Wal-Mart plans supercenter at Palm Harbor RV park site

Last year, residents of Cypress Pointe RV Resort fought back other big retailers with plans for the park site.

By ROBERT FARLEY, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published August 22, 2002

PALM HARBOR -- Plans will be filed with Pinellas County next week to develop a Wal-Mart supercenter on U.S. 19 on a site currently occupied by the Cypress Pointe RV Resort, according to an attorney representing the retail giant.

Last year, residents beat back a plan to replace their RV park with a Target and Lowe's home improvement store.

Hundreds of residents turned out at county meetings last summer to oppose that development proposal. In September, the plan was withdrawn.

The proposed supercenter would be similar to Wal-Mart's new megastore in Oldsmar. At roughly the same size of 200,000 square feet, it would include a grocery store, pharmacy and auto center.

Still, the new development plan is "substantially different" from the one proposed last year, said attorney Joel Tew, who jointly represents Wal-Mart and the Wilder Corp., which owns Cypress Pointe.

For one thing, Tew said, the new plan calls for just one store, which means less overall commercial space. Also, Wal-Mart has contracted to purchase just the 25 acres that fronts on U.S. 19. The remaining 15 acres, most of which lies along the banks of and Lake Tarpon, would be reserved for residential development.

The Wilder Corp. has not yet secured a buyer for that property, Tew said, so a request will be made to change the zoning to allow for anything from townhouses to condominiums to single family homes.

Wal-Mart officials did not return telephone calls Wednesday, but Tew said he understood that if the supercenter is built, the existing Wal-Mart on the northwest corner of U.S. 19 and Alderman Road would close.

Paul Cassel, the county's director of development review services, said the Wal-Mart plan -- like the one proposed by Target and Lowe's -- would require that the Pinellas County Commission approve a rezoning.

In an hourlong informal meeting between county and Wal-Mart officials last week, Cassel said he related that the county's main concern would again be with traffic and "the sheer amount of commercial development" on the property.

"It's in the talking stage," Cassel said. 'Traffic is the issue."

Several residents of Cypress Pointe said Wednesday that a reporter's telephone call was the first they heard about the Wal-Mart proposal.

"I saw surveyors out here the last couple weeks and so I suspected something was going on," said Sarah Gartner, 49. "I'm obviously disappointed."

Gartner said her disability pay brings her a fixed income of less than $1,000 per month.

"I don't know what I'm going to do if this goes through," Gartner said.

Many of the RV resort's residents moved out after the first development plan came forward. Many others are seasonal residents, who plan to return this year to a different location.

"They left in droves because they were scared to death by the developers," Gartner said.

Fred and Gerry Cload were among those soured by last year's plans. In April, they moved to an RV park in Pasco County. They spend their summers in Illinois.

"I'm not surprised at all," Gerry Cload said of the Wal-Mart plan. "At this point, I'm glad we moved when we did."

But she's still sad to see such an intensive development plan so close to Lake Tarpon.

"I wouldn't like to see any commercial development there," Gerry Cload said. "It's too important an asset to the county and the ecosystem."

If approved, she said, the plan would worsen an already bad traffic situation. That section of U.S. 19 already carries 60,000 to 70,000 cars and trucks a day, according to county traffic statistics. Tew said Wal-Mart intends to install a traffic signal on U.S. 19.

Shelly Whiting, 67, who has split her year between her home in New York and Cypress Pointe for the past seven years, said she's awaiting to see whether she can spend another winter there.

"I'm disappointed this is happening," she said.

She hopes county commissioners will realize the property can be put to a better use than commercial development.

Many of the residents of Cypress Pointe who have moved to new RV resorts aren't as happy with their new home, she said.

"They moved somewhere less desirable because of what might happen next year," she said. "It's sad in that respect."

Ray Knott, 69, who has split his year between Cypress Pointe and Canada for the past 18 years, said the uncertainty of the situation has been a strain.

"It's been a hassle," he said. "I don't know what we're going to do."

Because of the length of the approval process, Tew said even if plans are approved, construction could not start before next spring. He said he did not know whether Wilder plans to allow residents to extend their leases beyond their current contracts, which expire Nov. 1.

-- Robert Farley can be reached at 445-4185 or farley@sptimes.com.

© 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111

Contact the Times | Privacy Policy
Standard of Accuracy | Terms, Conditions & Copyright