From noise cannons to Toyotas

Commissioners cover a range of issues at their Tuesday meeting.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP, Times Staff Writer
Published March 12, 2008

DADE CITY - Noise cannons can't be silenced for now. New power lines may be coming your way. An infamous house is going down. And a new Toyota dealership is going up.

Here are the highlights from Tuesday's County Commission meeting:

Ban is silenced

Resistance from state officials cut short the county's attempt to outlaw the loud devices used by blueberry farmers in northwest Pasco to scare birds away from their crops.

John Costigan, assistant general counsel for the state Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, told county attorneys last month that the cannons fall under a broad definition of "fireworks." Since the state regulates these, the county can't draw up an ordinance to prohibit them, Costigan said.

But there's still hope for residents who can't abide those cannons. County officials are working to pull the cannons out of the legal definition of "fireworks." But for now, Pasco's attempted ban is dead.

"They've indicated that they're going to stand behind that opinion, and if they were to come after us, and if the industry were to say you can't do it, the judge will defer to that agency on the rules," County Attorney Jeffrey Steinsnyder said. "If circumstances change, we'll reintroduce it to you."

Progress Energy

The power company is holding two public workshops today and Thursday to tell residents about an impending expansion of their transmission lines.

Progress, which has 152,000 customers in Pasco, briefed commissioners Tuesday on the three route options through Pasco, some of which could take up to 250 feet of right-of-way from landowners. Progress decides on the route in June, to be followed by multiple permitting processes. The lines won't be built until 2012.

"We're in very early stages, and we haven't made any decision on where we will site the lines," said Progress spokeswoman Gail Simpson.

Check www.progress-energy.com/energyplanning for more information, or contact Progress at energyplanning@pgnmail.com or 888 238-0373.

House goes down

Over the protests of former owner Diane Lombardi, commissioners voted to demolish the stucco home at 16034 Frost Drive in Hudson, which won notoriety in November when county officials found its interior covered in dog and human feces.

Officials tried for months to get Lombardi to come up with a cleanup or repair plan, but she didn't. She's now living with her daughter.

A house across the road that also belonged to Lombardi, 16027 Frost Drive, was sold to her mortgage holder, Tom Martino, who plans to clean and restore it, said assistant county attorney Kristi Wooden.

Sun Toyota dealership

The dealership got a 4-1 thumbs-up to move from State Road 54 to Gulf Trace Boulevard and U.S. 19.

The sole dissent came from Commissioner Michael Cox, who argued the county shouldn't have to pick up about $230,000 in cost increases as part of the project's realignment of Gulf Trace Boulevard.

The realignment benefits both the development, which needs more right of way, and residents who have long sought a traffic light to be installed at the intersection.

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

[Last modified March 12, 2008, 00:59:08]