Residents are baffled as to why the Pasco County Board of Commissioners seems to have little interest in honoring the County’s Comprehensive Plan for land use in the protected rural area. “To those of us who live in the rural area, it seems like why bother having a plan and spending millions of taxpayer dollars on reports and recommendations if you’re just going to ignore them,” said spokesperson Kelly Smith from nostjoervpark.com.
On January 8, 2022 The Pasco County Board of Commissioners will have their first hearing on the proposed RV Park at 1:30 pm at the historic Dade City Courthouse.
In 2008 and 2013, Pasco County hired the Urban Land Institute to provide recommendations for containing urban sprawl and creating sensible “smart-growth” objectives for the region. Centralizing growth into Urban Service Areas with a northern boundary at 52 and 1-75, the rural area (with a lower demand for services) helps ensure the county is not at risk for massive fiscal shortfalls. In 2013, with the development already planned, the Urban Land Institute warned the county that they were already oversaturated and projected a $14 BILLION shortfall at that time.
“We know that growth doesn’t pay for itself,” said Nancy Hazelwood of the Northeast Pasco Citizen’s Oversight Committee, “so continuing to override the protection of the rural area is setting the county up for disaster on multiple fronts and ruining the agricultural values and lifestyle of the area.”
The developer’s attorney and consultant have argued that the protections for lower density and commercial clusters in the rural area are negated by 1-75 running alongside the property; that the high volume of cars on 1-75 means that a high-density RV Park fits perfectly into the definitions of preserving the rural area’s character. The consultant who actually helped write the original protections while under contract to Pasco County, failed to note that in her original report. Now under contract to the developer, she is testifying that those protections have no merit because of the 1-75 corridor. Residents disagree. A scenic corridor has been implemented by the county in other locations with high traffic corridors and could be used here.
“This hillside is one of the first things people see when they enter Pasco County from the north; a hillside stuffed with RVs is hardly indicative of our rural community. Of course, our commissioner believes that rural means high density surrounded by trees…on land that his sister used to own,” said Lisa Moretti of nostjoervpark.com, “to me that doesn’t pass the sniff test. Early on the developer tried to get me to support the RV Park by offering to landscape my property, I don’t choose to betray my neighbors for some shrubbery.”
Residents have worked together to offer the commissioners a list of conditions for the developer if the board decides to move the project forward. “We think it’s justified to ask the developer to ensure that the roads are safe for cyclists, their water usage doesn’t force us all to have to redrill our wells, and the wildlife have a system of safe passage through the area – if they are going to get this gem in the middle of our rural area, it’s not absurd to ask for them to at least provide some protections,” concluded Ms. Smith.
Media Contact: Kelly Smith 813-716-8454 https://nostjoervpark.com