Crossing the line for energy

Hillsborough officials and planners have been wise to reject ill-advised attempts to expand the urban service boundary to allow new housing developments on rural land.

Strict enforcement of the boundary is beginning to work to stop sprawl and save tax dollars. That's why Monday's decision by the Hillsborough City-County Planning Commission to stretch the boundary on State Road 60 east of Brandon is significant.

Under the proposal, the site of the old Sydney Phosphate Mine, just south of S.R. 60 between Dover and Turkey Creek roads, would become a 3,000-acre, $1 billion energy park.

The small expansion eastward makes sense on several levels. It won't cause additional residential sprawl, it helps create permanent jobs, it will require no new public roads and it doesn't threaten nearby neighborhoods. And if the developer's plans work as advertised, the park would make a big addition to the county's production of renewable energy.

It's a new concept, but the anchor technologies are beyond experimental. Ponds would be used to grow algae, and the algae would be harvested to be processed into biofuel. Fish also would be raised on site.

Energy would be extracted from garbage and wood scraps in a process called gasification. The carbon dioxide produced would be piped into the ponds to feed the algae, so no smokestack would be needed.

Solar panels would be erected to turn sunlight into electricity, and wind turbines might be added to generate more power.

The site also would have offices for research and education. State and federal incentives would help the energy projects get started, and the concentration of activities would be a magnet for innovative new firms.

An estimated 600 new energy-related jobs would be created within easy access of population centers in Brandon and Plant City.

Some of the neighbors are unhappy with the change, which can be expected to increase truck traffic on S.R. 60. But recycling wastes near where they are collected could reduce the total truck traffic in eastern Hillsborough. The site is adequately buffered, so neighborhoods should be protected.

Other opponents fear that any crack in the growth boundary would lead to future industrial and residential expansions along S.R. 60.

That is unlikely to happen. No residential housing would be permitted in the energy park itself.

To the west is the urban service area, where residential growth is already allowed, but growth there remains limited to what is compatible with existing neighborhoods. The energy park is no threat to bring change to the west.

Immediately to the east is a county park, and beyond that is agricultural land, with scattered rural homes - just the sort of land the urban boundary is designed to protect.

The developer would pay to have water and sewer extended to the energy park, but it will not extend farther east. It will be no easier to win approval for growth there than in any other area outside the edge of the growth zone.

To avoid the possibility that the energy theme will be abandoned and replaced with something less desirable, planners wisely created a new land-use category called "energy industrial park." It fits this specific use and little else.

Several other proposals for the former mine have been rejected because they were residential and would represent a clear break in the urban boundary. The proposed Infinitus Renewable Energy Park is a much more desirable development.

The proposed change goes before the county commission April 8. It merits approval.