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Letter to the editor

A tax for messy medians

A special taxing district will pay to maintain landscaping along Countryway Boulevard.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published June 10, 2005

WESTCHESTER - Shelly Rider was at her wits' end.

The median landscaping along Countryway Boulevard between Race Track Road and Linebaugh Avenue obscured drivers' views and needed to come out. Yet the three-member Westchester Master Association, on which Rider served, would not spend the money to tear out and replace the plants.

"The other members wouldn't approve it," recalls Rider, now a director on the community homeowners association. "They approved only the money to tear out the old landscaping and leave bare medians, which is what we have now."

That was more than a year ago.

Westchester homeowners still complain about the weeds, spindly pines and crape myrtles, random grass and low shrubs that dot the mostly rocky dirt in the middle of Countryway. But now, the community has a way to keep the landscaping up to par after the county upgrades the look with palms, junipers and other plantings.

After receiving a petition from more than half of the 368-home subdivision, county commissioners recently created a special taxing district to replace the voluntary, private master association as the keeper of the greenspace. The tax - $14 per linear foot of property along Countryway - will cover the costs.

The commission received just one opposition letter, from an office park that did not want to pay. Neighbors expected a bigger outcry from the business community, which hired a lawyer to explore possible challenges. But in the end no one came to the public hearing.

"We were all prepared for the big fight that never happened," said Liz Taylor, the master association president who will become the taxing district's appointed chairwoman.

Only Commissioner Ken Hagan, who represents the area, voted against the district. He expressed concerns that the business owners would be taxed unfairly. The other commissioners sided with the petitioners, who contended the new arrangement would more appropriately spread the cost for taking care of the medians among those who directly benefit from it.

Most homeowners will pay less for median landscaping than they did under the master association, Taylor said. That's because, now, payment will not be voluntary for businesses.

Taylor said she looks forward to the day she no longer has to fight to collect dues or struggle to make the budget work.

"It won't be me alone anymore doing it all," she said. "The county will help."

As it should, she suggested. It makes no sense, Taylor argues, for a private nonprofit organization to pay for and maintain a public right of way.

The tax will appear on the 2006 bill for 405 property owners, due in 2007. The taxing district also will have its first election for seven resident board members in 2006.

Until that time, Rider says, the community is "just hanging in there" with its median concerns. The county public works department has stepped forward to help with the plant replacement, and the work is slated to begin "soon."

But the project, which was supposed to be done months ago, remains low on the county's priority list after last year's hurricane damage took precedence.

- Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at 813 269-5304 or solochek@sptimes.com

[Last modified June 9, 2005, 10:29:11]