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Group girding for land-use challenge

The Pasco Building Association is trying to raise $500,000 for a legal battle with the county over its proposed comprehensive plan changes.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published June 9, 2006

The 400-member Pasco Building Association is getting ready to fight Pasco County's proposed amendments to the comprehensive land-use plan.

In a two-page letter that association officials completed mailing to members Wednesday, president Alex Mourtakos asked for $500,000 to mount a legal challenge by their Tallahassee attorneys, Hopping Green and Sams.

"We will see a new age of traditional neighborhood developments that make no sense under the changes, mixed-use projects in the middle of nowhere, land-grabbing conservation subdivisions in land-rich northeast Pasco, and 23 new ordinances ... that will be open to interpretation by the county attorney's office," Mourtakos wrote.

The move threatens to derail a three-year process on the eve of its wrap-up on June 27, when the County Commission is expected to adopt and send the changes to the state Department of Community Affairs.

County officials say they fully expected a challenge, and County Attorney Robert Sumner told a St. Petersburg Times editorial writer he is "not in a settlement mood."

But these events up-end county officials' belief that they have worked far harder to refine the buy-in process in this round of comprehensive plan changes.

It is also a culmination of months of frustration with the county-led process of amending the comprehensive plan, Mourtakos said.

"The membership feels it didn't have adequate say on how it was contrived," he said. "Do three minutes (of speaking time at meetings) and a couple of consultations make any difference? We asked repeatedly for workshops with subconsultants. It didn't happen."

The association was represented at every meeting but saw none of its wishes adopted in the proposed changes, said its executive director, Nita Beckwith.

The builders oppose two key points of county policy poised to be written into the comprehensive plan: traditional neighborhood developments and the conservation subdivision.

Driven by a plan to breed jobs and cut commutes, traditional neighborhood developments provide for businesses and residences to mix within walking distance.

In recent months, developers say, county officials are increasingly favoring applications that provide for employment centers alongside residential developments.

The builders say this move puts the cart before the horse.

"For (traditional neighborhood developments), you need a large (population) mecca center that's near," Mourtakos said. "You can't have them in the middle of nowhere. Under the comprehensive plan, they will have a right to turn away (pure) residential applications. They days of being able to put up just houses are going to be gone."

In the association's second key grievance, conservation subdivisions would allow the county to mandate that housing units in rural areas be clustered on just half the developable space.

The intent is to preserve open space, especially in northeast Pasco. County officials hoped builders would buy into the proposal because of an incentive that would increase allowable density, which would more than double in some cases.

But builders say it's a land grab.

"Who's going to maintain the open space?" Mourtakos said. "How much taxes will residents pay on the open space? How can you get density if you don't have the infrastructure to support the density?"

In an unrelated interview Monday, Assistant County Attorney Barbara Wilhite had said recreational uses such as golf courses could be permitted for the open space, under certain conditions.

With homes built on larger rural lots, wells and septic systems could normally support utility needs. "With smaller lots, we're not allowed to put wells and septics," Mourtakos said.

The builders fear that if the county gets its way, it will be followed by a succession of new ordinances.

Mourtakos also argued against changes that appear to concentrate more power in the state's hands.

"When you put all these details into a comprehensive plan, you have to petition the state if you want to deviate from it," he said. "A land development code would put more power into the hands of local government. Are the commissioners not wanting to have a say in their own county?"

Among other options, the county has two occasions a year to ask for such changes.

The criticisms take aim at Pasco's growth management and county attorney's offices. Wilhite and growth management administrator Samuel Steffey have been the officials most heavily involved in comprehensive plan changes.

The association also criticized the Citizens Advisory Committee, saying it "consisted of a small group of individuals with a very narrow agenda."

In the past, Pasco had been accused of stacking such committees with developer-friendly people. But Pasco tried to diversify the committee this round.

"I don't recall the makeup of the 25-person committee but I recall it had to have representatives from various aspects of industry, including (development) attorneys, engineers and developers," said Commissioner Ted Schrader. "There was good representation. ... The staff fully expected some challenge, so this doesn't come as a surprise."

On conservation subdivisions, Schrader said the changes would actually let developers increase density without having to ask the state to amend the comprehensive plan.

"It's ironic, because that's the idea - to not have to go to DCA," he said. "That's what's so troubling about these comments."

If the association mounts the challenge, it may have a fight on its hands.

"I'm not in a settlement mood," Sumner told the Times "This thing cost $2-million and it's too complete to start picking it apart."

He mentioned an array of possible policy weapons the county could use, including holding up development filings until the legal situation is resolved.

Based on previous successful challenges, the association's attorneys have that estimated costs could reach $290,000. But the association wants to have a deeper war chest to prepare for a possibly more complex fight, Mourtakos said.

Donations to the association's cause would be secret, he said.

"Only Nita (Beckwith) and her staff are going to know who put money in the kitty," he said.

Chuin-Wei Yap covers growth and development in Pasco County. He can be reached at (813)909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.

[Last modified June 9, 2006, 06:57:20]