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Permits skyrocket as Pasco housing boom continues
By JAMES THORNER, Times Staff Writer MEADOW POINTE -- Fueled by an explosion of homes in Meadow Pointe and other bedroom communities, Pasco County is approaching home construction peaks not scaled since 1979. The county issued 3,859 permits for new single-family homes in 2001, obliterating the recent high of 3,032 permits in 1999. Part of the reason for the run on permits was the county's approval in February of a $1,694-per-new-home school impact fee and this year's promised passage of a $982-per-home impact fee for parks. Builders dislike tacking impact fees onto the prices of homes and grabbed as many permits as they could before the regulations took effect. But most of the surge is market-driven: Buyers continue to flock to a county promising lower taxes, a better home for the buck and a quick commute to jobs in Tampa and St. Petersburg. South Pasco accounts for much of the growth. Communities such as Meadow Pointe remain market leaders. "There's a handful of communities that are capturing the lion's share. Meadow Pointe and Trinity are the top ones," said housing analyst Marvin Rose, who publishes the industry newsletter Rose Residential Reports. Other strong sellers are Lexington Oaks in Wesley Chapel, Sable Ridge and Plantation Palms in Land O'Lakes, Lake Jovita in Saint Leo and Heritage Springs in New Port Richey. Though recession and job losses plague much of the rest of the country, the Tampa-St. Petersburg metropolitan area has been largely immune because it is less dependent on tourism than cities such as Orlando, Rose said. To help spark the demand for homes, the region created 11,000 new jobs in November, although Rose acknowledged that much of that employment was tied to the Christmas shopping season. The last time housing growth approached current heights was in the late 1970s. Home construction, centered largely in west Pasco, peaked in 1978 with 4,826 permits for single-family homes. Last year's tally was the highest since 4,350 permits were issued in 1979. And it appears the county will continue to trade cow pasture for concrete. Pasco planners expect the miles of farms between Land O'Lakes and New Port Richey on State Road 54 to be the next growth corridor. More than 8,000 homes are on the books in such fledgling subdivisions as LeDantec, Oakstead and Suncoast Crossings. In Wesley Chapel, three projects of up to 4,000 homes apiece will flesh out the landscape: Seven Oaks on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, New River on SR 54 and the next phases of Meadow Pointe north of County Line Road.
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From the Times |
