The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Pasco’s 2021 building permit values reach nearly $4 billion

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Pasco County’s permitting activities continue to break records — with the county issuing  permits totaling nearly $4 billion in value during 2021, according to County Administrator Dan Biles.

The pace of growth is brisk in Pasco County and there are no apparent signs it will be slowing any time soon, according to County Administrator Dan Biles. (File)

Biles broke down the numbers for the Pasco County Commission during its Jan. 11 meeting.

The county recorded 9,000 single-family home permits in 2021, Biles said.

“That’s 56% above 2020 and double 2019. And, 2019 was a record,” Biles said.

“These are post-crash records because we don’t have necessarily clean data from the pre-08-09 crash,” the top county executive said.

“Commercial is up 20%. Almost 700 new permits, new construction numbers.

“Building construction did 64,000 total permits last year, which was up 20%. The new stuff is only about 10% to 15% of their total workload.

“And, most of that total workload now can be done online, as we went to the new portal in December. Most permits can be submitted online and you get them relatively quickly.

“By the way, planning’s workload is double what it was 12 months ago, so more’s coming,” Biles told board members.

Published January 19, 2022

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  1. I am sickened by what is taking place in this county. I moved here because I wanted to experience nature, but that nature is being destroyed very quickly. The amount of development here is staggering and unchecked. Meanwhile, older subdivisions are ignored. I attended meetings back when this 54 toll road was being purposed. Richard Gehring made the comment, “the pink people are coming”, he was referring to people who hadn’t arrived yet and that was the argument for developing the toll road. Well, our so called county leaders are the ones bringing the pink people here with so much development so that massive roads are needed. There is none worse than Kathryn Starkey, who has made millions of dollars from this development. Ron Oakley owns property on the east side of Pasco that he is developing. That is conflict of interest since they are signing off on the permits. The huge road through Serenova Nature Preserve? That wasn’t built to provide a hurricane route. That was built so that that they could do more development. The residents in this county aren’t just ignored. They are treated like yesterday’s trash. The county commissioners do as they please, when they please, to whoever they please. So much for being a public servant. It isn’t that I am against development. You have to have some to keep the economy moving, but the kind taking place here isn’t good for anyone except the commissioners lining their pockets. This is putting to much pressure on our water availability, our waste water treatment, our roadways, our emergency services and our own pockets since we are footing the bill for this.

  2. We need to change the system, not just react to individual projects. See posts for Pasco anti development planning meeting on March 12. Also join stop the Plath road development and stop the development groups.

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