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Zoning

Developer wants approval to build 30 townhomes

By none provided
Published September 23, 2005

SEFFNER - A developer will build 30 townhomes on a vacant parcel if the County Commission approves. Manuel Fernandez and Paul Boire have filed a request to rezone 5 acres along May Street east of Williams Road, from residential single family to planned development.

The change will not mean a disruption to the neighborhood, planners argue. Townhomes have either been built or approved as part of a mix of office and homes, a report by Englehardt, Hammer & Associates states.

The townhomes anticipate just fewer than six units an acre, which conforms with existing RES-6 zoning. However, the townhome project will use far less than the 7,000-square-foot lot size required in the current zoning.

The units will flank either side of May Street, with additional parking surrounded by a landscaped buffer on the north side of the complex.

The proposal goes to a zoning hearing Dec. 5. The County Commission could hear the request Jan. 24. (PETITION 05-2084)

RIVERVIEW: For eight years, Dennis Carlton and Saul Rachelson thought the zoning for their Riverview property permitted commercial storage for boats and recreational vehicles. They were mistaken.

The Interstate Planned Development zoning on their property applies to lumber yards and the sale of building materials. Now Carlton and Rachelson, who formed the company C and R Investments, are asking for a major modification to the zoning, to planned development so the site east of U.S. 301 east of Krycul Avenue can continue to operate.

Code enforcement officials recently cited the owners for operating with wrong zoning. Carlton and Rachelson bought the property in 1997 and set up a storage facility. If they don't get approval for the zoning, a consulting firm hired by the company hinted that the use could change, especially as development continues south of the site on U.S. 301.

In addition to the zoning change, owners are seeking a reduced buffering requirement. Instead of a masonry wall along a 30-foot stretch of property line, they want a 20-foot fence of PVC or other material.

The proposal goes to a zoning hearing Dec. 5. County commissioners would vote on the request Jan. 24. (PETITION 05-2120)

ORIENT PARK: Crecencio Alfonso, a disabled retiree, wanted to modify his Spillers Avenue home in east Tampa so that his two daughters can move there.

Two years ago, he got a building permit to add a small apartment and storage area to the back of the house, on a half acre near Orient Road. He planned to convert the storage area into another apartment, then invite daughters in Miami and Cuba to live with him. Then Alfonso ran into zoning problems.

Getting three units onto a half-acre plot exceeds his residential, single-family conventional zoning. So Alfonso is asking for rezoning to a planned development.

His proposal goes to a zoning hearing Dec. 5. County commissioners would vote Jan. 24.

Hearings of county zoning hearing masters and land-use hearing officers, and land use meetings of the County Commission are held on the second floor of the County Center, 601 E Kennedy Blvd. All hearings before a zoning hearing master begin at 6 p.m. on Mondays or Tuesdays. Commission meetings begin at 9 a.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. Both are televised on government access channels. Land use hearing officer hearings, which are not televised, begin at 9 a.m. every third Friday. Basic information about each petition is available online at www.hillsboroughcounty.org/pgm/zoning For information, call 276-5920.

[Last modified September 22, 2005, 10:20:06]