The long iron road of progress now becomes a barrier to development

A lot has happened over the past 100 years, namely people not wanting to live, shop or play across the railroad tracks.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP and BILL COATS, Times Staff Writers
Published October 5, 2007

In the 1910s, railroad trams such as this hauled freshly fallen logs from the area's timber woods to the Ehren Pine Co. sawmill, in what is now Land O'Lakes.
	[Citrus, Sawmills, Critters & Crackers]

LAND O'LAKES - Exactly 100 years ago, the sawmills that dotted what later became Land O'Lakes had a cause to celebrate.

The Tampa Northern Railroad was born in 1907, joining Tampa and Brooksville, and galvanizing central Pasco's growth.

But while railroads energized commerce in this area a century ago, they tend to depress development today.

Echoing the way Lutz developed, much of the large new developments in Land O'Lakes, like Connerton and Wilderness Lake Preserve, sit on the opposite side of U.S. 41 from the CSX Transportation tracks.

"No matter what we tried to do, there's a huge resistance, a basic resistance, to people crossing a railroad track," said Land O'Lakes developer Dara Khoyi, who has worked with properties up and down the tracks.

Khoyi said businesses worry about the safety of their customers crossing tracks, about the clamor of train horns and about the image of being next to tracks.

"The sophisticated retailers, the nationals - the Quiznos, Cork & Olive - won't go on the other side of the tracks," he said.

Some recent examples when the railroad has affected business prospects:

- In June 2006, Lutz builder Todd Caroline asked for permission from Pasco County to set up a retail center on the eastern side of U.S. 41, just north of State Road 54. He got rejected by the county's staff planners, after they heard from an attorney representing the Central Pasco Chamber of Commerce, who argued that state plans for an overpass at that intersection would affect Caroline's proposal. The overpass would have to take land east of U.S. 41, as the railroad would prevent its expansion westward.

- In October 2004, Pasco planners turned down Wal-Mart's application to build a supercenter on the patch of land where U.S. 41 forks with North Dale Mabry Highway, called the "apex." They feared the railroad tracks running through the apex would make traffic access too difficult at the site. Wal-Mart refiled its application for the same location, and today, it is still locked in unresolved talks with the state Department of Transportation over that same problem.

- In October 2002, residents at Gowers Corner united to kill a proposal for a wholesale lumberyard at Kent Grove Drive and Giddens Road. The lumberyard would have direct access to the railroad, and the neighbors protested the anticipated noise. The Planning Commission agreed and threw out the proposal.

Khoyi said businesses that sit on the railroad side of U.S. 41, like Cox Lumber on SR 54, tend to be rail-friendly in nature.

"Rail is not a detriment to business," Khoyi said. "But it is a detriment to retailers."

For the full story of the railroad's 100 years in this area, pick up the North of Tampa section in today's St. Petersburg Times.

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

For a complete look at the history and impact of the railroad line in northern Hillsborough and central Pasco counties, see today's North of Tampa section or visit hillsborough.tampabay.com.

[Last modified October 4, 2007, 22:08:09]