Nearly everyone seeking a commission seat says it's the county's No. 1 concern.
By BILL VARIAN
Published August 28, 2004
TAMPA - No matter where they campaign, the 19 candidates for Hillsborough County Commission hear one question repeatedly: How are you going to deal better with growth?
Of course, the question doesn't always come out that way. Sometimes the voter is asking how the candidate would unclog roads, secure adequate water, control flooding or build more parks.
But all these problems result from growth.
"Whether I'm in Sun City Center, Plant City or the inner city or Lutz, it's growth management-related issues that I'm hearing most," said Denise Layne, a Democrat seeking the District 7 seat. She has built most of her campaign platform around the topic. "It's not the only issue. But it is the top issue."
Layne, a Lutz civic activist, is not alone in recognizing this. Almost all the candidates list growth as the No. 1 challenge facing the county. If they don't, they invariably say Hillsborough needs to get ahead of the curve with roads and water supply.
In other words, the county needs to get its arms around growth.
"Growth is out of control," said District 6 Republican candidate Steve Cleveland. "We're building before we're planning.
There are four seats up for election this fall, two of them open contests to replace two of the commission's most ardent growth management advocates. Each race has primary battles to be decided Tuesday.
The Times asked - both orally and in writing - for commission candidates' views about growth management. Here's some of what they said.
District 2
The District 2 contest is set in northern Hillsborough County, where sprawl has long been a hot topic.
Two-year incumbent Ken Hagan has received sharp criticism from his two GOP rivals over his ties to developers. Much of his campaign contributions have come from development interests.
He was also the only candidate who did not respond to Times interview requests.
Rod Gaudin, a Lutz restaurant owner, said better planning is the answer.
"They have a planning growth problem," he said. "Growth is natural; planning is man-made."
The other Republican, civic activist Tom Jones, has campaigned as an advocate of "smart growth." Its advocates promote development close to city centers where roads and other infrastructure already exist, along with government attention to existing homes in favor of new ones, and locating businesses and offices within walking distance of homes.
In contrast to Gaudin, he said, "We have a plan. But it's easily changed at the whims of the board."
The winner of the GOP primary will face Democrat David Cutting in the general election. Cutting has made environmental protection a large part of his platform. He also promotes smart growth concepts, and said he would encourage the county to switch its fleet to less air-polluting, hydrogen-powered vehicles, and wouldn't waive development impact fees, except to encourage construction in poor areas.
District 4
The District 4 race to see who represents much of east and south Hillsborough, is taking place in the county's most rapidly growing area.
It's incumbent is Ronda Storms, a Republican whose Valrico home is next door to a former orange grove recently transformed into a subdivision.
Storms has hardly made friends with developers. Her campaign accounts show relatively few contributions from the building industry. In her last campaign, several business groups backed her opponent.
Still, her two Republican challengers say Storms has done little to get a handle on growth, leading to congested major arteries, like State Road 60, U.S. Highway 301 and Boyette Road.
Instead, said computer consultant Dennis Cadle, Storms has promoted unwise policies, such as waiving impact fees on new construction in allegedly poor areas that were already developing without waivers. He said the county, under Storms' watch, has also allowed development outside the Urban Service Area, the official growth boundary.
"We can't stymie progress," Cadle said. "But we can't allow it to progress ahead of our resources."
Another Republican candidate in District 4, James Tagliarini, a retired sheriff's deputy, also said growth management is the county's most important problem, and commissioners need to follow plans already in place.
"Officials have to follow adopted plans and make developers accountable for those plans and projects," he said. "Growth is going to occur. But growth upwards instead of outwards should be the option."
Storms said the debate is complex and hard to sum up in a catch phrase. She said she has helped speed up the timetable for roads in her district. "I think there's always room for improvement," she said. "I have supported some of the most restrictive discussions on growth management."
The winner of the primary faces Jean Batronie, who also said growth is a problem, particularly "overgrowth" in District 4.
District 6
Five candidates are seeking the countywide seat being vacated by Democrat Jan Platt, sometimes viewed as the environmental conscience of the board.
Democrat Bob Buckhorn, a former Tampa City Council member, was among a few commission candidates who didn't list growth as his top concern. He said first the commission must heal its fractious ways before it can tackle the major issues. Then, he said, growth management would be a top priority.
He is one of the few candidates who said he would have supported a proposal last year to let voters consider tax and fee hikes for transportation projects. And he said the county needs to work with the city of Tampa to promote in-town development to take some of the stress off the suburbs.
The county can't keep growing at its current pace without finding a way to pay for the financial demands created by it, with the burden and benefits shared by everyone involved, he said.
His Democratic opponent, Ed Austin, is another smart growth advocate. He would increase impact fees charged to new development to help keep pace with the cost of building roads and meet other needs. Current fees recoup less than 20 percent of the costs, he said. "I will be insistent that growth pay for itself and that the County Commission takes a proactive rather than reactive approach to growth management," he said.
Willis "K.C." Bowick, a third Democrat in the race, agreed the county needs better planning. He said commissioners need a full-scale dialogue about how the county should grow, then change policies to make it happen.
There are two Republicans in the race. Former wrestler and gym owner Brian Blair, who has received support from development interests, said the county's growth plan is too driven by developers.
His top priority is economic development. But he said commissioners need to steer development where roads and other infrastructure already exist.
"The plan must reflect a growth pattern that is driven by existing infrastructure," Blair said. At the same time, he said, the county needs to budget better so that it can build new roads and other facilities with its current revenue.
Cleveland, the other Republican in the race, said the county needs to look to cities that are managing growth right and adopt some of their rules. He counts among those cities Nashville, Tenn., and Albany, N.Y.
"If you look at what Atlanta and Dallas did," said Cleveland, using examples of where he thinks growth management went awry, "We're heading down the same path."
District 7
Democrat Pat Frank, current commissioner in this at-large seat, has been the board member most likely to vote against a developer seeking more permissive zoning. She, too, is leaving, to run for clerk of the circuit court.
Six candidates are seeking to replace her, including four Republicans. Among them, Jim Davison and Deb Oxley, have both cited the need to better get ahead of growth.
"If it were sufficiently managed, we would have better transportation and schools planned in advance of buildout," Davison said. "We would have parks. We would have the overall picture."
He has emphasized reining in government spending, though, to redirect tax money to things that benefit citizens most, such as parks and roads.
Oxley said commissioners should hold the staff accountable for results, eliminating bureaucracy and "hidden agendas.
"We need to streamline processes and find creative, safe and fiscally sound methods for alleviating (these) transportation and overall incomplete planning processes," she said.
Republican Mark Sharpe said the county should consider finding ways to speed up the development-approval process for people who do quality work while "protecting the community from those which would overburden our existing infrastructure."
A fourth Republican in the race, Bob Blair, said he, too, thinks growth is generally managed poorly in Hillsborough County. He did not elaborate.
The Republican winner Tuesday will face a Democrat, Layne, who wants the entire process reconsidered, from zoning to permitting. Also in the race is Joe Redner, running with no party affiliation. He, too, said better growth control is his top priority.
