The Pasco County Planning Commission has recommended approval of a request that would set the stage for a mixed-use project including a medical office, commercial uses, apartments and a veterinary office, at State Road 54 and Henley Road.
The site is about 1 mile west of U.S. 41, in Land O’ Lakes.
The applicant first is asking for a text amendment to the county’s land use plan. Then, the applicants plans to seek a rezoning for a master-planned unit development, to allow the proposed uses.
The request for the entitlement change ran into resistance at the planning board’s Feb. 17 meeting because David Goldstein, chief assistant county attorney, asked why an analysis had not been presented regarding the impacts of the proposed shift on the site’s job-generating capacity.
In February, Goldstein told the planning staff: “It’s clearly an exchange of employment-generating uses for apartments, and if staff wants to recommend approval of that, I’m not saying you can’t, but there should be some analysis.”
At the planning board’s March 4 meeting, Goldstein said the subsequent analysis shows that more jobs would be generated from the proposed project than from the previous entitlements, so he would not object to the request on that basis.
During the applicant’s presentation, the owner of the property urged the planning board to allow the change in entitlements. He said his original vision of using the property for an assisted living facility could not be fulfilled because research indicated that there was not sufficient demand for that type of use and he was unable to finance the project.
So, instead of realizing that goal, he said he has been paying taxes on the land for years and it has become a financial burden to his family.
With the planning board’s recommendation for approval, the issue now goes to the Pasco County Commission, which has final jurisdiction on land use and zoning cases.
In other action, the planning board:
- Recommended approval of a change to the county’s land use plan that would allow consideration of light industrial uses on 21 acres now designated for residential uses. The site is west of Old Lakeland Highway, north of Townsend Road, about three-quarters of a mile east of U.S. 98.
The property currently has a single-family dwelling unit and a barn. The site also is within the boundaries of the Old Lakeland Highway Study Area, in which property owners in the vicinity shared their vision of the area, according to information contained in the planning board’s agenda materials. Light industrial uses are compatible on the subject property because of its location adjacent to major thorough fares such as the CSX rail line, U.S. 98 and U.S. 301, according to the planning analysis in the agenda packet. Also, the Pasco County Commission approved a land use plan amendment in April 2021, changing the designation on a 5-acre lot south of the subject property from residential to light industrial.
- Recommended approval of a request for a master-planned unit development known as Amavi Village, at 31725 State Road 52. The 27.75-acre site is on the north side of State Road 52, approximately 2 miles east of Interstate 75.
The rezoning would change the allowed uses on the land from an agricultural residential zoning to a master-planned unit development, allowing 220 multifamily units and 74,813 square feet of retail and office.
Published March 09, 2022
