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To avoid unintended consequences, experts must define what an environmentally sensitive area really is.
By BILL COATS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published December 13, 2002
LUTZ -- The idea is to protect lakes, cypress swamps and other environmentally sensitive lands from leaky septic tanks.
But the consequences could include a flurry of development, denser than currently expected, along the Hillsborough County's suburban fringe, opponents argued this week.
For that reason and others, the county's Planning Commission voted to shelve until Feb. 10 a proposal to allow developers to extend water and sewer lines up to 1,000 feet into rural-designated areas that otherwise would be limited to wells and septic tanks.
One task in the interim will be to define precisely what an environmentally sensitive area is.
"That is so broad that I could probably provide you evidence that would make every square inch of this county environmentally sensitive," complained Marvin Travis, a homeowner from Odessa, even though Keystone/Odessa is exempt from the proposal.
It's drafted as an amendment to the county's long-range plan, which limits how drastically property can be rezoned. The planning commission can endorse or oppose such amendments, but the final say rests with the County Commission.
The plan amendment debated Monday night would add a new exception to a set of rules hinging on the boundary between urban and rural areas. The county seeks to limit development and public infrastructure in its rural areas, primarily Keystone, Lutz and eastern Hillsborough. In those areas, developers are allowed to extend water and sewer lines only where there are health problems or such a utility connection exists across the street.
The amendment was proposed by heirs of William Van Dyke, a cigar magnate who built Van Dyke Road for access to the family's 230-acre summer retreat in Lutz.
Today that land is a lakefront prize between Simmons and Crenshaw Lake roads, mostly surrounded by middle- and upper-income neighborhoods. The Van Dyke family plans to sell it.
"It's going to be developed," said Steven Reynolds, the family attorney and trustee. "The real question is whether it's going to be developed with water and sewer or on septic tanks and wells."
Last February, Idlewild Baptist Church persuaded county commissioners to extend the county's urban service area to its building site immediately north of the Van Dyke land. That will allow Idlewild to extend water and sewer lines next year for its future mega-church there.
The Van Dykes would like to connect to those lines too, even though they are outside the urban area."It highlighted a problem that we have had over time occasionally," said Lorraine Duffy, planning manager for the Planning Commission.
So she worked with Reynolds to draft a countywide exception to the water and sewer rule. It would apply only to planned developments of 50 acres or larger, next to the urban service boundary.
The water and sewer change would not allow developers to increase their number of lots, at least directly. But it would expose wellhead protection areas, which would include much of Lutz, to clustering on half-acre lots. Currently lots with septic tanks must be at least an acre in wellhead protection areas.
Clustering can allow preservation of open space, while increasing a parcel's lot count.
In the Van Dyke example, 230 houses legally could be built on one-acre lots. Realistically, as few as 150 might be developable because of land covered by the lake, swamps, roads and drainage facilities. Clustering houses on half-acre lots would enable a developer to squeeze all 230 lots around such obstacles.
Paula Harvey, the county's zoning administrator, said such an opportunity could lure developers into a spree of rezoning requests along the urban service boundary.
"This opens the door for them to achieve their maximum opportunities," she said.
Harvey endorsed the option of extending utility lines, but said details need to be worked out.
"This needs additional time," she said. "We need to think about this."
-- Bill Coats can be reached at (813) 269-5309 or coats@sptimes.com .