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Lacoochee Revival Proposed

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com

Published: February 7, 2009

DADE CITY - Pasco County Commissioner Ted Schrader will ask his fellow commissioners next week to spend more than $2 million on a plan for redeveloping Lacoochee, a troubled community in far northeastern Pasco County.

Schrader, who represents eastern Pasco, wants to use what remains of $13 million in federal development funds spent upgrading the Tommytown area north of Dade City to begin work on a revitalization plan for Lacoochee. The area was a once-thriving community that most recently gained notoriety as the site of the 2003 slaying of Pasco County sheriff's Capt. Charles "Bo" Harrison.

Schrader will raise the issue when commissioners meet at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the historic Pasco County Courthouse, 37918 Meridian Ave., in Dade City.

In 2007, Dade City-based Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative took over service in Lacoochee and began upgrading the infrastructure in hopes of luring more growth.

"We hope to improve the quality of life out there," Withlacoochee spokesman David Lambert said Friday.

The power company is working with Saint Leo University to determine how to help Lacoochee rebound, Lambert said.

Lacoochee's boosters say the area's trump card for redevelopment is the sprawling industrial site formerly home to the Cummer Sons Cypress Co. sawmill. The property is owned by Lake City-based Columbia Grain, which uses the property's rail spur to import and export corn.

"The Columbia Grain site is critical," Schrader said. "It makes this different from any other redevelopment in Pasco County."

Twice last year, potential tenants visited the industrial property only to be put off by the poor-quality roads to and from the site, according to the Pasco Economic Development Council.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 948-4201.

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