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Keep politics out of building code debate

By C.T. BOWEN
Published September 13, 2005

An extensive rewrite of Port Richey's development code merits serious consideration from the City Council, not the knee-jerk political bickering that frequently dominates council debates.

An example cited in a story by Times staff writer Phil Davis illustrates the need for the reworked code - current development rules include no landscaping provisions. The recently built Gateway Honda showroom volunteered to add palm trees, but it was under no city requirement to do so.

Contrast that to Pasco County, which mandates tree protections and landscape buffers, requires architectural design standards for so-called big-box stores and controls the size of business signs and prohibits new billboards.

The county spent the past half-dozen years beefing up aesthetic controls to make Pasco more visually pleasing. But, landscaping is more that just pretty plants. It helps control runoff, provide shade and break-up the expansive blacktopped parking lots that front the strip centers of yesteryear. Sign controls are intended to end visual clutter. Architectural guidelines turn monolithic walls into eye-catching building designs, one of which can been seen at the remodeled Southgate Shopping Center along U.S. 19.

But, in the anything-goes town of Port Richey, hodgepodge development has been accompanied by a myriad of problems. Consider the two most high-profile new businesses in the city during the past 10 years: Sun Cruz and Wal-Mart.

In 1995, the first gambling boat set up shop off Port Richey's coast line while the city was unprepared for the parking-space crunch. Five years later, the redevelopment of the nearly abandoned Towne Centre into a Wal-Mart Supercenter turned Port Richey into the poster child for the unpleasant byproducts of traffic jams and increased demands on officers responding to extensive shoplifting complaints.

That an earlier council recognized that the need for new building rules to guide development is imperative. But changing faces on the Council have brought differing opinions. Mayor Mark Abbott questioned the need for the more than 700-page code and said he favored less government restriction.

He would be wise to listen to the city's staff, particularly Building official Ed Winch who characterized the current code as confusing and inadequate. It makes two-thirds of the existing city businesses legal, but non-conforming.

It is the reason why commercial, industrial and residential properties co-exist on the same street in Port Richey.

Both Abbott and Council member Phyllis Grae need to get beyond the politics of the proposed code changes. Grae complained during her successful re-election campaign in April that the rewrite by then-City Attorney Gerald Figurski was unauthorized by a council vote. Likewise, Abbott said he didn't know if the council could legally consider the proposal.

The election ended five months ago. Grae and Abbott should stop looking in the rearview mirror and should look forward to trying to turn Port Richey into a more progressive city that could develop into an appealing waterfront community.

[Last modified September 13, 2005, 01:46:17]