The explosion of new development in Pasco and Hillsborough counties is good news for governments that count on robust tax revenues to balance budgets. But, the rooftop subdivisions and shopping malls sprouting along busy highways that link these two prospering counties bring new challenges that likely will require a regional approach to solve.
Transportation, including public transit, is among the most critical issues.
“Everything is connected, but all roads – no pun intended – lead back to transportation,” said Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill.
The recession temporarily slammed the brakes on new investments. But with marketplace confidence in the driver’s seat again, developers are accelerating their pace to build thousands of new homes, malls, hotels and restaurants.
In Pasco County, much of the activity is centered on State Road 54, the east-west corridor on the county’s southern border. The heaviest activity on State Road 54 so far is at its interchanges at Interstate 75 and the Suncoast Parkway.
Another Pasco hot spot is U.S. 19, the north-south corridor on the county’s western side.
Both State Road 54 and U.S. 19 are expected to have expanding development and concentrations of new residents, according to Pasco County Administrator Michele Baker.
Future growth plans, driven by incentives, will set the path for where future development – commercial and residential – should go, she said. But she added: “You cannot build your way out of traffic congestion.”
During the past two decades, Pasco has seen cow pastures and citrus groves vanish as land is plowed over for subdivisions and shopping centers. Rush hours are a daily ritual — a commuter conga line of motorists leaving and returning to the county’s bedroom communities.
Density plays a role in deciding which transportation projects should get priority.
“You need a certain amount of congestion before you see people on the bus,” Baker said.
Baker and Merrill shared their insights on the future of their counties and of the Tampa Bay region with about 50 people who attended the monthly meeting of the Tampa Bay Builders Association on Feb. 26.
Much of Pasco’s growth emerged from development along U.S. 19 in Pinellas County and from I-75 and U.S. 301 in Hillsborough County, Baker said.
“People moved up here for quality of life and housing, but we orient ourselves to the counties to the south,” Baker said.
Slightly less than 50 percent of Pasco residents of employment age commute daily to Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.
“We’re trying to make that less every day,” Baker said.
The transportation network linking Hillsborough, Pinellas and Pasco isn’t simply about commuters, however. Goods and services must move along the same network, Baker said.
“We do have to work to try to solve the problem,” she said.
Hillsborough is dealing with its own growth explosion.
It is courting opportunities to attract corporate headquarters, it is watching downtown Tampa’s revitalization, pondering a new site for the Tampa Bay Rays, and delivering expanded services and infrastructure to new residents.
In the next 20 years Hillsborough is expected to add about 600,000 residents, Merrill said.
“Along with (Pinellas County Administrator Mark Woodward) we are working much more closely than I’ve ever seen, since 1988, because we are dependent on each other,” Merrill said.
Improved communications and collaborations are good for all counties, Baker agreed.
“Our futures do grow together,” she said.
The challenge is to develop regional strategies without overlooking each individual county’s needs, Baker said.
As businesses look to expand and don’t have room in Hillsborough and Pinellas, they will look elsewhere, Baker said.
But she posed this question: “Rather than let them leap frog from the Tampa Bay region, how do we work to keep them here…without cherry picking from each other?”
The two counties take different approaches to revenue resources.
About 70 percent of Hillsborough’s tax revenues flow from property taxes, while Pasco gets about 35 percent of its money from property taxes. The majority of Pasco’s revenues are filled in with sales and gas taxes, and the renewed Penny for Pasco program.
Baker said Pasco historically has taken a “pay as you go” approach with developers paying higher impact fees than Hillsborough to cover the costs of infrastructure, such as roads and sewers, to support new growth.
But Baker also pointed out that Pasco County has the lowest permitting fees in the region.
Hillsborough needs greater diversity in its revenue sources, Merrill said.
“The struggle in Hillsborough County is how to go forward. It’s not easy to make that shift overnight,” Merrill said.
Pasco County has been focused on changing what Baker described as a “culture of no.”
Along those lines, county officials have taken steps to eliminate and streamline business regulations and to promote a more customer friendly attitude among county employees, Baker said.
“We are not all the way there, but we are picking up steam and making good headway,” Baker said.
Published March 11, 2015
