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County to receive stimulus money

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By KEVIN WIATROWSKI

kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com

Published: November 14, 2009

Pasco County commissioners on Tuesday formally will accept a $4.2 million federal grant aimed at helping the county use energy more efficiently.

The money is coming from the federal government's economic stimulus program. Pasco County has through 2012 to spend the allocation.

Commissioners will set their energy efficiency plans in motion during the meeting, beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the historic Pasco County Courthouse in Dade City.

Commissioners struck a deal this year with T.A.C., a consulting firm that will be the conduit for the federal cash. The first step: perform an audit of the county's energy use, said Dan Johnson, assistant county administrator for public services. Johnson supervises the county's buildings.

Consultants have suggested changes in energy use could save cash-strapped Pasco up to $600,000 a year. The county now spends about $3 million a year heating and cooling buildings used by commissioners, courts, the sheriff's office and other elected officials.

A prime candidate for the federal money, Johnson said, is the aging air conditioner atop the old wing of the West Pasco Judicial Center in New Port Richey.

Beyond that, the energy audit will recommend changes that could range from switching light bulbs to installing solar panels.

Pasco isn't the only local government to qualify for energy-efficiency money. Hillsborough and Pinellas counties, Tampa and St. Petersburg qualified for a combined $17.5 million.

Also on Tuesday's agenda, commissioners will:

•Will hold the first of two public hearings on the recent request by the developers of Cypress Creek Town Center for a 10-year extension on the 2011 construction deadline for their 510-acre regional mall at Interstate 75 and State Road 56 in Wesley Chapel. The county's Development Review Committee granted the extension request last week. Commissioners must approve it as a change to their 5-year-old development agreement with mall officials.

•Will approve more than $2.6 million in damage payments to landowners along State Road 54 as part of the county's plans to widen the chronically congested highway next year between I-75 and Curley Road. The county has spent about $65 million on the project, making it one of the most expensive road projects Pasco County has undertaken. The payments on Tuesday's agenda include $1.7 million to the owners of the RaceTrac gas station just east of I-75 and more than $900,000 to the owners of a nearby Hess station.

Reporter Kevin Wiatrowski can be reached at (813) 731-8168.

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