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Sweetbay Complex Approved Despite Neighbor's Objections

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 27, 2008

LAND O' LAKES - Pasco County officials gave a green light Thursday for a new Sweetbay grocery store proposed for a site just east of the Suncoast Parkway.

The 49,500-square-foot supermarket will be in a shopping center being developed by Paradise Development Group on the north side of State Road 54 across from the Northpointe business park.

The plaza, which will include 17,000 square feet of smaller retail space along with the grocery, will straddle as-yet-unbuilt Ashley Glen Boulevard.

In recent weeks, the county's Development Review Committee has approved plans for a gas station across Ashley Glen from the grocery store.

The plaza will be in front of an office complex of multistory buildings proposed by developer Doug Weiland.

The Paradise proposal drew an objection from Octavio Blanco, whose family farm lies just west of the Paradise and Ashley Glen properties. Blanco has repeatedly challenged plans to develop the two properties, saying they would harm his property.

On Thursday, Blanco asked the committee to reconsider approval of Paradise's plan to relocate a drainage ditch on the east side of its property to accommodate the grocery.

Blanco said the drainage feature is actually a river, Sandy Branch, which feeds the Anclote River. Moving the river would therefore be illegal under federal law, Blanco said.

Paradise officials disputed that claim, saying they knew of no documentation proving the drainage feature is a river.

Project engineer Matthew Campo noted the plaza has received drainage permits from the Southwest Florida Water Management District. The committee also gave its approval in April to the plaza's drainage plan, an approval Blanco is appealing to the county commissioners.

Blanco decried the plaza as "blight" that will mar the county's dream of a gateway complex at the junction of S.R. 54 and the Suncoast Parkway that will lure major employers to Pasco.

Committee members approved the plaza provided Paradise receives the Army Corps of Engineers' permit required to relocate the ditch.

Also at Thursday's meeting, committee members:

• Cleared the Pasco County School District's plan to buy 90 acres on the east side of Handcart Road about two miles south of Prospect Road for a future high school.

• Gave the developers of Wesley Chapel's Shops at Wiregrass an exemption to county rules governing signs that will let store owners have twice the amount of signage normally allowed. The exemption was approved because the majority of the signs will be visible only within the complex, the committee said.

• Approved plans to build a 364-unit apartment complex in the heart of Seven Oaks. The complex will be across Ancient Oaks Boulevard from the Knollpoint neighborhood under construction near the northwest corner of the junction of Ancient Oaks and Eagleston Boulevard.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201 or kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com.

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