Editorial

Concerns about plan go beyond commerce

Pasco County wants to keep Pasadena Hills from developing into Pasadena piecemeal.

Tuesday, commissioners correctly blessed a master plan to guide the largely rural 20,000 acres bordered by State Roads 54 and 52, Curley Road and U.S. 301 into a dozen high-density developments or villages connected via a grid system of parallel roads amid parks, schools and other public spaces. The self-contained urban centers are intended to provide a place for people to live, work and shop.

It is a 50-year process that requires state approval, cooperation from lots of land owners and most important, a plan by the end of next year to finance the infrastructure.

Some current residents are skeptical. They want larger lots, the number of homes reduced by a third to 30,000 and a community development district (CDD) to front the road-building costs.

They weren't alone. Commissioner Michael Cox confessed his own suspicions about landowners' ulterior motives in their pledge for a private-public partnership.

"We just don't want you guys to abandon us after adopting the plan," attorney Joel Tew, representing an informal association of 20 landowners, said to commissioners.

Translation: Hold on to your wallet.

A new assessment isn't going to be palatable to current residents. A tax increment financing district, usually reserved for redeveloping areas, might be more appropriate as a way to allow a growing tax base to pay off bonds used for infrastructure expenses.

If the plan is followed, it will allow a rural area already targeted for development to grow smartly. Commissioners showed their flexibility by agreeing to add more room for office space in hopes of attracting higher-paying, white-collar jobs to the villages and to consider additional parking in the downtown areas to boost retailers' opportunities to capture customers. They are logical modifications.

But there are concerns beyond commerce. The county shouldn't dismiss public suggestions to consider transferring density credits to slow growth in other areas of the county and to remain consistent with the comprehensive land use plan on wetland protections.

And commissioners should recommit themselves to follow their own countywide land use plan. Commissioner Ted Schrader pointed to the traffic congestion on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard and State Road 54 in Wesley Chapel as what the Pasadena Hills area hopes to avoid by having coordinated planning, rather than fragmented growth.

True. But, the county also promised in its comprehensive plan to conduct a study area for Wesley Chapel. It has yet to commission the report. At this point, it likely would be a study of what not to do.

Besides, it will be of little benefit if the final product simply sits on a shelf collecting dust like the citizen-written plans for Land O'Lakes.

[Last modified August 8, 2007, 21:22:38]