Planning Fee Votes For A ‘Linked Metropolis’ Moratorium!  — Neighborhood Information

-


Will The County Fee Observe Swimsuit? Commissioner Weightman Says He’s Been Asking For Linked Metropolis Particulars Since Nov. 2023 

 I watched the Jan. 9 Pasco County Planning Fee assembly on-line and was stunned to seek out the Planning Fee Board agreeing with residents like Michael Pultorak and David Terino, who got here to the assembly to oppose a rezoning request for the Tall Timbers Grasp Deliberate Unit Improvement (MPUD), the final 38-acre piece of the so-called “Linked Metropolis” (see map). 

My shock got here when Planning Fee Board member Jon Moody, P.E., agreed with the residents’ declare that the Linked Metropolis has not lived as much as what was anticipated when the state first authorised the Linked Metropolis in 2015, as a partnership between Pasco County and Metro Improvement Group, which is creating each Epperson in Wesley Chapel and Mirada in San Antonio, each of that are positioned throughout the boundaries of the Linked Metropolis (see map). 

“The residents had been promised that the Linked Metropolis wouldn’t be the identical as each different suburban subdivision within the county,” Moody mentioned, noting that it was alleged to have cultural and leisure services, which had been alleged to be extra than simply one other playground at one other condominium advanced that, as Pultorak identified, wouldn’t be utilized by anybody besides the residents of every condominium advanced. To that finish, the Planning Fee finally voted 4-3 for the moratorium on the Jan. 9 assembly. 

In fact, the Planning Fee is barely an advisory board that makes suggestions to the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners (BOC), which has the ultimate say over all rezonings and plan amendments for the county. 

District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Seth Weightman says that relatively than a moratorium, what he wish to see — which he says he first began asking for again in Nov. 2023 — “is for the county employees to supply us (the BOC) with an overlay of what the Linked Metropolis was alleged to be when it was authorised, with all the modifications to the plan which have now been authorised. I wasn’t on the BOC when this was authorised and I feel it might be useful for all of us — my fellow commissioners, residents and employees — to see the place that mission stands at the moment.” 

Weightman additionally says {that a} moratorium ought to solely be thought of as “a final resort” and that he’s “disillusioned” that the county employees nonetheless has not offered the commissioners with the overlay he requested, “greater than a 12 months in the past. I’m a visible individual. I must see the variations between what the mission was alleged to seem like and what it seems like at the moment.” 

Talking of visible studying, as we reported again in November, Pultorak has been a daily at Planning Fee and BOC conferences and he all the time brings quite a lot of pictures, charts and different graphics with him when it’s his flip to talk at these conferences. He additionally has organized the Pasco Linked Metropolis Residents Group on Fb, which at the moment has greater than 1,100 members. 

“This group deserves the parks, open areas and considerate planning they had been promised,” Pultorak mentioned on Jan. 9. 

The Linked Metropolis moratorium suggestion is predicted to be heard as an agenda merchandise at a future BOC assembly, however at our press time, we hadn’t heard of such an agenda merchandise being set. Comm. Weightman advised me that he doesn’t consider {that a} Linked Metropolis moratorium agenda merchandise shall be set earlier than February and even later. 

As talked about above, the Planning Fee’s Linked Metropolis moratorium dialogue got here out of the agenda merchandise in regards to the Tall Timbers MPUD, which is a 38-acre parcel that sits within the so-called “Group Hub” Particular Planning Space (or SPA) Zone, one in all 5 such zones within the Linked Metropolis. (Notice-The others are the Enterprise Core, the North Innovation Zone, the South Innovation Zone and the City Core; see graphic, proper). 

As proven within the graphic above, the rezoning request for the Tall Timbers MPUD would enable the parcel, which at the moment is zoned as “AC Agricultural District” to a “CC-MPUD” (Linked Metropolis Grasp Deliberate Unit Improvement District) throughout the Group Hub Zone. If authorised by the BOC, the rezoning would enable for 380 multi-family dwelling models (flats) and 180,000 sq. ft. of non-residential makes use of. 

Following the presentation by the county employees and legal professional Shelly Johnson representing the developer, Xtreme Staff 41, LLC, Moody and chief assistant county legal professional David Goldstein each questioned how each MPUD authorised for the Linked Metropolis bypassed all the parks and cultural necessities outlined within the Linked Metropolis growth plan. 

In truth, the Group Hub Zone, of which the Tall Timbers MPUD is a component, is meant to have a “Massive District Park,” however Goldstein famous that though the District Park and the funding for it have already been moved to the deliberate “Superpark” within the Villages of Pasadena Hills, which is positioned to the east of the Linked Metropolis, there may be nonetheless a requirement for a big district park within the Linked Metropolis itself, and he requested Nectarios Pittos, the county’s director of planning providers, to look into why that district park requirement was nonetheless included within the Linked Metropolis paperwork. 

In the meantime, Pultorak raised a number of questions in regards to the neighborhood parks, that are required to be in every of the Linked Metropolis’s SPA zones. 

“Each Linked Metropolis rezoning mission to date has became one other subdivision with a playset for the those that reside in it and no facilities,” Pultorak mentioned. “The 2 fancy swimming swimming pools (that means the Metro Lagoons in Epperson and Mirada) have became pay-to-play operations the place the developer is making the cash from them. They aren’t facilities. We (native residents) can’t use them. There may be not a single park, not a single recreation space, not a single amenity that’s within the Linked Metropolis that’s accessible to the Group Hub.” 

Pultorak additionally famous, “We have now concluded that the county by no means etched out, within the Linked Metropolis, within the Group Hub, a location for the parks and recreation space. A neighborhood swing set at a townhouse group isn’t ‘parks.’ That’s for people in these townhouses.” 

The primary cause the Group Hub was alleged to have the big district park, Pultorak mentioned, is as a result of it’s the place King Lake, a 213-acre lake, is positioned (it’s the big space in blue contained in the orange space on the map above). 

“However, what occurs after we take slices of grass round retention ponds & name them parks?,” Pultorak requested. “What occurs is the CDD has to, for legal responsibility causes, put indicators up that say ‘No Fishing’ and ‘No Swimming,’ so that you don’t get eaten by alligators. The issue is when the boys attempt to get out in these neighborhoods and attempt to go put a line within the water and catch a bass, or do one thing away from expertise, the HOA will go on the market and say, ‘That is non-public property, you’ll be able to’t fish right here.’ You’ve gotta have some house in the neighborhood for the children.” 

Amongst Pultorak’s largest considerations in regards to the Tall Timbers rezoning request is, “this website plan itself. The entry and egress to that is going to be primarily based on the Aprile and Kenton MPUDs, with Kenton Rd. coming in from the south, and you’ve got a two-lane dust street from McKendree Rd., so everyone touring west to the interstate, all the service autos coming in or out to the distribution middle or the ‘Eatertainment’ district shall be touring on a two-lane dust street. And, everyone touring to the east to come back by way of San Antonio to Dade Metropolis shall be touring a two-lane dust street. This street cannot deal with it, although Kenton Rd. would be the entry and egress to this mission.” 

He additionally talked about pure sources and conservation, two extra cornerstones of the unique Linked Metropolis growth plan. 

“Pure sources function a major asset to a group,” he mentioned. “Wetlands function a pure flood management useful resource and home a various ecosystem for animal and plants. After I left on Monday morning to fulfill with employees, I drove previous this property and there was a bald eagle in a tree. That advised me we’re preventing the appropriate combat. This website plan doesn’t have any wetlands listed in it — no wetlands which can be protected.” 

Pultorak additionally talked about flooding considerations, particularly contemplating that many of the parcel remained flooded a month or extra after Hurricane Milton got here by way of in October. 

“The underside line is that the Group Hub isn’t designed for flats. It isn’t designed for vertical integration (flats which can be located above ground-floor retail companies, as in Downtown Avalon Park). The Group Hub is the middle level of your complete Linked Metropolis. It’s supposed to have parks, recreation and a spot the place individuals wish to reside.” 

Moody mentioned, “What I see is a particular planning space (referring to Linked Metropolis) that obtained carried out on a piece-by-piece foundation, relatively than as a regional planning train, and within the total scheme of issues, I feel the mark was missed.” 

Regardless of that, and all the proof Pultorak offered, Moody mentioned, “Even with all that being mentioned, I don’t suppose you’ll be able to punish the [current] applicant for the sins of the previous…So, I don’t suppose that denying this mission goes to unravel the general, large-scale issues of Linked Metropolis. And I don’t know the way you repair these.” 

He then moved to approve the Tall Timbers rezoning, which handed 4-3, with Planning Fee members John Girardi, Matthew Muniz and chairman Charles Gray voting “Nay.” 

Moody them moved to advocate to the BOC to impose a moratorium on all growth in Linked Metropolis for one 12 months, “whereas we determine learn how to implement land growth rules that higher obtain the objectives of the Linked Metropolis.” 

When requested by Goldstein if he was solely speaking a few moratorium on rezonings, Moody mentioned, “No. I wish to change the land growth code, so that may be a moratorium on land growth, together with all website plan approvals, constructing permits, every part.” That movement handed 6-1, with solely Girardi voting nay. 

“I feel the general public has reputable considerations relating to this entire difficulty of cultural services, district parks and whether or not there are trails,” Moody mentioned. “I simply comprehend it must be mounted.” 

Goldstein mentioned, “I don’t know learn how to finest convey that to the BOC as a result of I’m unsure it’s finest to tie it to this specific utility. It ought to be offered as a daily dialogue merchandise for the Board.” 

To be continued.

Share this article

Recent posts

Popular categories

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Recent comments