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RICHARD DANIELSONThe move comes after Sail Harbor residents protest the plan to move the lines.
TARPON SPRINGS - In a reversal of their previous recommendation, Pinellas County planners say a developer should not be allowed to put high-voltage power lines next to half-million-dollar homes in Sail Harbor.
Homeowners fear that the lines, strung from towers 190 feet tall, would ruin their views and depress their property values.
Then there's the question of whether living next to the 115-kilovolt transmission lines would be bad for your health. County officials listened to a doctor discuss medical controversy surrounding the topic and say the question has not been answered with any certainty. But they acknowledge that health concerns could scare some prospective buyers away.
"All that put together, (and) you have some detrimental effects (from) moving that line," said Paul Cassel, director of the county's development review services department.
Developer Ted Freed had requested a land-use change from the county to move the power line corridor from the center of a pasture he has a contract to buy. As it stands, he could not put 24 homes on the 12-acre pasture without moving the transmission lines to the northern edge of the property, directly south of homes on Mary Lane.
Last fall, the first time Pinellas County sent out notices about Freed's plan, no one complained.
That, say critics and county officials, is because the notices were so vague that they didn't even mention the lines. Instead, they described the proposal in general land-use terms.
So last month County Commissioners delayed a final vote on the project as officials went door to door in Sail Harbor to explain what could happen in plain English.
This time, they got an earful.
During a contentious 31/2-hour public hearing Feb. 19, Sail Harbor residents and other neighbors said the developer should bury the lines, move them south, piggyback them onto other lines - do anything but put them next to Sail Harbor.
"For him to take the existing power lines that he bought with the property, or will buy with the property, and move them to the disadvantage of everybody else is just not right," said Robert Marusa, who lives on Mary Lane.
Joel Tew, the attorney for Freed's company, the Leisure Lake Partnership of Clearwater, did not return a call for comment Thursday.
At the Feb. 19 hearing, however, Tew contended that the matter should not have been sent back for more review. He has said the original notices were no different from what the county has always sent out, and now county officials are changing the rules.
"We believe it violates our equal protection and due process rights under the Florida constitution and the federal constitution," Tew said. "This is the first time staff is . . . going out and knocking on doors to enlist comments or objections. We feel that because that was not a previously established procure, it cannot be applied after the fact to us on a pending application."
Tew also told county planners "we are not attempting to foist a burden upon the Sail Harbor residents in order to avoid a burden upon our homebuyers."
"The truth is, the line is going to be substantially closer to all of our homes on the northern side of our project than it is going to be (to) Sail Harbor," he said.
Plus, Tew said, the power lines are already there, and are visible to homeowners now. Residents of Sail Harbor even drive under the lines, which cross Jasmine Avenue, every time they enter or leave the subdivision.
"It's going to be exactly (as) visible as it is now," he said.
But residents say the lines have been where they are since at least 1978, and they ought to stay.
"I believe that as homebuyers we have every right to expect that those power lines would stay where they are now and where they were when we bought our house," said Berlis Ennis, who moved into a home on Sail Harbor Circle last year.
The County Commission is scheduled to consider the proposal at a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. March 30.
Meanwhile, Cassel said county officials are trying to make notices about such development proposals as easy to understand as possible.
"We're being much more careful when we send out notices that there's as much detail and fact as we can jam in them," Cassel said. He's even having county officials who are not planners look at notices to make sure they're easy to understand.
- Richard Danielson can be reached at 727 771-4311 or Danielson@sptimes.com