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By Banding Together, Rural Residents Fight Builders' Advances

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT, The Tampa Tribune

Published: November 17, 2007

More Stories:
Prysner Fights For Stable Country Life
Flott Uses Her Expertise To Empower Other Residents
Niemann Rallies Neighbors To Fend Off Suburban Village
O'Steen Staked Her Claim And Will Keep Fighting For It
Butler-Nelson's Work Stops Development Of Cork Prairie
Swain Helped Write Plan, Now Focuses On Following It

TAMPA - Seven years ago, Marcella and Kermit O'Steen fled Hyde Park and headed 20 miles east to Balm, snuggling back into their rural roots.

The couple set to work almost immediately, renovating a once-neglected country home that would become their retirement haven.

Two weeks later, a sign went up across their dirt lane. The owners of a massive borrow pit wanted to expand, inviting earth movers to extract tons of dirt for construction. Truck traffic, dirt and noise were destined to be their new neighbors.

"I didn't know a soul," Marcella O'Steen recalled. "But I wrote up an information sheet and took it to my neighbors. Anywhere there was a house, they got a sheet." The sand mine since has expanded, but thanks to the neighbors' efforts, it's not next to the O'Steens' property.

"It was a partial victory," she said. "The seed was planted, though, and I was more aware of what was going on."

O'Steen is one of a core group of about 600 rural Hillsborough County residents, from Balm to Keystone and Plant City to Wimauma, digging in their heels, refusing to be bullied by developers and a county commission they say does little to control growth in their communities.

At every turn, they say, bulldozers are bumping on their barn doors, fueled by builders eager to convert their rural expanses into commuter suburbs.

Hillsborough County has rules in place meant to protect its rural areas from encroachment and crowding. But county officials don't always enforce them, some rural residents say.

So they're pushing back. They've formed U-CAN, United Citizens' Action Network, and plan to use their collective clout to hold the government accountable for decisions that affect rural lands and lifestyles.

They have already won victories big and small and are building arsenals to fend off other potential intrusions.

With good reason, they say.

"In just four years since we bought our property, the area has changed dramatically," said Pam Prysner of Lithia, whose family owns a mini-ranch in eastern Hillsborough County.

"When we looked to buy out here," Prysner said, "we thought we were moving to the middle of nowhere. Development comes right up to the line now, with no transition of densities."

The story is the same in every corner of the county, said Laura Swain, who lives in rural Keystone in northwest Hillsborough. Without the support of large homeowner associations like many suburbanites enjoy, she said, country folk often find they get little attention from elected officials.

"As the county becomes more and more urbanized and suburbanized, we are a lesser voting block," said Swain, a former county planning commissioner. "But if we network, we become an important voting block."

"Numbers do count to politicians," said former County Commissioner Jan Platt. "People are wise to get together, and it's very important that a lot of them speak." Showing solidarity, she said, makes a difference.

The rural activists belonged to groups in specific areas fighting local battles, and then discovered they would have more power together. They shared one another's experience and expertise, joined forces at public meetings and then in January formed U-CAN.

"We're trying to prevent uncontrolled growth and participate in the type of development that comes into our communities," said U-CAN chairwoman Terry Flott of Seffner.

Of the 574,390 acres in unincorporated Hillsborough, 361,364 acres remain outside the urban service area, according to the county planning commission. That area is where the county doesn't supply water or sewer services and is typically home to farmers, ranchers, nursery operators and residents who enjoy a slower pace with fewer neighbors and more breathing room.

Bobcats and coyotes still run through their yards at night, and their children can ride horses unfettered by traffic.

But keeping it country is a constant battle, they say.

"It's high intensity and emotional," Flott said.

Each member of U-CAN has succeeded in staving off what they see as inappropriate development in their own communities.

For O'Steen, it was fighting the borrow pit and a large luxury residential development in Balm.

For Charlotte Butler-Nelson and Robert Nelson, it was fighting a Plant City annexation that would have turned the environmentally sensitive Cork Prairie into a huge subdivision.

For George Niemann of Dover, it was fending off an attempt to expand the urban service area into his neighborhood to convert an old phosphate mine into a suburban village.

"We're all in different geographic areas, but our stories are all the same," Flott said. "There were so many issues coming up, the group evolved naturally.

"You'll never get anyone to say they view us as a threat, but we've made them sit up and pay attention," she said of county commissioners.

U-CAN members use facts and the county's own rules to back up their positions.

And they have specific plans for how to hold county officials accountable for their decisions.

"We're going to try to make a difference in the elections," O'Steen said. The group plans to post a report card online showing voting records for each county commissioner. That way, voters can see whether each commissioner has responded to residents' wishes.

The report cards are expected to be posted on the U-CAN Web site, u-canhillsborough.net, in late January, Flott said.

"They'll have to work harder for their dastardly deeds," she said. "We think we'll be able to help, in a small way."

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at yhammett@tampatrib.com or (813) 657-4532.

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