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Zoning
© St. Petersburg Times, published February 14, 2003
Editor's note: This column follows zoning petition requests for new commercial, retail and residential developments to provide you with specific information about what's being planned in your community. We'll also alert you about public hearings so that you can make your voice heard. Petition numbers are provided in bold to help you get more information from the county.
APOLLO BEACH: Oklawaha Farms has applied for a special-use permit to allow for the excavation of 425,000 cubic yards of vegetation from a 37-acre site on Surfside Boulevard.
The Hillsborough County Land Use Hearing officer is scheduled to consider the petition today.
The excavation is intended to restore a wetland by removing exotic and nuisance vegetation from the site. The proposed haul route runs from the excavation site to Surfside Boulevard, south to Apollo Beach Boulevard and east to U.S. 41.
The property to be excavated is part of a planned development that was approved by the Hillsborough County Commission in 1998. It allows for the development of a mixed-use project to include 370 multifamily units, 395 single-family homes, a 150,000-square-foot research and corporate park, and 194,000 of commercial space.
The site slated for excavation is part of a 61.5-acre site that was acquired by the Hillsborough County Environmental Land Acquisition and Protection Program for ecological restoration.
Oklawaha's request was originally heard last November. The land use hearing officer asked the developer to explore alternatives for removing material from the site and ways to minimize the impact on the roads along the haul route.
Oklawaha explored the possibility of pumping materials off the site or taking it by barge to another location, but determined hauling by road was the only feasible approach, according to the developer. The company proposed hauling materials only between 7 a.m. and 6 p.m. weekdays and coordinating with the hours of operation of Apollo Beach Elementary School.
The Hillsborough County Planning Commission staff has recommended approval of the request. (SU 02-1456)
BRANDON: County commissioners on Tuesday approved a request from the Ryland Group to revise the requirements for the placement and screening of a wastewater sanitary pump station at Hickory Woods, an 82-home, 70-acre planned development on the east side of John Moore Road south of Bloomingdale Avenue.
The pump station was supposed to be located within 25 feet of the Hickory Woods internal road system, at least 150 feet from its boundaries, and screened with a brick wall consistent with the design of the development. But the pump station was constructed outside the subdivision with direct access to John Moore Road and far from the internal roads. That location was mistakenly approved in December 2001 by the county development review staff.
Ryland initially was seeking a modification to recognize the existing placement of the pump station, but opposition from the Planning and Growth Management staff and neighbors prompted it to revise its request just a week before the County Commission meeting.
Instead, Ryland proposed moving the pump station inside the subdivision, meeting the requirement to be more than 150 feet from the project's boundaries. The new, approved location is still more than 25 feet from the internal road system to keep it behind residences. Ryland also received approval to construct a screening wall with stone instead of brick. (PRS 03-0142)
BLOOMINGDALE: Also at its Tuesday meeting, the County Commission approved the installation of six speed humps on Hickory Ridge Drive between Nature's Way Boulevard and Northridge Drive.