City adding small tracts to reach huge area

Tampa is annexing only 90 acres on its northern borders but is gaining access to a 2,400-acre ranch.

By STEVE HUETTEL

© St. Petersburg Times, published July 7, 2000

TAMPA -- Tampa is poised to take a tiny bite out of Hillsborough County through a deal that opens the door to bringing a huge piece of New Tampa into the city.

City Council members are set to vote next Thursday on annexing three small parcels, a total of 90 acres, on the edge of the Heritage Isles development near Morris Bridge Road.

No big deal, except that the agreement eliminates a roadblock to Tampa gobbling up a cattle ranch that stretches north to the Pasco County line.

When the city annexed Heritage Isles in 1998, the owners left out a 5-foot strip of land on the property's north and east borders.

Because Tampa can annex only land that touches city limits, that blocked the next target in Mayor Dick Greco's annexation plans: K-Bar Ranch, a 2,400-acre tract abutting Heritage Isles on the north.

But Tracy Harris and Bing Kearney, partners who own part of 936-acre Heritage Isles, also control the 90 acres called the Star Property. As part of that annexation deal, they agreed to bring the 5-foot strip into the city as well.

Last month, an attorney for K-Bar Ranch and Tampa officials traded drafts of an agreement to annex part of the huge tract -- slated for nearly 1,600 new homes -- into the city.

County commissioners were briefed by staffers last month on the Star annexation, said Commission Chairman Pat Frank. But no one at County Center knew the implications for K-Bar Ranch until a reporter called Thursday.

"I don't understand how we could be asleep at the wheel on this," Frank said.

Relations between City Hall and the County Commission were strained two years ago when the city annexed Heritage Isles and 684 acres south of the Pasco line where developers want to build Grand Hamptons, a subdivision of more than 1,500 homes.

County officials decided against extending water and sewer service north of Tampa to prevent urban sprawl from encroaching on sensitive upland and wetland habitats, Frank said.

The city is undermining that policy by cutting deals with land owners to annex and develop the property, she said.

"It's for developers to make a lot of money and for the city to have a wider tax base," Frank said. "We're saying we don't want sprawl going in all directions. It just should stop. Enough is enough."

Ron Rotella, Greco's development consultant, said sprawl is when development leapfrogs urban areas into places without enough roads and services. K-Bar Ranch is at the edge of current development, he said, and the city has taken the lead providing services in New Tampa.

"It's our water, it's our sewer, and we're doing the parks out there," Rotella said.

Under the draft agreement, the city would annex only part of K-Bar Ranch. Annexing the entire tract would leave 46 acres of unincorporated Hillsborough County surrounded by the city, creating an island or "enclave" prohibited by state law. Former Hillsborough Chief Judge Guy W. Spicola offered to sell the land to the county last year, but officials balked at his asking price of $1.6-million. Enough of K-Bar would remain in unincorporated Hillsborough to keep Spicola's land from becoming an enclave, Rotella said.

K-Bar is owned by the Krusen-Douglas Partnership, a group of family members, said Fred Ridley, an attorney for the group.

One member is William Krusen, whose father was one of the pioneer cattle ranchers in Florida and bought the land in the early 1900s for about $1.25 an acre. The family has reared cattle on it ever since.

The biggest issue in negotiations is who will pay for roads and traffic improvements to handle increased traffic, Ridley said. No new roads would be required under the draft deal if developers built up to 800 homes.

If they build up to 1,599 homes, developers would have to add two lanes to Bruce B. Downs Boulevard from Cross Creek Boulevard to Interstate 75, add two lanes to Cross Creek from Kinnan Road to Bruce B. Downs and make improvements to the Cross Creek-Bruce B. Downs intersection.

Ridley and Rotella would not speculate on how long it might take to negotiate a final agreement.

Steve Huettel can be reached at (813) 226-3384, or at huettel@sptimes.com.

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