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Too Many Houses, City Says

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By NICOLA M. WHITE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 9, 2008

DADE CITY - City officials like the way the Citrus Ridge development sounds: traditional neighborhood-style homes with front porches, rear alleys and backyard garages.

What doesn't sit well is the density and location of the project, which would be on the north side of St. Joe Road and three-quarters of a mile west of 21st Street - roads already taxed by traffic, Dade City officials said at Tuesday's city commission workshop.

"We don't have any problems with the design," City Planner Karla Owens said after the workshop. "What we're saying is we want fewer houses on their property. That's what it boils down to."
Citrus Ridge abuts the city limits but falls outside the jurisdiction of city officials. That's why city commissioners on Tuesday asked Owens, who also is city attorney, to draft another letter to Pasco County officials formally stating the city's opposition to the development as it is proposed.

The objections, which the city has raised in the past, range from size of the proposed lots to the impact the new residents - and their cars - would have on St. Joe Road and 21st Street. Both roads are already clogged. Pasco County gives those roads a C service grade, Owens said.

"Once you get to a level of D, you're in deep doo-doo, and everybody gets upset," she told the commissioners.

In the neighborhoods surrounding the proposed development, houses sit on lots ranging from a quarter of an acre to an acre or more, in keeping with the area's rural character. Some of Citrus Ridge's houses would sit on 80-foot lots, a size more consistent with suburban developments, Owens said.

The Citrus Ridge development calls for 358 houses on 112 acres.

The developer, Clearwater-based Bayshore Broadway, originally proposed building 450 homes on the land but has tweaked its proposal in the past two years as county officials debate the merits of the project. The county's Development Review Commission will hold a public hearing on the project Jan. 24.

Reporter Nicola M. White can be reached at (813) 779-4613 or nwhite1@tampatrib.com.

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