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Officials view plans for new retail center
By BRIDGET HALL GRUMET © St. Petersburg Times, published February 24, 2001 CRYSTAL RIVER -- The 33-acre site just north of Scotty's never panned out for Wal-Mart, but a different developer is now eyeing that property with plans for a strip mall. County planners last week saw preliminary drawings for a 196,000-square-foot shopping center that an unnamed developer is considering for the property, located on the west side of U.S. 19 across from the Crystal River Airport, county planner Joanna Coutu said. An engineer for the developer said possible stores for the site could include PetsMart, Old Navy, T.J. Maxx, Bed Bath & Beyond, Office Depot, and Michaels arts and crafts store, Coutu said. Coutu met Feb. 14 with Tampa project engineer Rob Starr of Kimley-Horn & Associates and Tampa planning consultant Kevin Mineer to discuss the project, but Coutu noted that the plans are still in the early stages. The developer has not submitted a proposed site plan or a rezoning request, but county officials expect to receive those applications within the next few weeks. Starr and Mineer declined to comment to a reporter about the plans. Although this project would be smaller than the 281,000-square-foot Wal-Mart Supercenter proposed for the site two years ago, officials and neighbors have some of the same objections to large commercial development on that property. "You've still got the wildlife habitat there to be concerned about: the gopher tortoises, the bobcats and the foxes," said Billy Mitchell, a nearby resident. "It doesn't really matter who the applicant is," Coutu added. "We're going to have a lot of the same concerns that we had with Wal-Mart with this one. But these people say they feel confident they can address those concerns." Wal-Mart withdrew its plans for the site last June, after receiving heavy criticism from environmentalists and a blistering review the previous year from the state Department of Community Affairs. Development would have affected wetlands on the thickly wooded property, and the state agency questioned whether stormwater runoff would flood the neighborhood to the west. Because a strip mall would not run as deep into the property as a Wal-Mart Supercenter would have, Coutu said, the developer believes it can build on the front section and maintain the wetlands and drainage areas in the rear. There are three bands of zoning on the site. A 400-foot-wide strip along U.S. 19 is already zoned for general commercial use, while the next 600 feet to the west is zoned for low-density residential. The rear third of the property is designated for coastal and lakes use. While Wal-Mart wanted to turn the entire site into general commercial, Coutu said the possible strip mall developer is considering a request to rezone just the middle band of low-density residential property to commercial. If such a request were made, it would go before the Planning and Development Review Board and the County Commission for public hearings and a vote. Coutu said the low-density section is less than 10 acres, so a request to rezone it would not need the Department of Community Affairs' approval. The surrounding area is already buzzing with development. Just past Scotty's to the south, Bealls department store has filed a request to tear down several vacant storefronts and build a 13,992-square-foot addition to its 35,500-square-foot store, Coutu said. Further south, Applebee's plans to build a restaurant near the Home Depot that opened last October. Across from Home Depot, Realti Corp. is revising its proposal to build a large store at the southeast corner of U.S. 19 and West Venable Street. The plans for the Realti Corp. site name no retailers, but county officials have said Wal-Mart representatives have expressed interest in the property.
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