TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Commission OKs Vested Rights For Gulf Landings

ADVERTISEMENT

By JULIA FERRANTE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 26, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - By a 4-1 vote Tuesday, the county commission affirmed that the owners of Gulf Landings have 'vested rights' to build commercial and multifamily housing on three tracts west of U.S. 19, finishing a project approved 50 years ago.

Developer Joseph Borda still must submit site plans, comply with federal flood regulations and get permits to alter any wetlands affected, said Chief Assistant County Attorney Barbara Wilhite. The order entitles Borda to build 351 units on parcels totaling 20.5 acres and 10,000 square feet of commercial developments on another parcel.

Although he is not obligated to do so, Borda agreed to abide by as many current county standards as possible and to apply for the necessary permits within the next seven years, Wilhite said. Under the terms of the order, Borda also must come back before the county commission with a site plan.

'We can apply any land development regulations to the extent it won't affect their ability to build that many units,' Wilhite said. 'Depending on how it is designed, it will dictate if there will be a larger footprint. Will it be higher?'

The vested rights law protects landowners from having to comply with rules and laws adopted after their developments are approved. Gulf Landings was approved before the county had zoning laws, Wilhite said. County commissioners adopted an ordinance two weeks ago allowing them to make vested rights determinations. Previously, the county attorney rendered opinions.

Commissioner Michael Cox, who made the motion to grant the vested rights Tuesday night, said Wednesday that he did so to protect the county against what seemed an imminent lawsuit. He conceded the move was an unpopular one among residents concerned about a potential high-rise development and flooding in the area.

'The preponderance of people there wanted us to vote it down,' Cox said. 'But there was nothing in the law that supported that. At the end of the day, I felt I needed to protect the county from a lawsuit they couldn't win. All we really did was validate the county attorney's opinion that these people had these rights back to 1958. It was clear to me that they were granted to him a very long time ago.'

Borda's attorney, Jake Varn, said his client will abide by the county's newer regulations as much as possible.

'If it comes down to having to lose units to meet the requirements, we are going to come on the side of units,' Varn said. 'The good news is we have to come back for a site plan.'

Cox said Borda agreed to several limitations a court likely would not have required, such as buffering wetlands and landscaping in parking lots.

Commission Chairwoman Ann Hildebrand, who lives in adjacent Gulf Harbors, said the commission had no choice but to grant the vested rights.

'Basically, we did what we had to do legally,' Hildebrand said. 'There was a vesting, and we had to protect the county from what I think would have been a very big lawsuit.'

She noted that the development was approved at a time when there was little other development in Pasco.

'You have to realize the mindset of the county commission 40 years ago. There was nothing there,' she said. 'I am sure they welcomed that with open arms.'

Commissioner Jack Mariano, the sole commissioner to vote against the vesting, asked to continue Tuesday's hearing, but he did not have any support. He said the board did not have enough information to approve or deny the rights.

'Frankly, I still don't see the vested rights,' Mariano said.

Mariano argued that Gulf Landings' owners gave up their rights when the property was rezoned from agricultural and commercial to multifamily housing in 1977.

'At that point, whatever they got at the rezoning should have been it,' he said.

Mariano also said some of the paperwork submitted with the vested rights application was incomplete, and 'the burden of proof was on them, not us.'

'How it got that far, I don't know,' he said.

Varn noted that the original plan included dredging and filling canals and coastal areas to build twice as many houses as were eventually built. The developer donated more than 800 acres to the county for what later would become Green Key Park in Hudson and a school site.
Borda asked two years ago for a vested rights determination. Since then, Varn said last week, Borda has lost out on land sale contracts totaling about $14 million.

Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220 or jferrante@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT