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Growth plan changes get county okay
By ALISA ULFERTS © St. Petersburg Times, published October 18, 2000 DADE CITY -- County commissioners approved a series of changes to the county's growth plan Tuesday, capping a yearlong fight with a group of slow-growth advocates. If the state okays those amendments, which appears likely, it means the county will have an updated growth plan for the first time since 1989. But the saga may not be over. Clearwater attorney Lee Atkinson said his developer clients might challenge those changes during the state's 21-day comment period. Some of his clients had intervened on the county's behalf last year when Citizens for Sanity challenged the original amendments. "Imagine their chagrin to learn that the county . . . reached a settlement agreement with the anti-development factions which, in effect, undid all of the hard work that led up to the" original amendments, Atkinson wrote in a statement he handed to county commissioners on Tuesday. "Many of those who stood ready to do battle shoulder to shoulder with, and on behalf of Pasco County and the (state), now find themselves faced with the adoption of comprehensive plan amendments which they have been working against the passage of since 1997." Some of the changes sought and scored by Citizens for Sanity include well field protection, the establishment of a wildlife corridor and a growth-plan citizens advisory committee that included more laypersons and fewer developers. It is the wildlife corridor that appears most upsetting to Atkinson's clients, according to his letter to commissioners. Such measures often lack evidence of their effectiveness and unfairly nix development rights without paying for them, Atkinson said. So what would another challenge do to the county's attempts to update its growth plan, which dates to 1989? It means, "You could go on like this for 10 years," Chief Assistant County Attorney Barbara Wilhite said during a break in Tuesday's meeting. County officials have tried, as required by state law, to update their comprehensive plan since 1997. That plan is a state-mandated blueprint for the way the county wants to grow. But each time they submitted the amendments to the state Department of Community Affairs for approval, the state sent them back for revisions. Finally, in late 1999, the state appeared ready to accept the documents, which were drafted by the county with the help of a citizens advisory committee largely comprising developers and development interests. That's when the group Citizens for Sanity, which cut its political teeth fighting the Oakstead development in central Pasco, stepped in. The group challenged those amendments and thus ignited the yearlong struggle between environmental activists and the county, which was backed by developers. The county signed a settlement agreement with Citizens for Sanity last month, but it took County Attorney Robert Sumner's threat of a building moratorium to get all the developers who intervened in the challenge to sign off. They did so, but insisted on keeping their rights to challenge the amendments during the next comment period. Each time the state prepares to approve comprehensive plan amendments, it holds a comment and challenge period. "I think we have some serious reservations. I won't say opposition right now," said attorney Ben Harrill, who also represents concerned developers. Harrill said he hasn't discussed an additional challenge with his clients, but said he couldn't rule it out. But Nancy Rosenberg, one of the plaintiffs in the Citizens for Sanity challenge though she is not a member of that group, defended what she called the "very positive and reasonable changes" wrought to the comprehensive plan through her challenge. She also denied that she was a zero-growth advocate. "I'm a quality of life advocate." - Alisa Ulferts covers Pasco County government. She can be reached in west Pasco at 869-6244 or (800) 333-7505, ext. 6244. Her e-mail address is ulferts@sptimes.com.
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