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Rethink zoning ruling, suit says
By SAUNDRA AMRHEIN, Times Staff Writer Residents filed a lawsuit Friday to block the construction of an already approved housing development off Perrine Ranch Road in southwest Pasco. The suit was filed in Pasco County Circuit Court by nine residents, who would be neighbors of the new development, and the Oak Ridge Homeowners' Association. The suit seeks to overturn the April decision by the County Commission to allow developers to build 210 homes on 137 acres on one of the last pieces of Perrine Ranch. The commission voted 4-1 on April 2 to approve the rezoning, with Commissioner Pat Mulieri voting no. The suit says the decision violates the county's land use plans because the development will hold twice as many homes per lot as the nearby 1-acre lots in Oak Ridge. That will create a burden on the area's roads, water and other infrastructure, the suit says. The residents also want to block the county's plan to abandon Outrider Road. The suit says that decision was not in the public's interest, leaves nearby residents landlocked without access to Perrine Ranch Road and was made without first giving them proper notice. The commission voted unanimously to pursue a compromise on the street: to abandon Outrider Road, which cuts through the property, and build a new roadstraight from Stockman Road to Perrine Ranch Road. That would mean current residents on Stockman Road wouldn't have to wind through the gated section of the new community. But Randall Reder, a Tampa attorney representing the homeowners, told the Times on Friday that the proposed road would be narrower than Outrider Road and not sufficient to handle the increased traffic. Helen Stockman said residents also don't want to have to drive through the development. She also said she fears that the homes in the development, lying in a flood plain, will force runoff water onto her adjacent property on Stockman Road. When they approved 210 homes instead of the 280 requested, county commissioners said they found the lower number defensible because the developer could have built two houses an acre under a regular rezoning request. Developers were applying for a master planned unit development, or MPUD, to build the 280. An MPUD requires greater scrutiny. County attorneys could not be reached for comment Friday. Neither could land owner Gary Blackwell, who also is named in the suit. -- Saundra Amrhein covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is
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