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Hillsborough Planners Support Lutz Borrow Pit Plan

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By ELIZABETH LEE BROWN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 16, 2007

LUTZ - A controversial plan to dig a 54-acre borrow pit over 10 years along the county border has the backing of Hillsborough County planners.

County reviewers, who previously objected to the proposal to excavate up to 2.5 million cubic yards of fill dirt on 312 acres on Lutz-Lake Fern Road, are no longer objecting to the land excavation permit.

The case is scheduled for a land-use hearing at 1:30 p.m. today at the county center.

Late last week, planners were finalizing a report recommending the sand mine with a list of development conditions.

Since March 2006, Stephen Dibbs of North Dale Development has been seeking permission to create the man-made lake and to sell the dirt to roadway and construction projects.

The parcel is on the north side of Lutz-Lake Fern Road, about 1,000 feet west of the Suncoast Parkway toll road. The borrow pit would be dug on the northwest corner of the site near Barrie Acres Trail and the Pasco County line.

Senior county planner Tom Hiznay, who is overseeing the borrow pit's review, said two major changes to the proposal helped reverse the county's denial.

The borrow pit's revised dirt hauling route directs dump trucks onto the Suncoast Parkway. Trucks would head east out of the site and travel on Lutz-Lake Fern Road for less than a quarter mile.

Dump trucks would be allowed east of the parkway if they hauled material for upcoming projects on Lutz-Lake Fern Road for a new high school, to widen Lutz-Lake Fern Road, or to construct the Suncoast ramps.

Previous staff objections centered on the truck traffic affecting nearby schools, churches, homes, and the deterioration of the roadway, Hiznay said.

"They said the dirt is going to go from the site directly onto the Suncoast Parkway. Our primary concern of the traffic going on Lutz-Lake Fern Road went away," he said.

Construction on all three projects is scheduled to start in January and be completed before the school opens in August 2009.

The second major change is requiring a wider and more substantial buffer for homeowners in the Ivy Lake Estates subdivision in Pasco County.

Hiznay said the conditions require pit owners to construct a 6-foot wooden fence 250 feet from the county line to screen the dirt-hauling operation.

In addition, a 6-foot masonry wall will be built along the county line with a double row of evergreen trees planted on the north side of the wall.

"All of those measures are in far excess of what our code requires, and we feel this project is now supportable," Hiznay said.

Land excavation work and hauling will be limited to 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Monday through Saturday.

The conditions also include prohibiting trucks from hauling dirt near Martinez Middle and McKitrick Elementary schools between 7:30 and 9 a.m. and from 1:30 to 4 p.m. Once the high school opens, the restriction begins at 6:30 a.m.

Despite the modifications, opposition has not waned.

There are no development conditions that would make the proposed borrow pit acceptable to the community, said Denise Layne, the land-use liaison with the Lutz Civic Association.

"We said no before, and we're saying no now," she said. "You cannot put a 54-acre borrow pit in a neighborhood. We're putting something that is going to directly affect neighbors' lives for 10 years."

Layne said civic and environmental groups on the Hillsborough and Pasco sides are united against the petition and preparing for a "battle royale."

IF YOU GO

WHAT: Land-use hearing on proposed borrow pit on Lutz-Lake Fern Road
WHEN: 1:30 p.m. today

WHERE: County commission meeting room, second floor of the Frederick B. Karl County Center, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd., Tampa.

Reporter Elizabeth Lee Brown can be reached at (813) 865-1502 or ebrown@tampatrib.com.

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