Pasco deal's $43M cost far too high

By ANDREW SKERRITT
Published July 22, 2007

After months of negotiations, Pasco County surrendered to developers.

In approving the biggest development in the county's history, Pasco commissioners gave away unprecedented concessions on road improvements.

The deal makes taxpayers responsible for $43-million in road improvements that would have normally been paid for by developers -- in this case the people who ultimately turn the earth over at the massive Wiregrass Ranch at Wesley Chapel.

Wrong message, wrong time.

Hours before the Wiregrass Ranch capitulation, commissioners were looking for $15-million they could whack from the budget. This doesn't bode well for the months to come.

Few people showed up to complain or to comment about Wiregrass. That made it easier for Commissioners Ted Schrader, Jack Mariano and Pat Mulieri to give Wiregrass Ranch a multimillion dollar pass. Michael Cox and Ann Hildebrand dissented.

To be fair, developers are planning a huge investment of their own for road improvements, with a price tag of $579-million.

With all the tax revenue expected from this huge development, perhaps you say the county should have no problems finding $43-million for improvements on Porter Boulevard, Mansfield Boulevard and Chancey Road. Unfortunately, that money will come from the same gas tax revenues that were going to pay for road improvements elsewhere in the county. Wiregrass' victory was somebody else's loss.

Commissioners must have felt this was the best deal they could get. But Pasco developers have always paid for the internal roads on their projects. That changed this week. The vote set a worrisome precedent.

A senior county staffer warned commissioners that the Wiregrass deal could mean giving other developers some $89-million in similar concessions.

Tuesday's decision paves the way for 12,500 homes and 4-million square feet of stores and offices (including the $105-million Shops at Wiregrass) at Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and State Road 56.

If you haven't been there lately, you won't believe the changes. When completed, Wiregrass Ranch, with the possibility of a community college campus, government offices, a tennis stadium, four public schools and other amenities, will substantially change the residential and commercial landscape in central Pasco. It will bring jobs, taxes, commerce and, yes, traffic.

Commissioners, in agreeing to the terms of surrender, chose to make that their focus. Others will have to deal with the consequences.

Andrew Skerritt can be reached at (813) 909-4602 or toll-free at 1-800-333-7505, ext. 4602. His e-mail address is askerritt@sptimes.com.

[Last modified July 21, 2007, 20:08:08]