The Pasco County Commission has identified a list of priorities it would like the Pasco County legislative delegation to support.
The delegation is scheduled to have its annual public meeting on Dec. 17 from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m., at the Pasco County School Board’s campus, 7227 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., in Land O’ Lakes. The session allows members of the public and various interest groups to address the delegation before the beginning of the 2019 Legislative Session.
Among the priority items on the Pasco County Commission’s list are a redevelopment plan for Land O’ Lakes, a pedestrian/bicycle overpass at the Starkey Gap Trail, widening a segment of State Road 52 to four lanes; and improvements to the Zephyr Creek watershed.
Commissioners are seeking $1.5 million in state money to support a Land O’ Lakes redevelopment plan.
Calling U.S. 41, also known as Land O’ Lakes Boulevard, “the primary spine in the Land O’ Lakes community,” the county is seeking the state’s help in coming up with a plan to spur new uses along the road, according to a pamphlet outlining commissioners’ priorities.
The federal highway is a major north-south connector within the region, linking Brooksville in Hernando County to employment centers in Hillsborough County, the county says, in a document outlining its priorities for consideration by the Pasco County legislative delegation, which will be meeting in December.
“This highly travelled route is marked by a suburban development pattern, which has immense untapped potential for creating new jobs and transit-supportive communities,” the document adds.
To that end, the county is seeking state assistance to study the area’s redevelopment potential, identify opportunities for land assembly and encourage catalysts that could result in local employment centers that are served by multiple transportation options.
If completed, the redevelopment plan would:
- Identify large-scale redevelopment implementation strategies
- Include an area-level evaluation of land assembly
- Include conceptual design layouts for identified prime catalyst site, such as Transit Centers or Transit-Oriented Developments and their associate development programs
- Provide evaluations of needed regulatory changes, incentives and other needed mechanisms to facilitate implementation.
The priority list also identifies the need for a bicycle/pedestrian overpass at the Starkey Trail (Starkey Gap) trail at State Road 54. That project, estimated at $4 million, would provide a safe, grade-separated crossing, across the six-lane highway.
The last unfinished segment of the trail, south of State Road 54, is expected to be completed in the summer of 2019. It is part of the statewide Coast to Coast Trail network.
Another priority — which carries a price tag of $73.9 million — requests to widen State Road 52, from U.S. 41 to Bellamy Brothers Boulevard. The design is completed and the right of way for the project is partially funded. The project needs an additional $9.7 million to acquire the additional right of way needed for the project. The estimated construction cost is $64.2 million, which is not funded.
The Zephyr Creek watershed project, estimated at a cost of $5.1 million, seeks to alleviate flooding. The improvements would reduce expected flood levels, which would result in reclassifying 59 structures as lying above the FEMA floodplain.
Published November 28, 2018
