Pasco housing development hits snag

However, the problem with Wiregrass may be fixed soon.

By BILL COATS, Times Staff Writer
Published September 20, 2007

TAMPA - State officials have moved to block the mammoth Wiregrass development off Bruce B. Downs Boulevard.

That cheered Hillsborough County officials, who have protested that the development would fill up Hillsborough's portion of Bruce B. Downs. But their Pasco counterparts say the state's qualms could be soothed in a matter of weeks.

"Based on every conversation we've had, I think it will be resolved," said David Goldstein, an assistant Pasco County attorney.

Wiregrass, proposed for the eastern side of Bruce B. Downs at State Road 56, would be the largest development in Pasco history, with 12,000 homes or apartments, three elementary schools and enough stores to fill two major shopping malls.

Florida's Department of Community Affairs, charged with managing growth, stopped Wiregrass because Pasco County didn't nail down road work that would accompany later phases.

The county has determined that developers should pay for $579-million in road improvements. But in the plans submitted to the state last month, the county specified only the first-phase road work, totaling $272-million. Decisions for the remaining $307-million could be postponed as late as 2012, according to the plans.

Goldstein said he will urge Pasco commissioners next Tuesday to add language specifying that the $307-million would be spent on Interstate 75 between Interstate 275 and State Road 52; or on state roads 54 and 56 east of U.S. 41; or a combination of these.

Hillsborough officials, who are on the verge of widening Bruce B. Downs through New Tampa, asked that $28-million of the Wiregrass money be allocated to their project.

But Goldstein said the money needed to be focused on SR 54, partly because northern Hillsborough lacks such an east-west highway.

The state apparently isn't going to interfere.

"The current law allows Pasco County to choose what projects the money goes to," said DCA spokesman Jon Peck.

"Quite frankly, we find this position astounding," Hillsborough County Attorney Renee Lee wrote Wednesday to DCA head Tom Pelham, "because it is inconsistent with the role of the DCA and antithetical to the purpose of the DRI laws."

[Last modified September 20, 2007, 00:41:05]