Pasco County

Constant growth muddles old maps

Law enforcement. Emergency personnel. Pizza delivery folks. What do they have in common? They need maps that keep up with the Pasco building boom.

You've read the numbers about skyrocketing home construction, seen the census reporting tens of thousands of suburbanites rushing into Pasco County, but what about the mapmakers who have to keep track of it all?

In the most recent Pasco map book it markets to the Sheriff's Office and real estate agents, MAPSource Inc. of St. Petersburg sketched in what it said were 750 new streets and 66 new residential communities.

Such a cartographical crescendo occurred within roughly two years, from MAPSource's publication of its 2001 edition to the release of its latest edition in April.

It reflects a suburban explosion that has Pasco on pace to issue permits for a record-breaking 6,000 new single-family homes this year. That number doesn't include hundreds of apartments, duplexes and mobile homes.

MAPSource sells to sheriffs, Realtors, delivery people and others who need driving directions across the 745 square miles of Pasco. If a pizza delivery driver gets lost, it means cold pepperoni. Consequences can be greater for police and fire folks.

"It becomes a matter of life and death in some cases," said MAPSource publisher Gene Ingle, who cites an Orlando case in which an improperly updated map caused an ambulance driver to get lost, with fatal results for the patient.

While Pasco sheriff's deputies keep a MAPSource book in every patrol car, county firefighters devised their own system with the help of the Pasco mapping office.

The job falls to Battalion Chief James Maynard, who helps publish new map books twice a year and fills the gap by penciling in street changes more or less weekly.

If a developer paves a road, the county's 290 paid firefighters and paramedics and 100 volunteers need to know. It could be a new shortcut for a fire or rescue call. Also noted are possible obstructions such as new security gates.

"Almost on a daily basis I get new streets or street changes coming in." Maynard said. "Every day, every week, I'm always doing something with maps."

It's the county's southern tier - Wesley Chapel, Land O'Lakes and Trinity - that's driving the map makeovers.

The U.S. Census, in a 2002 update, listed Pasco as the 100th fastest growing among 3,141 counties in the nation. Estimated population last year was 371,245, up from 344,765 in 2000.

MAPSource's latest edition added streets in growing neighborhoods such as Meadow Pointe and New River in east-central Pasco and Longleaf and Heritage Pines in west Pasco.

Whole new neighborhoods - think Suncoast Crossings in Land O'Lakes and Seven Oaks in Wesley Chapel - made their first appearance in its pages.

Ingle said his company relies on updated maps from the county, but his researchers like to eyeball most of the new streets and subdivisions.

"We do a lot more driving than most publishers do. Most publishers accept secondary information," he said.

With at least 30,000 new homes on the horizon promising to add hundreds more streets to the landscape, it won't be long before even the latest map book draws a blank.

- James Thorner covers growth and development 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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