The developers of the former SunWest Mine in northwest Pasco County won one more approval from county commissioners today, despite the objections of residents of nearby Aripeka.
County commissioners, sitting as the Local Planning Agency, approved plans for SunWest Harbortowne, a proposed resort project that would take advantage of the lake created by years of limerock mining a short distance from the Gulf of Mexico.
The proposal must pass a review by the state's Department of Community Affairs before commissioners can finalize their deal with SunWest's developers.
The developers want the county to revise its comprehensive plan so they can transform their 1,076-acre site from a mix of industrial and high-density residential land into a resort.
The developers have proposed putting 2,500 homes, an 18-hole golf course, as many as 500 hotel rooms and 300,000 square feet of office and retail space on the property, at the southwest corner of U.S. 19 and Aripeka Road.
The project has stirred controversy among Aripeka residents and environmentalists because the property is at the southernmost end of black bear habitat stretching north to the Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge in Citrus County. Environmentalists fear the project will interfere with the bears as they move back and forth through their territory.
The development proposal comes with a deal with the Southwest Florida Water Management District to swap 90 acres of upland near U.S. 19 and Aripeka Road for more than 1,200 acres of coastal wetland along the Gulf of Mexico.
Water district officials supported the swap because the 90-acre site would have become difficult to manage as it became surrounded by development. The swap depends on SunWest officials winning approval for their development plan.
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