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Calista Cay gets boat slips

County commissioners approve 58 slips for the delayed 62-townhome project.

By ELENA LESLEY
Published June 6, 2007

TARPON SPRINGS - Some controversial logging has held up the start of the Calista Cay townhomes, but the project moved a step closer to construction Tuesday.

Pinellas County commissioners approved a request to build 58 boat slips on a canal off Whitcomb Bayou for the residents of Calista Cay's planned 62 townhomes.

"We think it's going to be a hot project, " said developer Frank Burkett.

Up until now, it has at least been hotly contested.

The city of Tarpon Springs slapped the project with a $92, 110 fine in March after workers allegedly chopped down 45 trees without a permit. Though the citation has blocked the processing of building permits, Burkett said he hopes the issue will be resolved in the next couple weeks.

"It has definitely held us up, " said Burkett, the managing member of WD Development LLC, which is developing Calista Cay. "But we're still very excited about the project."

The dock application proved to be a lower hurdle.

Several residents who live near the proposed development, on Meres Boulevard just west of Alt. U.S. 19, had written letters to the county opposing the project.

"It's a disaster, " said Daisy Pepe, who lives across the canal from the project. "There are going to be too many people, too many boats."

She and others wrote that they worried that more boats would hurt manatees in the bayou.

But no opposing voices turned out for Tuesday's County Commission meeting, where the dock application was approved without controversy.

"We put less slips than we could have because of the neighbors, " Burkett said. "The area can definitely handle it."

He added that the 62 townhomes will be spread across 5 acres - not, he said, crammed "onto a postage stamp."

Calista Cay's dock will consist of a 50- by 20-foot fishing pier; 29 catwalks, each 3 feet wide and 20 feet long; and 58 boat lifts.

Prices for the units, which will range from 1, 600 to 2, 300 square feet, will start in the mid $300, 000 range.

"This lifestyle for the price, " Burkett said, "I think is unprecedented in Tarpon Springs."

Some neighbors agree.

"I don't see why anyone would be against this project, " said Michigan snowbird Andy Brough, who has a house nearby and wrote the county a letter in support of the project. "I hope they've started building it by the time I get back down."

Elena Lesley can be reached at elesley@sptimes.com or 727 445-4167. Staff writer Will Van Sant contributed to this report.

[Last modified June 5, 2007, 23:31:48]