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Land use decisions may bring jobs here

The crossroads of major transportation corridors are prime locations for development. Too frequently, however, residential and retail space have swallowed up those parcels in Pasco County, leaving little property available for highly desirable employment centers.

Think of the former Saddlebrook Corporate Center becoming single-family homes at Interstate 75 and State Road 54 as the leading example.

Tuesday, a Pasco County Commission majority tried to reverse that trend. On a 3-2 vote, commissioners wisely rejected a plan to turn 49 acres into a 30-acre retail center and 19 acres of office or residential space. The land is the southeast corner of the Suncoast Parkway and County Line Road on Pasco's northern border with Hernando County.

Though it is now deemed suitable for residential development of one home per acre, the site is one of only three available in the county that have multilane road access in all directions. (County Line Road is scheduled to be widened.) It is an ideal spot to locate industry or a corporate park. Commissioner Jack Mariano correctly noted the residential designation came years ago before the state picked the route of the Suncoast Parkway.

As the county completes a $2-million rewrite of its land use plan next year, one of the challenges is identifying key areas as future employment centers even though nobody has yet defined exactly what an employment center should be.

Here's an idea to start: An employment center should provide job opportunities beyond run-of-the-mill retail ones, which abound in Pasco's service-oriented economy. Despite a thoughtful argument from Commissioner Steve Simon that high-end retail is desirable for churning disposable income, it remains unattractive as the primary economic development option at a coveted location. Simon also said leaving 40 percent of the 49 acres available as potential office space is sufficient. Fortunately, only Commissioner Pat Mulieri agreed.

Mariano and Commissioner Ted Schrader remained firm in their opposition from a week earlier when the commission, sitting with School Board member Kathryn Starkey as the Local Planning Agency, approved the change by a 4-2 margin. Kudos to Commissioner Ann Hildebrand for switching her vote Tuesday, allowing the commission to defeat the proposal.

Hildebrand said afterward she was persuaded by a consultant's observation that 30 acres of retail space is intended to be a regional center, not a neighborhood use to serve nearby homes and workers. As a comparison, the Southgate Shopping Center on U.S. 19 in west Pasco is just less than 15 acres.

The commission decision is welcome because of its inconsistent track record in protecting land for future economic development. Two years ago, the commission agreed with its industrial recruiters, the public-private Economic Development Council, and targeted 226 acres at two sites as potential industrial parks. But, they goofed a year later when they acquiesced to switching 100 acres on Hays Road north of State Road 52 from light-industrial use to a 250-home residential development and accompanying commercial space.

The reliance on residential development but limited job opportunities means 64,000 people leave Pasco each day to work elsewhere. The exodus crowds roads, drains money from the county's economy and forces local governments to rely on residential real estate taxes as the backbone of their budgets.

It is good to see a commission majority understands the highway crossroad is a prime place to U-turn future commuters back to Pasco for comparable job opportunities.

[Last modified August 25, 2005, 00:52:33]