Turtle Lakes residents are organizing against the auto dealer, which has designs on 12 acres of pasture.
By JAMES THORNER
Published June 8, 2004
LAND O'LAKES - When Vicky Greenlese settled in her Turtle Lakes neighborhood 12 years ago, the sound of cows wafted through her windows on mild days.
But it's cars, not cows, she's got on her mind these days. Ferman Automotive Group wants to build a new Pontiac, Buick, GMC dealership southwest of State Road 54 and Oak Grove Boulevard.
For Greenlese, president of her neighborhood's homeowners association, the dealership, on the edge of Turtle Lakes, would change her life for the worse.
She imagines the rat-a-tat of automotive repair bays. The blare of dealership intercoms. The glaring parking lot lights burning all night.
"We're going to set a petition up. What good it's going to do, I don't know," Greenlese said. "This is unreal. When we moved out here, there was nothing."
Ferman has its sights on 12 acres of pasture and oak fronting not just Turtle Lakes, but the Oak Grove neighborhood. Turtle Lakes has about 400 homes. Hundreds of homes also make up the still-growing Oak Grove.
About 30 lots on Denali Court in Oak Grove, some with half-built homes, would abut the dealership site. No one lives there yet.
Among the closest existing neighbors is Jena Johnson, who lives on Oak Grove's Crosscut Road about 500 feet from the Ferman property.
Johnson recently returned home from vacation to find a new small strip mall glowing across her retention pond. The dealership promises even more light and bustle, and Johnson's not thrilled.
"When I go on my porch, it's like a spotlight. It shines right in my pool," Johnson said of the shopping center glare.
Auto dealerships are staking out sites all over central Pasco County. It's seems inevitable the area will boast the next strip of dealerships, like those on N Florida Avenue, Dale Mabry Highway and Adamo Drive in Tampa.
Wesley Chapel - where Nissan, Toyota and Chevrolet have nabbed property - is most favored. But Ferman's Land O'Lakes location is sitting equally pretty, at least from a salesperson's point of view.
It's about a mile west of Interstate 75. The region's biggest and newest mall, Cypress Creek Town Center, is supposed to open in 2007 about a half-mile to the east.
"As more and more comes out about the mall, you'll find a lot more interest from business in that area," said Tim Hayes, a lawyer and official with the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce.
Some Wesley Chapel business leaders aren't pleased they've become auto dealer central. They cite the concrete and asphalt sprawl of the lots and their potential for traffic jams. Hayes has similar concerns.
"You've got fairly high intensity lights, the service bays behind the dealerships. And the intercoms announcing employees' names can be annoying, to say the least," he said.
Wesley Chapel's first dealership didn't open smoothly. When Heritage Ford arrived on SR 54 in Wesley Chapel in 1999, residents of the adjoining Villages at Wesley Chapel were alarmed.
They said they had expected a convenience store or other small business, not a gargantuan dealership they fear suppresses property values.
Although Ferman has contracted to buy the Land O'Lakes property - the seller is Orsi Development Inc. - it won't discuss specific plans for the dealership. So neighbors are left to wonder.
One thing is certain: Oak Grove Boulevard and SR 54 will get a traffic light to serve not only the proposed dealership, but traffic drawn to nearby Denham Oaks Elementary.
"When we came out here we said, "We're out in the country,' Johnson said as she peered across the neighborhood pond to the Ferman site. "Not anymore."
- James Thorner covers growth and development for Pasco County. He can be reached at 813 909-4613 or toll free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4613. His e-mail address is thorner@sptimes.com
