Port says it doesn't need South Shore distribution center

The Port of Tampa is already planning and ready for future increases in container freight and doesn't need a massive distribution center proposed for South Shore, a port official said.

Rural residents and environmentalists vehemently oppose a California developer's plans to convert farm fields near Port Manatee into a huge center where container freight would be brought and redistributed, then sent out by truck, ship or rail.

Most of the 388-acre site would be transformed into a 2.6 million square-foot hub for port cargo and the remainder set aside for environmental preservation.

Proposed changes to Hillsborough County's land-use code and comprehensive plan that would put the center one step closer to approval are scheduled to go before the Planning Commission June 8 for a public hearing.

"The Tampa Port Authority does not believe the proposed facility will significantly enhance the Port of Tampa's ability to serve international container shipments through our region," Ram Kancharla, senior director of planning and development for the port, wrote in a letter to the Planning Commission.

Industrial lands close to the port in Tampa are available for such uses, Kancharla said, and the port's master plan calls for limiting impacts on environmental lands. Plans for the distribution center are inconsistent with that goal, he said.

The land is surrounded on three sides by land owned by the county and the state for environmental preservation.

Kancharla said the Port Authority already has invested in major infrastructure to support the increase in container freight coming into the port, and the transportation distribution center would require even more improvements in south Hillsborough County.

Kancharla also said plenty of industrial land is available in and around Tampa to support cargo from the port.

Some rural residents and environmentalists have expressed unease about building such an intense industrial park in one of the county's most rural areas. Increased traffic and impact on environmental lands are of major concern.

Developer Richard Ellison, president of Inland Port Systems LLC of Orange County, Calif., said most of the truck traffic traveling to and from the facility would use the interstate highway system, not local roadways.

The distribution center would be built on land long sought by the county and state for environmental restoration. Ellison said he is prepared to turn over a portion of it for preservation.

Even if the plan gets the needed changes to the comprehensive plan, it must be rezoned from Agricultural Residential to Light Industrial and Preservation, requiring approval by the county commission.