TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Developer Drops Subdivision Plans

ADVERTISEMENT

By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com

Published: January 7, 2009

DADE CITY - The developers of Berry Hill Estates, a controversial subdivision proposed for land west of Dade City, abruptly pulled out Tuesday after one county commissioner called the latest revision of the project "junk."

The sudden withdrawal put an end - for now - to a project that outraged its neighbors, even as the developers tried to find a balance between county demands for conservation and their own need to break even on their investment.

During Tuesday's public hearing, the developers faced a laundry list of last-minute, county-mandated changes to the 402-acre project. The developers' spokesman, Michael Holbrook, complained that the developers would need to think about the implications of those changes.

"As far as some of the stuff has been read into the record, we're not ready to go forward with that," Holbrook said.

The developers stuck by their original request for 266 homes on the property. This time, though, they offered a redesigned concept plan for the project that included more open space but only half-acre and one-acre lots.

Earlier designs had included a mix of lots, from a quarter-acre to as much as 10 acres - much to the chagrin of neighbors, who decried the project as a finger of suburbia jutting into rural northeast Pasco.

The redesign didn't sit well with county commissioners, either, several of whom had voiced concerns about the project in the past.
Commissioner Ted Schrader, who represents the area, noted that the plan looked more like a standard suburban subdivision than like the conservation subdivision the developers originally set out to mimic.

The county created the conservation subdivision designation at the urging of northeast Pasco residents as a way to allow development in the area while preserving its open spaces.

But it was Commissioner Michael Cox who slammed the door on the project.

"I think this is junk," he told Holbrook. "You keep going back to the point that you need 266 for it to be economically feasible. That's not our problem."

After a few minutes of back and forth with commissioners, Holbrook consulted briefly with his client and then stepped to the microphone: "On behalf of my client, we withdraw our application," he said.

Cheers went up from the dozen or so opponents who have become a fixture at every public hearing on the subdivision since it was proposed.

"The board upheld the language of the comprehensive plan," said Noah Kaaa, who lives on Platt Road at the northern edge of the Berry Hill property.

For opponents, Tuesday's sudden change came as vindication.

"They looked at the same faces time and time again," Kaaa said of county commissioners. "They hear all the concerns."

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

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT