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Timber Oaks' soggy plight may dry out
Commissioners could vote to make stormwater drainage standards tougher in the neighborhood.
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET
Published September 24, 2005
PORT RICHEY - The flood-prone folks in Timber Oaks are about to get some help staying dry.
The County Commission will get its first glimpse Tuesday of a proposal to add Timber Oaks to the list of soggy areas where developers must meet tougher stormwater drainage standards. Commissioners would vote on the measure after public hearings Oct. 25 and Nov. 8.
The measure would not torpedo a developer's plans to plant 250 townhouses on the Timber Oaks Golf Course, said Joyce Gallagher, president of the homeowners' group. But it would require the developer to go to extra lengths, such as digging deeper drainage ponds, to ensure the project won't flood the neighbors.
"It certainly will foster a clearer scrutiny" of the project, Gallagher said.
More than 200 Timber Oaks residents poured into the West Pasco Government Center three months ago, urging officials to include their neighborhood in the drainage ordinance. Commissioners approved the ordinance in July for two east Pasco basins, Tank Lake and East Zephyrhills, but promised to study Timber Oaks so it could be added later.
The Timber Oaks neighborhood, sandwiched between State Road 52 and Jasmine Boulevard, west of Little Road, sits at the bottom of a drainage basin that collects water from the surrounding areas. Last year, residents frantically pumped water from Footprint Lake to Dollar Lake to save dozens of homes threatened by floodwaters from the hurricanes.
Chuck Kalogianis, the attorney and developer behind the 250-townhome proposal, has said he won't have any problem meeting the tougher drainage standards. At the urging of county officials, he said, the project was designed to collect much of the stormwater washing into the neighborhood, thereby reducing the flooding for the neighbors.
County planners are still reviewing the townhouse proposal. No dates have been set for the public hearings on that project.
The proposal coming before commissioners Tuesday would add the New River basin, located between Zephyrhills and Wesley Chapel, to the list of flood-prone neighborhoods where developers must meet tougher drainage standards.
[Last modified September 24, 2005, 01:00:22]
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