County, Wiregrass square off

The two sides argue about paying for roads inside the development.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP
Published July 12, 2007

DADE CITY - The talk was money. The topic was roads.

But when it came to Wiregrass Ranch, the real battle at the County Commission meeting on Tuesday was between compromise and precedent.

The two sides in the battle are trying to close a $140-million gap.

The development is going to add 12,500 homes to 5,000 acres of Wesley Chapel by 2016. It's paying the price for that ambition.

Planners ran computer models to figure out how much traffic the project is going to produce. Both sides accept that it would take $1.7-billion in road improvements for the project to go ahead without bringing central Pasco to a standstill.

They agree that Wiregrass should pick up $579-million as its "proportionate share" of the $1.7-billion. The county, already strapped for road building funds, will pay the rest.

The two sides now have to agree on a priority list of road projects.

They've agreed on the big pieces. What they have been arguing about for weeks, including on Tuesday, is whether a $140-million set of internal roads in Wiregrass should be included on that list.

If they are not included, the county could use the money for other projects. If they are included, other developers would demand the same treatment for their internal roads. Providing internal roads to other developments that are currently in the works could cost the county $1.5-billion, planners say.

Big ideas. Big money. Big personalities.

On the Wiregrass side: attorney Joel Tew, nicknamed "the hedgehog" for the prickliness on which he prides himself, who spent four hours at the podium.

But even in his most strident moments, when he demanded that a commissioner recuse himself, his message was constant: Let's split this tab.

On the county's side: County Administrator John Gallagher, a 25-year veteran of development negotiations, who drew Pasco's line in the sand.

"The question to me is what the county has done in the past," he said. "They're wanting credit for something that's not in their proportionate share calculations."

Gallagher and his chief assistant, Michele Baker, are the top policy advisers to the five commissioners, who must make the final decision.

When Commissioner Michael Cox commented Tuesday that it might mean "a $1.5-billion mistake," Tew accused Cox of not being impartial and asked that he refrain from voting.

Cox refused and said he still hadn't made up his mind on the project.

Tew wants to go 50-50 on three internal roads: Porter Boulevard, Chancey Road and Mansfield Road. If anyone brings up precedent, Tew said, just show that person how much Wiregrass is already paying.

"No one out there wants the Wiregrass deal," he said. "Nobody is going to offer you the Wiregrass deal. This is a good precedent."

Tew denied that Wiregrass' future home buyers will pay for the roads. He said land value would have to nearly triple for Wiregrass to make back its proportionate share payment.

He said those internal roads were required by the county anyway. But Baker said the county doesn't need them as soon as Wiregrass does.

"Those roads are in our long-range plan for 2025," Baker said. "If they need those internal roads to open up their development, that's their issue."

The hours passed. Gallagher left. County officials leaned closer to Tew's proposal.

"We have a very consistent policy of not giving credit on the first two lanes of an internal road in a development," said assistant county attorney David Goldstein. But since these are four-lane roads, "50 percent is more consistent than 100 percent."

But commissioners still wanted to know what it could mean financially to change the policy, even halfway. They wanted to postpone a decision by two weeks.

Tew thundered again.

"We are no longer playing the game of extensions for another study," he said. "We will take a denial before we do that."

Should compromise and precedent embrace?

By 7 p.m. Tuesday, there was no answer. Commissioners voted to postpone a decision by a week.

Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at (813) 909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.

[Last modified July 11, 2007, 22:33:36]