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Pasco County Planning Commission

State Road 52 is becoming a magnet for new development

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The Pasco County Planning Commission has recommended approval of a rezoning to allow more than 1,400 residential units, and nearly 117,000 square feet of commercial and office uses on a site on State Road 52.

Specifically, the rezoning would allow 953 single-family detached units, 119 single-family attached units, 336 multifamily units and 116,882 square feet of commercial/office uses on 493 acres.

The site is within the Central Pasco Employment Village, an area designated by the Pasco County Commission years ago to create a coordinated vision among a group of landowners.

The plan envisions a mixed-use employment village on more than 2,400 acres, located along the south side of State Road 52, roughly between Collier Parkway Extension and Bellamy Brothers Boulevard. The employment village is expected to contain commercial, residential and industrial uses.

Attorney Joel Tew represented Lennar Homes, applicant/developer, and the Swope family entities, which own the land.

Tew reminded the planning board: “You’ll recall that last summer, we completed a plan amendment that updated and modified the CPEV (Central Pasco Employment Village) overall master plan for the entire acreage that has the 20 or so multiple landowners.”

During that plan amendment process, Tew said, his client was strongly encouraged to entertain an entitlement exchange with another property owner.

“We relocated a large quantity of industrial, corporate office entitlements that were in the center of the overall plan, we relocated that to the eastern part, so they would be adjacent to the existing Southworth site, where the Amazon facility was being contemplated.

“So, we have now been able to better concentrate the large employment areas in, say, the eastern third of CPEV, and then we moved the residential to the center.

“That did two things. Obviously, you got the critical mass for the employment that (the Pasco Economic Development Council Inc.) EDC was looking for on the eastern end. It’s closer to Bellamy Brothers Boulevard, where they had existing sewer/water and infrastructure.

“We’re here to now rezone the Swope parcel to memorialize, primarily, the residential entitlements that were traded for, together with this quantity of support commercial/office that’s being retained in that center part.

“We’re doing exactly what we promised you and the board, a year ago, we would do,” Tew said,

“To our knowledge, as of today, we now have no objections from any of the other stakeholders in CPEV,” Tew said.

Achieving that consensus was not easy, given the number of owners involved in CPEV, he said. But he speculated the harmony among owners may stem from the Swope family’s willingness to take considerably less entitlement than the methodology would allow.

He explained that Heidt Design came up with a methodology and a chart for assigning entitlements, based on net developable acreage and the different levels of density or intensity that the master plan assigned to parcels.

Tew told the planning board: “Swope is only asking you to zone about 25% of the multifamily that they would have been entitled to, under that methodology. So, they’re leaving a large number of multifamily units, in the pot.

“They had high density residential on virtually all of their acreage, so they could have taken a lot more,” Tew explained.

The planning board unanimously recommended approval of the rezoning request, which now goes to the Pasco County Commission for final approval.

As an aside, Tew told the planning board that “there’s very high interest in the portion of CPEV that has industrial entitlements. I think we’re going to get a lot of action there,” Tew said.

He also noted that he represents Pasco Town Center, at Interstate 75 and State Road 52, which has modified a pending master-planned unit development to increase entitlements to 4 million square feet.

“The market believes that you have arrived, that Pasco County has arrived on the industrial and office employment jobs,” Tew said.

Requests coming before the planning board for new mixed-use projects and apartment developments along State Road 52 signal the growing interest in the area.

One significant project that plans to set up shop on State Road 52 is Amazon, which intends to  build a 517,220-square-foot facility, on a site at State Road 52 and Bellamy Brothers Boulevard.

The $150 million Amazon Robotic Sortation Center (ARSC) is being built at Eagle Industrial Park, a 127-acre property that was identified as part of the Pasco EDC Ready Sites Program. It is expected to employ 500 workers.

Meanwhile, further to the west, the new Angeline mixed-use community — being billed as a wellness-themed community — is planned on thousands of acres, east of the Suncoast Parkway and south of State Road 52.

Within that community, Moffitt Cancer Center plans to have a Pasco campus that will include  a massive research and corporate innovation district.

Site entitlements for Moffitt’s project, which encompass 24 million square feet, include plans for a hospital, research and development space, office, manufacturing, laboratories, pharmacies, educational facility/university, hotel, and commercial space.

The multiyear, multiphase project is expected to create 14,500 jobs.

Published May 04, 2022

Mixed-use project proposed in Connected City

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The Pasco County Planning Commission has recommended approval of a maximum of 525 residences and 106,285 square feet of office uses on a site of approximately 158 acres, in an area known as Connected City.

The Connected City corridor consists of about 7,800 acres in a state-approved development district meant to foster residential communities and employment centers that are the wave of the future. Its borders are Interstate 75, State Road 52, and Curley and Overpass roads.

The area is meant to feature cutting-edge technology, including gigabit Internet speeds and innovation.

The proposed project, which gained the planning board’s recommendation for approval on April 21, is at the northeast corner of Elam and Kenton roads, about 6,600 feet east of Interstate 75. The site is currently vacant and used for agricultural pursuits.

The proposed 525 residences may consist of a mix of single-family detached, attached and/or multifamily, courtyard houses, row houses, townhouses and possibly garden-style apartments, Tammy Snyder, a Pasco County planner told the planning board.

This portion of Connected City requires medium density standards of 3.25 residence per acre. There’s also a maximum number of single-family residences allowed in this part of Connected City. Thus, the proposed project is limited to 192 single-family residences, according to Brad Tippin, the county’s development review manager.

Also, Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative owns 12.18 acres of this site.

Clarke Hobby, an attorney representing the applicants, said the request involves a site within Connected City’s Community Hub Zone.

“The overall intent of the Community Hub is to create mixed-use projects that create a blend of employment and mixed-use housing opportunities.

“As we go from over on Curley (Road) with the lowest densities and moving to the west, we are approaching the business core zone, and staff thinks that the best planning objectives are not only to phase out having single-family, as was mentioned, but to get to a higher density as you approach that area.

“The Business Core Zone, which is kind of the southern area of Pasco Town Center, that’s going to be a very intense and dense form of development down in that area. So, staff wants to make sure these areas are working together,” Hobby said.

By contrast, the developments of Epperson and Mirada are located in other areas of Connected City that specifically allow for lower density of development.

As part of the current proposed mixed-use project, Hobby said, “we’re building the first segment of Kenton Road. We’re having to acquire right of way from third parties for it, and we’re dedicating right of way. We’re going to be redesigning the intersection of Elam Road and Kenton Road to address an existing offset that staff identified, and it’s a fairly extensive amount of work and background work that had to go into making that happen.”

Efforts made to limit impacts
Hobby also noted that extensive work has been done to mitigate impacts on neighbors.

“Having grown up in Dade City, I fully realize that this is a very rural area, traditionally. And so we knew this was going to be one of the sites that our neighbors were going to be very concerned about the form of development and changes over time.

“So, we’ve had a series of meetings with them, and my client literally has spent the better part of the last week out there meeting … and trying to make everyone happy.

“We have a series of private agreements with them that relate to trees that we’re going to save on our property line, that provide nice buffering for them, some additional tree mitigation that we’re going to do on our site and then some landscaping things that we’re doing for our neighbors,” he said.

He provided letters of “no objection” for the record from eight of the 10 neighbors.

“We are, as staff noted, providing a service-ready site at the corner of Elam and Kenton, and working with our neighbor, Withlacoochee Electric River Cooperative, on that, and anticipate having a really nice use there. We’ve got some intel from them about what’s probably going to go there and I think everyone will be happy with the job creating uses there.

“We’ve also given extensive thought to the cross connections with the MPUD (master-planned unit development) that’s directly to our east and southeast. We have a lot of interconnections between that and the various parcels on our site, to ensure the connected in Connected City is being met.

“The result of all of this is that we have a really nice mixed-use development, with great interconnectivity, employment and housing options.

“So, I think we’re hitting all of the requirements of Connected City,” Hobby said.

Michael Pultorak, who lives on Kenton Road, expressed concerns about the potential for area flooding, if the water levels rise in King Lake.

“I am pro-growth. I am pro responsible growth. I am pro responsible development,” Pultorak said.

However, he added: “The problem is, since 2009, the water is up almost 8 feet.

“My 4-foot cattle fences are completely underwater during the rainy season, and the best I can do during the dry season is see the tops of them.

“We used to have land that exceeded 250 feet past those cattle fences.

“I have lost over 700 feet of land, linear, since 2009,” he said.

Pultorak said area residents told him there used to be three outlets for the lake and now that’s down to one, which is across Kenton Road.

“I’m pro-development. I’m pro-growth. But please don’t do it on the backs of the current residents and property owners that are trying to keep this as our homesteads and provide agricultural supplies and services and resources for the entire area,” he said.

Hobby said he’s also aware that some neighbors simply want to retain the area’s historically rural nature.

“Connected City was adopted some years ago. It was a legislative change from the state and the county is implementing it. This area is not going to stay rural much longer. It’s just not going to,” Hobby said.

“What we’re trying to do is be a good neighbor and provide good buffering where we can, to fulfill the Connected City goals, while not overwhelming our neighbors,” the attorney said.

Published May 04, 2022

Residential buildings to get taller in Pasco?

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The Pasco County Planning Commission has recommended approval to a change in the county’s land development code that would allow residential buildings to be a maximum of 45 feet, which is 10 feet taller than the code currently allows.

The change is being initiated by the county, based on an action by the Pasco County Commission to direct the planning department to bring forth the modification.

The county board adopted the restated land development code on Oct. 18, 2011, and since then has adopted 54 amendments to the code, according to agenda backup materials for the planning board’s April 24 meeting.

The county board, on July 6, 2021, directed the staff to prepare the modification needed to increase the building height in all residential districts.

Planning Commissioner Peter Hanzel raised a question about potential impacts for firefighters.

Zoning Administrator Denise Hernandez said she would confer with Fire Rescue officials, but noted that commercial buildings can exceed 45 feet.

No one spoke for or against the proposal during the meeting.

Planners recommended approval of the change.

Published May 04, 2022

Pasco looking to adopt updated landscaping regulations

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Pasco County is considering changes to update its landscaping code — addressing such issues as tree preservation and placements; landscaping and buffering; and planting in rights of way, in residential subdivisions.

Patrick Dutter, a county senior planner, explained the proposed changes to the Pasco County Planning Commission, during its April 7 meeting.

“Probably two years ago, now, we were asked by the Tampa Bay Builders Association (TBBA)  to look at amending some of our policies and our land development code, to clean up some items,” Dutter said.

A task force was formed, including county staff, TBBA representatives, experts in landscape architecture, an arborist, and a representative from the University of Florida/Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS)/Pasco County Cooperative Extension.

The group looked at some issues raised by TBBA, but a number of other items also surfaced during the review.

One of the changes being proposed deals with how tree replacements are calculated, Dutter said.

Instead of measuring every tree on a project site, representative samples would be allowed, he said.

Dutter explained: “Let’s say you have a 100-acre project and there’s a whole bunch of trees on that. Someone has to go out and measure each individual tree, to figure out, OK, if you’re taking down trees, how many inches do you need to replace over time?

“That can be quite time-consuming.

“So, what we’ve done in the past is, we’ve allowed people to sample certain areas, with county approval,” Dutter said.

This change would allow the sampling to occur, without having to go through an Alternative Standards process.

The update also provides definitions for what constitutes a shade tree and what constitutes an ornamental tree, Dutter said.

It also addresses a requirement that said that 70% of buffers needed to have landscaping in them.

“Essentially, what that ended up doing is most of our buffers would have ground cover plantings and they would have mulch. Those ground covers generally don’t survive very long, so you’ve got most of your buffer basically being mulch and a little bit of landscaping,” Dutter said.

“We tweaked that requirement a little bit, too, rather than have that 70% rule, we added some additional landscaping, specifically in our buffering requirement,” he said.

The update also proposed a change in the vehicle dealership buffer.

“The original vehicle dealership buffer called for it to be 75 feet wide, which is quite a large buffer space,” Dutter said. “The code currently doesn’t even have a visual screening component for it, which is probably the most important thing you want, when  you’re having a vehicle dealership abutting a residential project.

“So, we shortened that buffer width and we added the visual screening component to it, as well. So, we kind of made that swap,” he said.

The proposed code also updates links to outside resources that had become outdated, Dutter said.

It also has a link to an invasive species list.

The tree list that had been presented as part of the code has been moved to the development review manual, so it can be updated on a timelier basis, Dutter added.

Also, the cooperative extension representative and the tree arborist went through the list of trees, found the appropriate spacing requirements, called out where mitigation measures would be needed and where they wouldn’t be needed, Dutter added. The tree list calls out where different types of trees should be placed.

Planning Commissioner Jamie Girardi applauded the task force’s work and resulting recommendations.

“I think this is a very thorough job, and I think there’s a lot of changes that are included in here that needed to be done and were probably long overdue,” he said. “And, I think it was a very good job, putting it together.”

But he also noted: “Simple changes with increases to landscape island widths have pretty substantial impacts.”

The ordinance will be adopted in coming weeks, he said.

“I have several clients out there that purchased property and we’re ongoing in preparing construction plans, and frankly, I don’t know if we can beat those dates,” he said.

Dutter explained the rationale for the change to the planning board.

 “Our current dimension for those islands that we’re talking about is 8 feet wide.

“We spent some time putting together our tree list with our arborist and landscape experts. Most trees to be successful need a little bit more room than that. So, we bumped up that island width from being 8 feet wide to being 10 feet wide, just to give it a little bit room,” Dutter said.

Girardi responded: “Admittedly, the 8-foot width limits what you can actually plant in those islands.”

The issue of landscaping requirements has come up repeatedly during Pasco County Commission meetings, with Commission Chairwoman Kathryn Starkey and Commissioner Ron Oakley making persistent calls for changes that would promote better-looking development in Pasco.

The Pasco County Planning Commission voted to recommend the proposed changes be adopted. The Pasco County Commission has final jurisdiction on planning and land use matters.

Proposed changes to the Pasco County landscaping code would:

  • Enable representative samples to be taken, on a property relating to requirements involving calculating requirements relating to tree removal, subject to the county’s discretion
  • Remove the requirement to submit an Alternative Standard Application, when making use of existing trees and shrubs, as part of the landscape buffer.
  • Reduce the requirement that 70% of the buffer be non-grassed
  • Add language that addresses “right tree, right place”
  • Define shade trees
  • Define ornamental trees
  • Clarify the use of palm trees
  • Update ground cover planting requirements
  • Update tree diversity requirements
  • Add language about the proper maintenance of trees
  • Add language about keeping future planting areas free of debris
  • Add a requirement of one shade tree in the front yard of single-family homes
  • Update and clarify requirements in vehicle use areas
  • Require landscape islands to be 10 feet wide (they were previously required to be 8 feet wide)
  • Add requirements for large vehicle use areas (VUA)
    • Clarify plantings adjacent to building perimeters
    • Revamp the Buffer Requirement Table
    • Revamp the Buffer and Screening Requirements Table
    • Adjust the Vehicle Dealership Buffer
    • Add standards for ponds adjacent to rights of way
  • Changes the order of some chapters and moves some elements into the land development manual, which is updated more frequently.

Source: April 7 agenda materials for the Pasco County Planning Commission

Published April 20, 2022

Proposal calls for modernizing county code

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Pasco County is considering updates to its landscaping code — and, while doing so, is contemplating how to deal with electric charging stations for cars and for carports within parking lots that have solar panels on top.

David Goldstein, chief assistant county attorney, asked county planners and the Pasco County Planning Commission to consider including the electric charging stations and solar-paneled carports, as the county amends its code.

He made the suggestion during the planning board’s April 7 meeting.

The attorney said he’d been out West recently, where he saw that in many parking lots, “they have these, what I’ll call solar car ports.”

They provide shade for the cars, while also generating solar energy for businesses, Goldstein said.

“As I saw them, I was thinking: ‘Is that even possible to do in Pasco and still comply with our landscape ordinance?” Goldstein said.

“What I noticed was where these solar panels were, the footers that were holding them up were basically where we would normally have these landscaped islands,” he added.

Patrick Dutter, a senior planner for the county, told Goldstein that the code amendments didn’t address those particulars.

But Dutter added: “The main goal of those trees (required in the landscape code) in those vehicle use areas is to provide shade, right. And, if those carport structures are doing that, it’s meeting the main intent. So, staff would probably be OK with approving an alternative standard.”

Goldstein, however, suggested adding the solar carports to the list of exceptions included in the proposed code.

“I’d just hate to see someone have to go through an alternative standards process for something that we probably would encourage, because it’s providing shade, it’s providing solar energy. Why not write it into the code, as opposed to saying, ‘You’ve got to go through an alternative standards process?’” Goldstein said.

He continued: “If it is providing just as much shade as the landscaping and it’s encouraging solar, I would think we want to encourage that.”

Brad Tippin, the county’s development review manager, responded: “I think that is something we could probably add to that list of exceptions, with a caveat that the county sees to what’s being proposed, to see if it actually meets that.

“We may also want to address things like electric charging stations,” Tippin said.

Goldstein responded: “That was going to be my next question.

“A logical place to retrofit putting in an electric charging station is in the landscape islands, and I wouldn’t want us to preclude those,” Goldstein said.

“I think there should be some allowance for that,” the attorney said, providing the planning board approved that direction, which it did, later in the meeting.

Tippin said county staff will draft language to address those issues, before bringing the proposed landscaping update to the Pasco County Commission for a vote.

Goldstein said it makes sense to include the changes in the code update.

“We don’t amend the landscape code very often,” he said.

“This is probably the first time in 15 or 20 years. I just don’t want to have to wait another 15 or 20 years to amend the code, and allow for electric charging stations and solar facilities.

“We should anticipate the future that these things are probably coming, and we shouldn’t have our code preclude them,” he said.

Published April 20, 2022

Mixed-use project gets OK on State Road 52, east of Interstate 75

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The Pasco County Commission has approved a mixed-use development on State Road 52, about 2 miles east of Interstate 75.

The 28-acre project, known as Amavi Village, has been approved for 220 units and 74,813 square feet of commercial/office space.

Bruce Landis, a representative for the applicant, appeared at the county board’s April 5 public hearing on the request.

He told board members that the plan is to create a project that is “Live. Work. Stay. Play.”

The site will have a central access off State Road 52, which will serve both the residential and commercial elements of the project, Landis said.

The development has a connectivity plan to encourage people to walk or ride their bicycles within the project area.

It also has a planned limited access off Hartman Road, to the proposed Orange Belt Trail, Landis said.

The development has no plans to use Hartman Road for vehicular access, because “it has a beautiful, beautiful, canopy of oak trees” that the developer doesn’t want to disturb, Landis said.

In addition to the residences, the developer plans a clubhouse/conference center, where residents can schedule business meetings, he said. A park will be adjacent to that facility, enabling parents to wrap up their meetings, while their kids play outside, he said.

The project also will have a pet spa, Landis added.

No one from the public spoke for or against the rezoning request, which received unanimous approval from the board, except for Commissioner Jack Mariano, who was absent.

The request had received recommendations for approval from both the Pasco County Planning Commission and from the county’s planning staff.

On another matter, Commission Chairwoman Kathryn Starkey told her colleagues that she has been in discussion with Nectarios Pittos, director of planning and development, and Marcy Esbjerg, director of community development, regarding the issue of affordable housing.

Starkey said she’d like the county to explore how it can move forward on that issue.

The commission chairwoman wants to know: “What are other counties doing to try to stave off a housing crisis?”

She also wants to talk about accessory dwelling units and other ideas to address the problem.

In her conversation with Pittos and Esbjerg, she said the consensus was that addressing housing affordability and possible solutions “was best done in an affordable housing workshop, so that what’s going on can be articulated to all of the commissioners” and, to discuss possible policy decisions.

On another topic, Commissioner Mike Moore told his colleagues that new numbers are available regarding Pasco County’s official population. He said the U.S. Census Bureau’s updated numbers have Pasco County at 584,067.

“I think it’s still an undercount,” Moore said, but he said he wanted to mention it, to make sure that reports coming to the board are using the updated figure.

Published April 13, 2022

285 dwellings proposed at Old Pasco Road, State Road 52

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The Pasco County Planning Commission has recommended changes to the county’s land use plan to allow consideration of 285 dwelling units at the southeast corner of State Road 52 and Old Pasco Road.

The current land use designation, RES-3, allows up to three dwellings per acre. The new one, RES-12, would allow up to 12 dwellings per acre on slightly less than 28 acres. About 1.85 acres of the 29.25-acre site would retain its current designation of ROR (office, retail, residential) — but the intention is to use the entire site for a residential project, according to materials in the planning board’s March 17 meeting agenda packet.

In addition to the land use change, the applicant, represented by attorney Barbara Wilhite, intends to seek a rezoning for a master-planned unit development including detached or attached units, with buildings on the site being no more than two stories tall, according to the agenda backup.

Initially, the applicant was seeking to change the entire site to a land use designation allowing 12 units per acre. The applicant, however, amended the request, after David Goldstein, chief assistant county attorney, raised issues about amending the ROR portion of the site.

Goldstein told Nectarios Pittos, the county’s planning and development director, that he was concerned about changing the ROR designation to R-12 because of the potential for a future request to change the ROR use on the property to the north, to allow additional residential.

He asked Pittos if the planning director could document “that we’re not giving additional residential to that property owner to the north, because there’s already adequate residential in this ROR district, including the area we’re about to change right now.”

Another option, Goldstein said, would be for the county to change the designation on the land to commercial, to retain office and retail uses on the land.

“The problem with the ROR district is that it allows all three (commercial, office and retail),” Goldstein said.

“I just think it would be a mistake to take that key corner of (State Road) 52 and Old Pasco Road and make it residential … I’m worried that 10 years from now some staff person says, ‘ROR, residential’s allowed.’”

Pittos said he understood Goldstein’s concern and that he could make a notation in the county’s files.

That’s when Clarke Hobby, an attorney who frequently appears on behalf of clients at land use and zoning hearings, stepped up to the microphone.

Hobby told the planning board that he wasn’t there to represent the property owner to the north, but that he is working with that landowner.

Hobby then said: “I think it’s really inappropriate for the county to be effectively trying to impose conditions on their (the adjacent) property, when their property wasn’t the subject of today’s application.

“Effectively what you are saying is that their comp (land use) plan is being changed or conditioned somehow today, and they had no knowledge of it, so I think it’s unfair,” Hobby said.

Goldstein then asked Wilhite why it was necessary to change the ROR designation on the pending application.

Both the attorney and the county planning staff told Wilhite the density that is being sought in the forthcoming request for master-planned unit development could be achieved, without changing the ROR designation.

Wilhite said she was willing to drop that request, as long as it did not require re-advertising the request or delaying the process.

Goldstein said re-advertising would not be required because Wilhite is not seeking to change the ROR. That being said, Wilhite agreed.

In the backup materials, planners recommended approval of the proposed land use change, noting that it complies with the county’s policy regarding the provision of transitional uses to serve as a buffer between varying densities of residential and commercial land uses.

Planners also found that the “proposed amendment to RES-12 supports the vision and

mission of the South Market Area by encouraging higher-density residential development adjacent to major corridors.”

And, they noted because of the proximity of the Interstate 75 corridor and State Road 52, the proposed use “provides the opportunity for residents to live/work within major corridors.”

The planning board voted unanimously to recommend approval of the proposed land use change. The request now goes to the Pasco County Commission, which has final jurisdiction on land use and zoning changes.

The proposed development cannot proceed until the pending master-planned unit development zoning also gains approval from the county board.

Published March 23, 2022

Airport area moratorium is on hold

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Questions about potential impacts from a proposed moratorium on development near airport land have prompted a delay by the Pasco County Commission, to give stakeholders more time to weigh in on the issue.

A continuance already had been planned, to push the matter back to April 5, but Commissioner Mike Moore called for additional time to study the issue.

“I am getting way too many questions from stakeholders. A lot of questions, a lot of concerns,” Moore told his colleagues.

“I think this needs to be pushed (back) at least another month to give time for the stakeholders to get involved, on both sides,” Moore said at the county board’s March 8 meeting.

The first reading of the proposed moratorium ordinance is now set for April 19 at 1:30 p.m., in New Port Richey, with a final vote scheduled for May 3 at 1:30 p.m., in Dade City.

Concerns about the proposed moratorium initially arose during the Pasco County Planning Commission’s March 3 meeting.

The objections surfaced after Denise Hernandez, the county’s zoning administrator, gave the planning board a presentation on the proposed six-month moratorium.

The moratorium would put a 180-day pause on most development proposals near Zephyrhills Municipal Airport, Pilot Country Airport, Tampa North Aero Park and Hidden Lake Airport.

Hernandez explained that county staff had been directed by the county board on Jan. 11 to do the necessary work to establish the temporary moratorium.

Then, on Feb. 8, the county board applied the pending ordinance doctrine to the airport zoning moratorium, which means that applications must be accepted and processed in their normal course, but applicants must be informed “they are going forward at their own risk and if the moratorium is adopted, their application may be put on hold for the duration of the moratorium.”

Hernandez also noted: “the moratorium ordinance may contain certain exceptions to the moratorium that would allow some applications to proceed, if certain requirements are met.”

The county also has retained a consultant to create noise contour studies around Tampa North Aero Park, Hidden Lake and Pilot Country.

Hernandez explained to the planning board that there is a 20,000-foot area around airports that is deemed to be the height obstruction area.

“Any application that comes in where something is going to be over 200 feet in height, in that area, it’s required by the state that you notify the FAA (Federal Aviation Administration),” she said.

Another part of the moratorium addresses potential applications that could be deemed to be incompatible with airport operations.

“We provide examples of what may be incompatible with airport operations,” Hernandez said.

“For example, residential uses, landfills, wildlife attractants, uses that will cause visual obstructions, such as dust, glare, light emissions, smoke, steam and/or fog.

“It doesn’t mean it’s prohibited,” she said.

It means that the county can use conditions to ensure that incompatible uses do not occur.

There’s also a noise abatement area.

“Typically, in a noise abatement area, state statute says you cannot have residential. It also says that you cannot have an educational facility unless the education facility is an airport school, that you are teaching flying,” Hernandez said.

Barbara Wilhite, a private land use attorney, who has represented clients with projects near airports, raised objections to language within the county’s proposed moratorium.

“I don’t have any issue with the Florida statutes. The Florida statutes require that you implement two types of regulations. One, you check height. And, the second one is you check land use compatibility, based upon noise generation of the airports.

“It’s two things. Pretty straight-forward,” Wilhite said.

But she objects to language in the proposed moratorium that says “uses may be conditioned, so as not to be incompatible with airport operations, such as landfills, wildlife attractants, uses that cause visual obstructions, such as glare, dust, light emissions, smoke, steam and fog.”

Wilhite urged the planning board to require more specific language and to reduce staff’s discretion.

As an applicant, Wilhite said, “You have to figure out, you and your engineers, how to comply with dealing with wildlife attractants, which is a circular that’s like six pages off the internet. You have to figure out what the heck that means.”

She urged the planning board to recommend a moratorium that focuses on the issues of noise and height, as it relates to development around airports.

“I think when we get into a real quagmire is when we go beyond that,” Wilhite said. “Make this more simple to implement. It’s very, very, very cumbersome.

“The way it is being done is not fair, is not reasonable, is not striking a balance that it should,” Wilhite added.

Jeremy Couch, a professional engineer who has handled projects near airports, told the planning board that the proposed moratorium is too broad and gives staff too much latitude.

Hernandez said there are letters of support for the proposed moratorium that have been submitted to the record.

Nectarios Pittos, the county’s director of planning and development, said the proposed moratorium still allows options for development.

Wilhite said she’s worried that the language in the temporary moratorium could be the precursor of the final ordinance, but David Goldstein, chief assistant county attorney, said it is not unusual for the language in a temporary moratorium to be broader in nature.

Published March 23, 2022

Youth group home can proceed, with conditions

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The Pasco County Planning Commission has waived the requirement for a conditional use permit in connection with a Wesley Chapel group home for at-risk youths.

The planning board unanimously approved the request for the waiver during its March 3 meeting.

Elevated Youth Services can now exceed the previous maximum of six residents at its residential treatment facility, provided the residential treatment facility meets negotiated conditions.

The group home is for young men, ages 13 to 17.

The planning board originally heard the request to waive a conditional use permit requirement for the home at its Jan. 6 meeting.

The issue was continued, however, after both planning board members and neighbors raised a number of questions about the proposed operations.

Neighbors wanted to know how potential group home residents would be screened. They also wanted to know how the youths would be supervised.

Area residents also raised concerns about the group home’s capacity to handle the potential number of occupants, asked about the sufficiency of the home’s septic system, cited existing problems with drainage, noted a lack of sufficient play areas and pointed out that there’s not enough room for parking.

Some planning board members also pressed for more details on how the residents would be selected and what steps would be taken to protect the existing neighborhood.

The request was continued, as Chief Assistant County Attorney David Goldstein negotiated conditions of approval with Dan McDonald, a fair housing attorney representing Elevated Youth Services, the operator of the group home; and, Robert Lincoln, an attorney representing Noelle Munroe, who lives three doors down from the group home.

Goldstein said the group home is intended for youths who have been living in foster homes and who have experienced human trafficking or are at risk of being trafficked. He said the Pasco County Commission supports efforts aimed at addressing the trafficking problem.

Here’s a summary of some of the conditions that the attorneys negotiated. They must be met if Youth Elevated Services wants to exceed six residents at the group home:

  • Occupants in the facility shall be limited to minors with handicaps or disabilities, as defined by the Fair Housing Act or Americans with Disabilities Act, as well as adults supervising those minors.
  • The facility is limited to 16 minor residents or occupants (and adult supervisors), permitted by the Department of Children and Family Services (DCF) — or limited by applicable building codes (fire code, sanitation, health), whichever is more stringent.
  • The facility shall be licensed by DCF and shall not be licensed by the Department of Juvenile Justice.
  • The admissions screening process for the facility shall exclude residents who have been adjudicated based on charges of sexual assault, juvenile sexual abuse , violent crimes or their equivalent. The facility shall not accept residents who pose a direct threat of harming others, and the facility shall make that determination based upon an individualized risk assessment and psycho-sexual evaluation. Residents at the facility cannot be deemed as posing a high risk for harming others.
  • The facility will create an advisory board and will offer a seat on that board to at least one member of the neighborhood who lives within 2,500 feet of the group home. The board also will include a seat on that panel for a member of the county’s community services department or the county’s Commission on Human Trafficking.
  • The facility shall maintain at least one adult supervisor for every four minor residents.
  • The minor residents will be under adult supervision or on a school campus 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The minor resident shall be deemed to have left the facility without permission if an adult supervisor calls 911 within 30 minutes of the minor’s departure; otherwise, the resident will be deemed to have left with permission.
  • No more than six cars can park at the facility. An additional circular driveway must be added within 90 days of the facility housing eight or more minors.
  • The group home must comply with all applicable state licensing requirements, rules, and regulations. The facility must obtain a new certificate of occupancy demonstrating compliance with building code, fire code, sanitation/health code, and establishing maximum occupancy limits.

Goldstein credited Lincoln for helping to improve the conditions for approval.

Goldstein said that Lincoln’s input resulted in greater protections not only for Lincoln’s client, but for the neighborhood, as well.

McDonald said his preference would have been no conditions at all, but said his client wants to be part of the solution.

McDonald also credited Goldstein “herculean” efforts to protect the county’s interests.

By reaching an agreement, the county was able to avoid the potential for liability stemming from inaccurate information provided by a county staff member to Youth Elevated Services.

Before purchasing the house, the company had reached out announcing its intended use of the property and seeking a zoning verification letter.

Elevated Youth Services then received word from the county that a residential group home is a permitted use in the zoning category.

The company subsequently purchased the home.

As it turns out, a residential group home is limited to six residents, as a permitted use.

In approving the waiver for the conditional use, planning board members said they were much more comfortable with the request, given the conditions for approval.

They were particularly pleased by the creation of the advisory board, which will give the neighborhood a chance to monitor the operation and will involve a representative from the Human Trafficking Commission.

Published March 09, 2022

Mixed-use project proposed on State Road 54

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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