Commissioners select property near Saddlebrook Resort because it sits closest to major roads and other tourist accommodations.
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published June 4, 2003
DADE CITY - The plans for a $5.7-million tennis stadium moved a giant step forward Tuesday, with the County Commission picking a 24-acre site for the stadium along the southwestern corner of the Saddlebrook Resort.
The Porter family will donate the property for the county-owned stadium, which will be built with tourist tax revenue. The site will be carved out of the Wiregrass Ranch, a 5,000-acre expanse where more than 14,000 homes and 2.3-million square feet of stores and businesses are planned.
The commission, on a 4-1 vote, picked the site over two others because it sits closest to major roads and other tourist accommodations.
"If you're going to get sponsors excited about coming here, they're going to have to have the services available to them: motels, hotels and shops," Commissioner Ted Schrader said at a meeting at the historic courthouse in Dade City.
"This one has the most available amenities today and in the future," added Commissioner Ann Hildebrand.
Although he would rather see the money go toward a multipurpose sports complex, Commissioner Steve Simon joined the majority Tuesday in picking the Porter property. Commissioner Pat Mulieri cast the only vote in opposition.
County Attorney Bob Sumner recommended the Porter property after evaluating it and two other sites: the 15 acres offered by Lee Arnold in the unbuilt portion of Meadow Pointe, and about 120 acres the county owns near Boyette and Overpass roads.
But the Arnold site hinged on the extension of State Road 56, which has been delayed by developers' disputes; and the Boyette road site is several miles removed from the accommodations in Wesley Chapel, Sumner said.
By contrast, the Porter site is just off State Road 54, and not far from Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, Sumner said. The Wiregrass developers also plan to build a road, tentatively called Porter Boulevard, to reach the tennis complex; but in the meantime, he said, stadium visitors could use Saddlebrook's Service Road.
Once the county finalizes a donation agreement with the Porter family, Sumner expects the stadium could be built in 18 to 24 months. The complex would include 18 tennis courts and a grassy parking area that would double as soccer fields. The site has about 4 acres of wetlands that would remain untouched.
A nonprofit arm of Saddlebrook would organize tennis tournaments at the stadium, which officials hope will draw more tourists to Pasco County. In the downtime between events, however, Schrader said the tennis courts and soccer fields would be open for the public to use.
In other news Tuesday, commissioners supported Commissioner Peter Altman's plan to form a multicounty coalition to lobby for relaxed flooding regulations.
Altman's concern is the elevated homes along the coast. He thinks those homeowners should be allowed to enclose the ground floor underneath their homes and use that space, as long as they install "breakaway walls" that allow floodwaters to flow under the home in a storm.
Residents would do so at their own risk, however, as Altman said flood insurance would not cover any ground floor items lost in a flood.
As it is now, the Federal Emergency Management Agency does not allow coastal homeowners to use the floodable area underneath their elevated homes.
