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Plan for development
By BILL COATS, Times Staff Writer LUTZ -- Heirs of Lutz's original Van Dyke are asking Hillsborough County to approve the family's 230 acres of farm land for public utilities and a development classification of two homes per acre. The descendants of William L. Van Dyke are seeking a more suburban-style future for a section of Lutz that the county, in recent years, has tried to preserve for neighborhoods with one-acre lots. Consequently, the county's Planning Commission staff warned the family's attorney three weeks ago that they would recommend against the change. So will neighborhood leaders. "We would invest some energy in opposing it," said Richard Hoffman, leader of a group of homeowners in Crenshaw Lakes, the neighborhood to the west, who blocked a shopping mall to the north during the 1990s. The Lutz Civic Association also is opposed. The Van Dyke request isn't a rezoning, but a proposed amendment to the county's state-mandated comprehensive plan, which limits the zoning potential of every land tract in unincorporated Hillsborough. The proposal would double the classification of the Van Dyke property to "R-2," two homes per acre. The plan amendment also would extend the boundary of the county's urban service area to include the property, earmarking it for public water and sewer service. Neighborhoods outside the urban service area, including most of those surrounding the Van Dyke property, use wells and septic tanks. The acreage has been in the Van Dyke family since 1938. It was bought by William Lawshe Van Dyke, a founding partner of the cigar company that became Hav-A-Tampa. Like many affluent South Tampa residents of that era, Van Dyke built a lakefront home north of Tampa as a summer retreat for his family. To reach the property, he cleared a dirt road that became Van Dyke Road. The family named the land Merry Acres and its 25-acre lake, Merrywater, said Rick Barrs, a grandson. Van Dyke's son, Bill Jr., farmed the land until his death in 1988. One of his sons, Jesse Van Dyke, said the life on the land inspired him to become a professional biologist. Steven Reynolds, the family's attorney, said the Van Dykes have received frequent inquiries from developers, but haven't chosen one. "One wanted us to try to get more density," he said. "That's the only reason for the R-2 density there in the application." Reynolds said the plan amendment was motivated more so by the desire for water and sewer connections. "It would hopefully improve the water quality of a lot of the lakes around there," he said. But the Lutz Civic Association has long opposed such utility lines in Lutz as magnets for urban development. North of the Van Dyke property, utility lines are to be extended from N Dale Mabry Highway to the future Idlewild Baptist Church, and later, to a major shopping complex west of there. Idlewild persuaded county commissioners last month to include most of its 144 acres in the urban service area. The change, along with other amendments to the comprehensive plan, then was sent to state officials for their approval. At the request of the Civic Association, Idlewild's amendment didn't extend the urban service area completely to the boundaries of the church's property. A 50-foot strip of Idlewild's land along Van Dyke and a 200-foot strip along Geraci Road would remain out of the urban service area. That means property owners across those roads, including the Van Dykes, cannot claim their properties are "contiguous" to the urban service area in requests to spread the designation to their land. Reynolds called it "a spite strip" and urged state officials in a letter to disallow it. He is proposing to meet with local leaders in Lutz. Denise 'Dee' Layne, president of the Lutz Civic Association, said she would meet with Reynolds, but would not compromise on density or utilities. "I will organize this community into a rage to stop that from going to the urban service area," she said. -- This report includes information from Times files. Bill Coats can be reached at (813) 269-5309 or coats@sptimes.com.
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