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Lake Kell tract: homes or offices?
By BILL COATS, Times Staff Writer
LUTZ -- On the surface, it's a fairly simple choice. A 21-acre tract off Lake Kell is zoned to become a suburban neighborhood. Should that plan be changed to make it a much smaller, exclusive neighborhood, with homes on the lake and small office buildings on the highway? In reality, the decision is a big precedent-setter for Lutz. The property is in the midst of a sparsely developed mile of U.S. 41 that's more attractive to developers every day. Should Hillsborough County take a first step toward lining the highway with offices, and perhaps stores? Or limit development to homes, which the developer says aren't suitable next to six lanes of traffic? In a straw poll Thursday night, the question split the Lutz Civic Association 8-6 in favor of the development. Several members abstained. A second poll, which included visitors to the meeting, produced a similar division. "I think this is beautiful," said the association's Sharon Espinola, pointing to a drawing of four, 4,000-square-foot office buildings with metal roofs, broad porches and bunched shade trees. But John McClain, who lives across U.S. 41 from the land, told developer Dara Khoyi that the area should be preserved for houses. "Your project is going to change the face of Lutz forever in a direction we don't want to be going in," McClain said. "The question is whether you're going to tear up Highway 41 up and down with commercial and office space." Khoyi said his idea hearkens to simpler times, when the village doctor or shopkeeper lived upstairs from his business. Khoyi and a partner, Bob Kelly, plan to build their own homes at the rear of the property on Lake Kell, and work in the offices next to U.S. 41. The project would include lots for six additional houses, plus a community recreation center. But first, Khoyi must persuade the county to modify the zoning, which allows for nearly two dozen homes and no offices. His plan is scheduled for a public hearing Jan. 14. Both the current zoning and Khoyi's proposal contradict the Lutz Community Plan, a county law that calls for minimum one-acre residential lots on most of Lutz's rural land. The current zoning, which entails half-acre lots, is legal nevertheless because it predates the two-year-old Community Plan. Khoyi's project goes against a general goal of the plan to confine offices and stores on U.S. 41 to three major "nodes" farther south where such development already exists. For that reason, the county's Planning Commission will oppose the plan, executive planner Steve Griffin said. Denise Layne, the Civic Association's president, said most of her members like Khoyi's proposal, but worry that it would open the door for less desirable commercial development nearby. "We're for it, and we're against it," she said. -- Bill Coats can be reached at (813) 269-5309 or coats@sptimes.com .
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