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Planners agree to keep big lots on Hudson land

A builder wants to put seven homes on a 4-acre tract in the Fivay area where zoning allows only one per acre.

By PHIL DAVIS
Published February 9, 2006

NEW PORT RICHEY - They wore red shirts to make sure the folks on the dais paid attention.

Red means, "Stop. Listen. Take us seriously," said Hudson resident Kathy Wisler.

Twenty people in red shirts stood out in the audience at Wednesday's Pasco County Planning Commission meeting, where attire usually trends to the conservative hues of lawyer's suits or khaki business casual, a favorite of project engineers.

The red shirts came to defend their lifestyle, which they say is threatened by a developer's plan to build seven homes on a 4-acre tract in Hudson.

People who live around Canton Avenue and Debbie and Brush lanes east of Little Road say their neighborhood is a world away from the back-to-back homes of suburbia.

Big lots. Trees. Horses and cows. Long driveways. Four residents even paid for and maintain the dirt road that leads to the developer's land.

"This is an intrusion into our community," Wisler told the commissioners Wednesday. "Basically, all of us left the suburbs so we could roam and our kids would have room to play."

"This kind of development doesn't belong in our neighborhood," said Canton Avenue resident John Cavaliere, who also wore a red shirt. "It's going to set a dangerous precedent. It's going to destroy the area."

For some, the apocalyptic tone was a bit much.

"People who lived in Fivay didn't want you there either," planning commission chairman Charles Grey told one development opponent. "That's a difficult argument to defend. People move in and then they don't want anybody else moving in. It cuts both ways, that's all I'm telling you."

Chuck Kalogianis, the developer's attorney, called it a "Chicken Little sky is falling argument." He described the area as "a little island" surrounded by development.

"It's a tough situation," Kalogianis said. "We sympathize with the homeowners. I think in some sense we're all going through it in Pasco County."

The Southern Image Homes proposal is barely a blip in a county where developers regularly submit proposals to squeeze hundreds of housing units into much smaller spaces. Wednesday, the company scaled back its proposal from 12 to seven homes in the hopes of winning county approval. Current zoning allows four homes, one per acre.

Commissioners asked: Why not keep it at four?

Kalogianis said the plans had been trimmed far enough. He said seven homes priced at about $340,000 apiece are not out of character in the area.

The commission denied the developer's proposal. The County Commission gets the final say. The issue will be on its Feb. 28 agenda.

"Does everyone understand what just happened?" Grey asked. "No," the red shirts said in unison. He told them they won. For now.

[Last modified February 9, 2006, 01:30:24]