 2, despite concerns raised by area residents.

Based on the board’s action, the applicant can excavate and export dirt from about 30 acres of an overall site of 59 acres.

County staff found the request consistent with the county’s land development code — contingent on 31 conditions for approval.

Joel Tew, an attorney representing the applicant Sandhills Flats LLC, said the conditions required by the county staff are standard for this type of operation.

“We did not negotiate or quibble with any of those.”

“The property owners commit to make sure the pit operator complies with them. I intend to attach those conditions to the contract of the pit operator so that they have no choice but to comply,” Tew said.

The pit operator will be required to comply with noise-level limits, operating hours and other county conditions, Tew said.

“We have specific requirements for Tyndall Road maintenance. We have to post a maintenance bond with the county to ensure that our operator complies with those maintenance requirements of Tyndall Road.

“We have to maintain access conditions to all adjacent properties,” he said.

He also noted that more than three-fourths of the way from Tyndall Road out to Curley Road, there are no residences on either side.

Signage will be required, no stacking of trucks will be allowed on Tyndall and no trucks will go west on Tyndall from the site,  Tew said.

He also noted: “Due to the Connected City’s approvals, which you are aware of, there is already a requirement for Tyndall Road to be permanently improved to county standard, that is already in the construction plan review process by Metro, related to the Epperson CC (Connected City) MPUD (master planned unit development).”

Although the permit allows two years of operations, Tew said the hope is that dirt will be excavated and exported within a few months.

“You can’t develop those Connected City properties and VOPH (Villages of Pasadena Hills) without fill dirt,” Tew said.

But, neighbors living west of the site raised objections.

Mark Stober, who has lived on Tyndall Road for about 12 years, said the road cannot handle the heavy truck traffic.

“Tyndall, as a completely unimproved dirt road, already turns into an absolute mud pit during heavy rains, which we inevitably experience every year, and that’s without heavy trucks,” he said.

“There’s no way the company would be able to maintain that road during that period unless they substantially improve the road by either paving it or laying down a considerable amount of lime rock or stone to elevate the roadbed,” he added.

Instead of merely maintaining the road, the applicant should be required to improve it, Stober said.

Christopher Abati, also opposes the borrow pit.

“I have lived on Tyndall Road for 24 years, in peace and quiet,” he said, via email. “I do not want the borrow pit for our neighborhood.”

Abati added: “Our quality of life here is in jeopardy.”

Ernest Black, who also lives on Tyndall Road, asked, via email, whether the project would affect the area’s water table.

“This just seems like a bad idea for all of us living here,” he added.

Commissioner Ron Oakley, noting the county had placed “very good restrictions” on the project, made a motion for approval, which passed unanimously.

Published June 10, 2020

‘Powerglides’ launch site gets OK

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The Pasco County Commission has given the green-light to a conditional use permit to allow takeoffs and landings of motorized parachute devices — known as powerglides — on a 19-acre parcel, at the southeast corner of McKendree Road and Tyndall Road in Wesley Chapel.

While commissioners approved the request, Commissioner Mike Moore questioned why they were even considering the issue.

”Why does this have to come in front of the board? I see these things flying all over, where I live. Literally, I see these all over Pasco County all of the time,” Moore said.

“I just think it’s a waste of these people’s time to have to come do this. That’s my opinion,” Moore said.

Denise Hernandez, the county’s zoning administrator, said the use is not considered to be a customary and incidental use of agricultural property.

County attorney Jeffrey Steinsnyder noted: “If the board wishes to make this a permitted use in an agricultural district, it can. It isn’t currently. That’s why it’s before you today.”

Moore reiterated that he sees this type of device flying all over Pasco County.

Steinsnyder responded: “The flying isn’t illegal. It’s the landing and taking off on a piece of property. I don’t know where those you are seeing are landing and taking off from.

“This is the use of a piece of property.”

Commission Chairman Ron Oakley told Moore, “One of the reasons we’re here is because they take off and land and cross a person’s property next door, that affects the person’s way of life.”

Oakley added that the neighbor boards horses, and “these motors going across her property is causing her an issue.”

Attorney Barbara Wilhite, represented applicant Carol A. Roth.

She said a neighbor complained and a citation was issued by code enforcement.

The applicant had the choice of litigating the issue, or seeking a conditional use permit and opted to pursue the conditional use, the attorney said.

Wilhite noted there is a radio-controlled model airplane club that operates nearby, as well as a motocross track.

A paraglider spoke during the public hearing. He showed commissioners a video that demonstrates how the motorized crafts work, and also showed them a couple of horses in a field that did not appear to be disturbed by the motorized paragliders.

But, Gena Hester, who lives on Tyndall Road next to Roth’s property, voiced opposition

“The RC (radio-controlled) flyers across the street, they don’t fly over my property. The guys down the street that have the four-wheelers, they’re not flying over my property. I’m talking about my property,” she said.

“I have held a county boarding license since 2002. I have been boarding (horses) since 2003. The men, when they’re landing, they’re landing up to 10 feet over my property.”

She said she had shown a video during the Planning Commission meeting on the request, which showed that “they did land over their (her horses) heads, and they did scare my horses.”

Hester added: “They were flying in the front pasture, the side pasture, everywhere. That takes away my quiet use and enjoyment of my property.

“It’s my property that I want to ride my horses on, and those things are loud. Consider the size of a large lawnmower, and they’re flying over my house. I can’t ride my horse. Nobody else can ride their horse. Because it scares them. That’s the point I’m trying to get at,” Hester said.

Wilhite said the applicant has tried to work with staff and tried to achieve a balance.

“Can I say that my client is comfortable with these conditions? No. Do they want to be able to move forward, does she want to be able to use her property? Yes. That’s where we’re at,” Wilhite said.

Moore said the proposed area for takeoffs and landings seems to be a better option than other, more congested areas of the county.

“You see them going over (State Road) 56 and (Interstate) 75 on a pretty consistent basis,” and he said, adding he worries about their safety there.

The board approved the request, subject to numerous conditions, including:

  • A maximum of four takeoffs and four landings per day
  • No landings of anyone who did not launch from the site
  • Operating hours allowed from 7 a.m. to dusk
  • Operations limited to six days per week, including only one weekend day
  • A requirement for operators to maintain a minimum height of 400 feet over adjacent properties, except during launch, landing and necessary circling.

The permit for this use will expire in 10 years, unless applicants submit a request in writing for the county to consider an extension.

Published January 16, 2019