The citizens committee backs an ordinance requiring developers to pay a road improvement fee based on project size.
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published February 19, 2004
NEW PORT RICHEY - A citizens committee gave its blessing Wednesday evening to a proposal to charge "fair share fees" for new construction along U.S. 19 that would create a small pot of money to pay for highway improvements.
But there's a twist.
The Citizens Ordinance Review Committee also asked County Attorney Robert Sumner to draft a plan to halt new projects on U.S. 19 with high traffic counts, unless those developers fix the part of U.S. 19 they would affect or wait until the county improves that stretch of the road.
"Anybody who drives U.S. 19 knows it's a horrible mess," said Mel Phillips, chairman of the committee. "We're going to add to it, and we don't have a plan."
None of this will happen without the County Commission's approval. The committee's recommendations are only that: recommendations. The commission is expected to take up the issue next month.
The commission-appointed board tried to strike a balance between allowing property owners to use their land and preventing the further deterioration of U.S. 19.
The committee unanimously backed the U.S. 19 concurrency ordinance, which would require developers along U.S. 19 to pay a special fee for highway improvements based on the size of their projects. The one-time fee for a 3,000-square-foot fast food restaurant on U.S. 19 with a drive-through, for example, would be $57,534.
But committee members suggested a couple of changes. They said the fee should apply only to new projects within a half-mile of U.S. 19, not a mile, as consultant Tindale-Oliver and Associates proposed. They also said the fee should not apply to projects adding less than 1 percent of the current traffic flow onto the highway.
Those changes would reduce the amount of the money that would be raised by the fee, originally estimated at $200,000 a year without the committee's changes. Tindale-Oliver estimates it will cost nearly $94-million to add a fourth continuous turn lane along U.S. 19 and improve a dozen U.S. 19 intersections that are reaching capacity.
"All I see is a little bit of money for a big problem that doesn't solve anything," committee member George Muniates said during the three-hour hearing at the West Pasco Government Center.
That's why Muniates asked Sumner to offer another proposal to the County Commission that would limit growth along U.S. 19.
Under the proposal, Sumner said, the county would pick a number of traffic trips, such as 2,500 or 5,000 trips per day. Any new project generating less than that amount could pay its fair share fee and build.
But any developer adding more than that would not be allowed to build until that stretch of U.S. 19 was improved - either by the developer or by the county, once it raises enough money, Sumner said.
"I think that's an equitable way to do it," Sumner said.
If such a proposal is drafted, committee members asked that it come to them for review before the commission votes on it.
- Bridget Hall Grumet covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244, or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is hall@sptimes.com
