Dade City and Zephyrhills foresee the need for mutual planning on many issues.
By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published February 7, 2004
DADE CITY - As Dade City and Zephyrhills prepare to add hundreds of acres of real estate, the two cities are keeping each other in the loop about their plans.
Officials recently met, together with Pasco County representatives, to outline their plans for annexations, utility service expansion and long-term growth. They plan to meet monthly to talk about such issues; next up is a look at the future of U.S. 301 between the two cities.
Dade City has several annexations in the works that total about 750 acres, Dade City Manager Harold Sample said. Most will bring new housing complexes.
Two of them are substantial. One is a 413-acre site off Blanton Road across from Pasco-Hernando Community College's East Campus. Developers have submitted plans for 1,100 homes there, although city officials are questioning that density.
The other site is 250 acres south of Morningside Drive extending to County Road 35A, also considered for housing developments.
Sample said the city also wants to push its boundary for water and sewer service south down 301.
Zephyrhills, for its part, is pushing north. Long-term plans would put the northern boundary on the east side of 301 at Scotland Yards Golf and Country Club, said Zephyrhills assistant planner Billy Poe. The line west of the highway is farther south, at Bailey Hill Road.
And three large annexations being reviewed now would add more than 1,000 acres: 800 acres west of the city off Eiland Boulevard, the 350-acre Gore's Dairy on 301 and a 267-acre parcel off Buchman Highway. The county had questions about plans for the Buchman Highway property, which is slated for residential development.
County senior planner Deborah Bolduc said county maps currently designate the land for light industrial use, which Pasco is trying to promote. She questioned the wisdom of putting housing there, not far from the CR 35A truck route to the east.
Dade City has discussed developing a technology park on a parcel that stretches from just below the Old Lakeland Highway-U.S. 98 Bypass south to Morningside Drive. With 35A bordering the two cities on the east, an industrial project on the Rucks property might have a good result, Bolduc suggested.
"If they plan on doing a whole corridor that's light-industrial, I think that's a great idea," Bolduc said.
Sample said that as the two cities grow, and push closer together, both will benefit from managing and coordinating the development.
"We're trying to develop as much parity as we can," he said.
- Molly Moorhead covers news about Dade City and Zephyrhills. She can be reached at 352 521-6521 or toll-free 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6521. Her e-mail address is moorhead@sptimes.com
