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Residents of a nearby condominium say plans for reclaimed water storage tanks would spoil their view. A ruling is scheduled for Tuesday.
By JANEL STEPHENS
© St. Petersburg Times, published July 15, 2001
PALM HARBOR -- Blanche Sammons likes her view looking east from her home at the Landmark Oaks condominiums.
Across McMullen-Booth Road, she sees a cou ple of grassy hills and trees in the distance.
But that scene would change if the Pinellas County Utilities Department gets the zoning it needs to build two large storage tanks across from Landmark Oaks. Each tank would be 50 to 60 feet tall.
Sammons thinks the tanks, which would each hold up to 2.5-million gallons of reclaimed water, would spoil the view on McMullen-Booth Road, and she isn't alone.
"I was up early one morning and I was thinking it's going to be such a shame, we won't be able to see the sun rise because of these water tanks," she said.
On Tuesday, residents of Landmark Oaks plan to approach Pinellas County commissioners with one request: build the tanks elsewhere.
"We don't have any objections to the use of reclaimed water," said Herbert Wall, vice president of the condo association. "What we're suggesting is to look into alternatives to what is being requested."
If approved, the county will build the tanks and a pipeline station on 2.5 acres 332 feet north of Curlew Road, between McMullen-Booth Road and the Lake Tarpon outfall canal. The tanks would be 210 feet from the entrance of Landmark Oaks.
Residents of the 152-condominium complex met with Pinellas County Commissioner Susan Latvala last week to discuss other possible locations for the tanks.
Utilities officials have looked at other locations, but the property off McMullen-Booth proved to be the "most efficient and cost-effective location," said Bob Peacock, a county environmental specialist on the project.
"We could build a storage tank on county road property along Highway 19, but we would end up multiplying the cost of this project," Peacock said. "We're trying to find a realistic balance when were looking into these properties."
Peacock went through a list of properties that he said were examined by the utilities department, including the county's first choice: 21/2 acres owned by the Southwest Florida Water Management District on the east side of the Lake Tarpon outfall canal.
Peacock said the utilities department approached Swiftmud about the location in 1999, when the county began looking for a place to build the tanks. Swiftmud rejected the request.
"They said they wanted to be able to maintain the ability to deposit the dredging spoils on the property," Peacock said.
He approached Swiftmud a second time after meeting with the county examiner's board on June 4 and was rejected again.
At the meeting, Latvala told residents she would contact Swiftmud one last time to make sure all avenues have been tried, she said.
Residents also voiced their concern about maintaining McMullen-Booth as a scenic corridor, but Latvala said the county's scenic corridor program applies to commercial properties, not county water tanks.
"These tanks are a public need," said Latvala, who also sits on the board of Tampa Bay Water, the region's water utility. "They don't, in any way, relate to commercial-type developments."
Commissioners are scheduled to consider the rezoning request at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Pinellas County Courthouse in downtown Clearwater.
"If we can find a desirable place, we would certainly like to put (the tanks) there, but the prospects are slim to none," Latvala said.
-- Staff writer Janel Stephens can be reached at (727) 445-4243.