Fall of the wild? Subdivision

Southern Keystone, which has waged successful battles against large-scale development, faces another incursion. Hundreds of open acres with cattle and wildlife will fall to the backhoe this year as demand for new homes pushes developments along Race Track Road into the area’s rural neighborhoods.

By JOSH ZIMMER

© St. Petersburg Times, published January 14, 2001

KEYSTONE -- At the edge of an empty pasture off Race Track Road, colorful artist's renderings line the walls of Taylor Woodrow Communities' non-descript development office.

In contrast with their quiet, rural surroundings, the pictures of Waterchase depict an oasis of conspicuous affluence: large-lot housing tracts, an upscale clubhouse, lush landscaping and a dramatic bridge entrance crossing a lake designed to hold water even in Florida's driest seasons.

In the next month or two, work on this 800-home subdivision will get under way as heavy equipment begins moving earth and trees, said Keith Bass, Taylor Woodrow vice president. The company, which specializes in luxury communities, believes Waterchase will soon define class in an area already inundated with expensive developments, he said.

"It's meant to be a move up," he said. "It's going be a pretty nice, I think, addition to the area."

But Waterchase doesn't begin to define the development pressures stacking up on this section of Race Track Road near South Mobley Road. Several projects, both active and proposed, are rewriting the book on this once sedate rural area at the foot of Keystone, a community that has waged an aggressive -- and largely successful -- effort to protect itself from large-scale development.

Waterchase will cover 600 acres of environmentally sensitive land in a sprawling triangle bounded by Race Track on the east and Nine Eagles Drive on the west.

Due east, construction continues on Edwin Radice Sports Complex, a regional county park that will be home to nine soccer fields, five baseball fields and five softball fields. It is scheduled to open this summer or fall.

Meanwhile, county planners are reviewing two new mixed-use proposals around the Race Track-South Mobley intersection that could add hundreds more new homes and thousands of feet of commercial space.

Earlier this month, Leslie Land Corporation filed a rezoning request for 315 acres west and south of the new park, across Race Track from Waterchase. Plans for Highland Park call for 400 homes plus a "town center" that would include local commercial, cultural and public service functions.

Part of the site is former county land that officials agreed to sell to developer Bill Bishop in a controversial land swap deal last year. In exchange for being able to buy 112 acres, Bishop agreed to donate 22 acres just to the south, and develop an equestrian facility for the county's disable riders program on the land.

The Highland Park petition indicates the project will also involve expansion of an existing lake along Race Track and that the development would back up to the sports complex and the equestrian center. The request is scheduled to go before a zoning hearing master in April.

Nearly two months ago, the county's Planning and Growth Management Department received a request to rezone 22 acres at the northeast corner of Race Track and South Mobley for several large-lot homes, along with 15,000-square-feet of commercial/office space right at the intersection. That petition goes to a zoning hearing master Feb. 19.

Such activity has long been predicted for the area, which borders fast-growing Westchase and subdivisions such as Westchester and the Eagles. But the future remains cloudy for some Keystone residents.

One of them is Faith Jorgenson, a resident of the Innfields, a community designed specifically for horse owners. Most of the 20-plus homeowners maintain stables amid quaint surroundings where horses neigh and stomp around corraled front yards.

The northern edge of Waterchase essentially abuts the Innfields. Early plans called for rerouting Race Track Road, and building a tunnel that would have allowed pedestrians and horses access Highland Park via an underpass. Those plans are no longer part of the project.

Now, Jorgenson is contemplating the loss of her wooded borders to a large subdivision. She also fears animals and non-horse owners won't mix.

"Sometimes conflicts arise because of that," she said. "Horse are often referred to as attractive nuisances. That's dangerous for people who don't know about a 1,200-pound animal or horses who eat the wrong thing."

She and her neighbors are anxious to hear how Taylor Woodrow intends to use a 20- to 25-acre buffer on the north end of Waterchase. They would like to have access for horse riding, but project development manager Tom Spence said he isn't sure yet how accommodating Taylor Woodrow can be.

Most of the buffer will be replanted as forested wetlands, he said. While maintenance berms would conceivably allow for riding trails, the company may not want to invite lawsuits if someone is injured.

"I'm not against them being able to have access to it," he said. "It just depends on the liability the company or the CDD (community development district) would have."

Taylor Woodrow, which is based in England and helped build such mega projects as the tunnel under the English Channel, believes Waterchase is a gold mine waiting to yield its riches, Bass and Spence said. They cite the property's prime location near shopping and downtown Tampa, as well as the product.

Despite fears of a recession, both said the subdivision's expected clientele can weather the economic ups and downs. So can the company, which is building its first ground-up development in the Tampa Bay area with Waterchase, Spence said.

Townhouses will be priced around $150,000, he said. Homes will start at $200,000 and range up to about $700,000. Expected interest in the project could accelerate the estimated 2006 buildout date, he said.

Keystone Civic Association Vice President Laura Swain said she is frustrated by the loss of wild space involved in such large-scale developments. According to Rob Heath, environmental supervisor for the county's Environmental Land Acquisition and Protection Program, the Waterchase property has been on the acquisition list for several years.

"Anything that we've identified has got to be unusually good to make it on our list," he said. "It's not just vacant land. It's habitat, which means we're losing wildlife as well as plants."

But after the recent approval of a growth-restrictive community plan to the county's comprehensive land use plan, Keystone is in a fairly safe position for now, Swain said.

South Mobley Road will handle most of the east-west traffic, she said, protecting Keystone's less crowded country roads to the north. And despite earlier tensions, she commended Taylor Woodrow for backing out of Keystone and agreeing to landscape Race Track Road so the transition to the community is not so abrupt.

They even agreed to install a "Welcome To Keystone" sign, she said.

"I think we've got the hounds kept at bay," she said. "Keystone is an enclave."

Jorgenson is resigned to change -- and to keeping a sober watch on what all the development might bring.

"Obviously, we're going to have new neighbors so we need to do our best to promote good relations," she said. But, "It's hard because people that have horses and live outdoors obviously like open spaces ... and the more things grow and get developed the less we have. It's a bitter pill to swallow."

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