Developer spat halts road for New Tampa

An unbuilt quarter-mile stretch of Cross Creek Boulevard is needed to relieve traffic, residents say. But the land for the road is being held up by a lawsuit.

By SUSAN THURSTON and MICHAEL SANDLER

© St. Petersburg Times,
published July 4, 2001

TAMPA -- Plans to finish a road aimed at relieving congestion in New Tampa have stalled again, this time because of a dispute between former business partners.

Motorists hoping to use Cross Creek Boulevard to access their community may have to wait until developers resolve a lawsuit over pipes, sewage and dirt in Heritage Isles.

The previous landowner has sued the current owner and the developer, alleging that they reneged on a deal to cover some costs of building a country club subdivision and other land along Cross Creek.

SDD Trust filed the lawsuit May 16 in Hillsborough Circuit Court. It names as defendants the Heritage Isles Community Development District, U.S. Home, East Meadows Joint Venture and other developers involved in Heritage Isles.

The lawsuit is a blow to some people in New Tampa, who have been pushing for months to get Cross Creek connected to Morris Bridge Road. The link has been touted as a key way to reduce traffic on Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, the only road through New Tampa.

"The only people who seem to be winning in New Tampa are the developers and this has to change," said Jim Davison, of Hunter's Green, who is an active member of the New Tampa Transportation Task Force. "It's not right for them to put the rest of their neighbors at risk because they are in a lawsuit."

Building the quarter-mile stretch of road would give motorists another way into New Tampa. Cross Creek currently ends just east of Heritage Isles within sight of Morris Bridge.

Developers agreed to finish the connection as a condition for becoming part of the city of Tampa. Heritage Isles must first turn over the land for the road to the city. Star 107 Development, Inc., which is building a project at Cross Creek and Morris Bridge, will build the last link.

Joel Tew, a Clearwater attorney for U.S. Home, submitted preliminary paperwork for the transfer. City officials remained hopeful the transfer would happen, but acknowledged that Heritage Isles has the final say.

Council member Shawn Harrison, who represents New Tampa, said getting the right of way must be a priority, even if that means the city withholds building permits or files its own suit against the developers, he said.

The lawsuit centers on a complicated deal between former business partners involved in an agreement to make about 1,000 acres along Cross Creek part of the city.

SDD Trust sold most of the land to U.S. Home in 1996, with the understanding that U.S. Home would pay the cost of annexation, according to the lawsuit. The land was subsequently handed over to East Meadows to develop into Heritage Isles.

Two years later, SDD Trust says, it agreed to give East Meadows 125,000 cubic yards of dirt for the subdivision, to install some water and sewer lines and to provide land for the Heritage Isles' sewage lift station. The deal also called for future builders to pay SDD Trust for the utility lines, the lawsuit said.

SDD Trust argues that East Meadows broke its promise and never paid. The lawsuit seeks to have East Meadows and the other defendants pay the unspecified cost of the dirt, lines and sewage station.

Until the issue is resolved in court, it appears unlikely that the Heritage Isles Community Development District will turn over the land to finish the road. In a May 15 letter to East Meadows, Mark Straley, the attorney for the development district, said he has advised his client to "defer any action" on the handing over of the land.

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