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Reject Oak Crest plan, keep land as industrial

It's worrisome enough that developers are lined up at the Hernando County Planning Department asking that large tracts of agricultural land be rezoned for residential use. Now there is a proposal to build about 1,700 houses, apartments and shops on one of the very few properties in the county zoned for industrial use.

The proposal for Oak Crest, on about 685 acres near the intersection of U.S. 301 and State Road 50 in Ridge Manor, would require a change to the comprehensive growth management plan. The County Commission should not grant it.

One of only a handful of areas in the county set aside for industry, the east-county site is an integral component in the blueprint for growth, commonly known as the comp plan. Industry is needed to help balance the tax base. As the county reaches its capacity for residential development, there will be a need to generate taxes through manufacturing and warehouse operations. That is especially true in Hernando County, where so much of the economy is tied to the construction industry.

Industry also creates jobs so residents who live here do not have to commute to out-of-county employers. That need will become painfully apparent as more people move into the subdivisions that are sprouting from land that has been farmed for generations.

Neighboring Pasco County offers a lesson on that subject. Because so much land was developed as residential, an estimated 64,000 people leave Pasco every day for jobs in other counties, and government must build its budget around real estate taxes.

Recognizing that shortcoming, the Pasco County Commission made a decision earlier this week to not allow a 49-acre site at the southeast corner of the Suncoast Parkway and County Line Road to be gobbled up by a retail-residential center. They saw the potential for that property to be a corporate office park or other so-called employment center because of its proximity to the crossroad of major thoroughfares. Once County Line Road is widened, it will be one of only three left in that county that have multilane road access in all directions.

Just as it has occurred in Pasco, landowners of industrially zoned property in Hernando County are pursuing the change to residential because it is easier to market and offers a quicker return on their investment.

The County Commission should not be swayed by the developers' impatience.

The commissioners are obliged to protect land for future economic development. But each time the comp plan is amended to accommodate more housing, it will become more difficult for the commissioners to satisfy the new residents who do not want to be near property zoned industrial. That should be another compelling reason for the commissioners to not chip away at the land that has been zoned industrial for many years.

If commissioners wish to act on their oft-repeated mantra about the importance of luring industry to create jobs and balance the tax base, they will reject this proposal and leave the land designated industrial.

[Last modified August 26, 2005, 01:36:21]