Young adult program sues county

DADE CITY -- A Pasco County nonprofit agency that teaches young adults a skill while offering them a job making highway signs and performing highway work is suing Pasco County over zoning issues.

A lawsuit filed last week in Pasco-Pinellas Circuit Court on behalf of Florida Youth Conservation Corps contends that Pasco officials told the agency in 1999 that its 35-acre site off Thornhaven Lane near Dade City was an appropriate location, then changed their minds last year and ordered the business closed.

As an educational facility, the lawsuit says, the agency is permitted to operate in the agricultural and residential property classification that its property falls under.

Florida Youth Conservation Corps executive director Bart Colon said Tuesday that the agency serves 33 adults, ages 18-25, and holds about $500,000 in contracts for highway signs and highway maintainance. Workers with the agency are paid $7.50 an hour, can earn nearly $5,000 in college scholarships in a year, and get a $500 bonus for earning a high school diploma or an equivalency certificate.

While working, they also learn skills in metalwork, welding and concrete construction, Colon said.

"A lot of young people don't know what they want to do with their life," Colon said. "We try to help them learn a skill and some direction."

The lawsuit asks a judge to allow the agency to continue operating at its location.

Colon said he has been hoping to settle the matter quietly with county officials rather than go through the courts.

"Any alternative to getting into a fight, we would like," he said.

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