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Port says freight center unneeded

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BY YVETTE C. HAMMETT

yhammett@tampatrib.com

Published: April 18, 2009

The Port of Tampa is planning and ready for future increases in container freight and doesn't need a massive distribution center proposed for South Shore, a port official said.

Rural residents and environmentalists oppose a California developer's plans to convert farm fields near Port Manatee into a huge center where container freight would be brought, then sent out by truck, ship or rail.

Most of the 388-acre site would be transformed into a 2.6 million-square-foot hub for port cargo, with the rest set aside for environmental preservation.

Proposed changes to Hillsborough County's land-use code and comprehensive plan that would put the multimodal center one step closer to approval are to go before the planning commission June 8 for a public hearing.

"The Tampa Port Authority does not believe the proposed facility will significantly enhance the Port of Tampa's ability to serve international container shipments through our region," Ram Kancharla, senior director of planning and development for the port, wrote in a letter to the commission.

Industrial land close to the port in Tampa is available for such uses, Kancharla said, and the port's master plan calls for limiting environmental impact.

The proposed site is bounded on three sides by land owned by the county and the state for environmental preservation.

Kancharla said the port authority already has invested in major infrastructure to support the increase in container freight coming into the port, and the transportation distribution center would require even more improvements in south Hillsborough County.

Some rural residents and environmentalists have expressed unease about building such an intense industrial park in one of the county's most rural areas.

Developer Richard Ellison, president of Inland Port Systems LLC of Orange County, Calif., said most of the truck traffic traveling to and from the facility would use the interstates.

If the planning commission approves changes, the land still must be rezoned from Agricultural Residential to Light Industrial and Preservation, requiring approval by the county commission.

Reporter Rich Shopes contributed to this report.

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