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Habitat idea may work for county
By JAMES THORNER, Times Staff Writer
Pasco County has a plan to get Edward DeBartolo Jr., the mall developer who ranks 254th on a list of wealthiest Americans, to bankroll a multimillion-dollar wildlife corridor near Odessa. In developing his proposed 511-acre mall site at State Road 56 and Interstate 75, DeBartolo night have to uproot about 50 acres of wetlands over the objections of environmentalists. Pasco could turn that problem into a plus. Hungry for the millions of dollars in property and sales taxes from the 1.3-million-square-foot mall, Pasco officials suggest DeBartolo make up for the destroyed wetlands by paying for a wildlife corridor. Pinellas and Pasco counties have collaborated to try to link 35,000 acres of nature parks stretching from Brooker Creek Preserve in Pinellas, through Hillsborough County's Crocker Ranch to the Starkey and Serenova property in Pasco. What's been missing is money to buy a critical link, 491 acres owned by the Mitchell family near Odessa and Seven Springs. Most of that land is due for development as part of the sprawling Trinity community. The Mitchells could demand more than $10-million for the land, and DeBartolo could supply a big chunk of that change, Sumner said. Contributing land or money to offset environmental destruction is nothing new. It's called mitigation. Much mitigation involves buying land in the middle of nowhere just to fulfill an environmental obligation. Better to use the mall money to string together a corridor for animals, hikers and bicyclists, Sumner said. "It's unique," he said of the mall-for-wildlife swap. "It has a much greater value than just setting aside wetlands someplace." Ever since DeBartolo applied to rezone land for the mall about a year ago, environmental regulators have worried about Cypress Creek, which flows near the southern edge of the property. If all goes according to plan, the mall could open as early as 2006. Known as an "Outstanding Florida Waterway," the creek pours into the Hillsborough River, which supplies Tampa's drinking water. The wetlands the mall would displace feed the creek. State regulators' first reaction to the Pasco plan was to flinch. State law requires developers to save wetlands in the same general area where they destroy wetlands. DeBartolo's mall would sit on land drained by the Hillsborough River. The wildlife corridor is drained by the Anclote and Pithlachascotee rivers. To cross river drainage boundaries would invite a lawsuit, said Len Bartos, environmental regulation manager for the Southwest Florida Water Management District. "These are the obstacles you have to overcome, and I'm not sure you can overcome them," Bartos said of Pasco's plan. DeBartolo could theoretically redesign the mall, tentatively called Cypress Creek Town Center, to spare the creek and abutting wetlands. But it would mean breaking up many of the buildings and parking lots. Some mall industry experts have suggested DeBartolo build a park-like open-air mall that better suits the watery terrain. But Sumner wonders why the state stuck a massive intersection at the mall site if it didn't plan development there. Other land owners, including those of the Wiregrass Ranch a couple of miles farther east, are vying for a mall. But the I-75 interchange is the top contender, Sumner said. "It's worth millions," he said of the mall. "It's several million dollars a year just on property taxes alone." -- James Thorner covers growth and development issues in Pasco County. He can be reached at (813) 909-4613 or toll-free 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4613. His e-mail address is thorner@sptimes.com.
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