Article Courtesy of The Tampa
Tribune
By Geoff Fox
Published March 31, 2016
TAMPA — Plans for a 109-resident assisted living facility
have rankled residents living in a nearby Town ’N Country neighborhood.
During a charged community meeting Thursday at the Town ’N Country Regional
Public Library, residents said they were worried about flooding, increased
sinkhole activity and traffic, and the potential effects on property values and
wetlands.
The issue is expected to
be discussed during a Hillsborough County zoning hearing at 6
p.m. April 4.
Sharon Tischer-Cooper, a 43-year resident of the neighborhood
around Jackson Springs and Webb roads, said her neighbors
unleashed their anger and frustration on county officials and
the project developer during the meeting. “This has been done
very quietly,” she said. “We didn’t know about it until three
weeks ago. There was a teeny little sign saying the land was
being rezoned by so-and-so. It took us a while to find out what
it was about. “We live in a very established older neighborhood
of single-family homes, and that’s how it’s always been.” |
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About three-quarters of the project’s roughly 12-acre tract is wetlands.
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She said the project would lead to “200-something more
vehicles on our two-lane residential subdivision in and out all the time, on top
of existing traffic off Hillsborough Avenue.
“It’s a big problem,” she said. “We have sinkholes under our houses.”
Cooper also worried the building would be four stories high, which could lead to
privacy issues for those living nearby.
Steve Allison, a planning and zoning consultant representing the project’s
developer, Longboat Development LLC, said before the meeting that initial plans
called for a building “that had parking underneath and three stories above,” but
that plans are incomplete.
He said the developer would follow ordinances that govern wetlands and project
density. About three-quarters of the project’s roughly 12-acre tract is
wetlands. “There are ordinances that govern all that, and you comply with the
ordinance,” Allison said.
“If you can’t, you scale (the project) back. The ordinance says we are to
provide for our own retention and not alter the flow of water.
“That’s not an issue for us at this point in time.” Tom Hiznay, principal
planner for the county’s Development Services department, said for the project
to move forward, the area must be rezoned from residential to planned
development.
County commissioners will have the final say on the project.
Hiznay said the facility would be built on “the uplands” on the eastern portion
of the tract.
“The west end of the parcel abuts Webb Road. That’s the only road frontage the
site has,” he said.
Hiznay said developers have agreed to a 50-foot setback from the northern
property line, Jackson Springs Road. He said the facility could be two stories
toward the northern end, but taller “on the back portion.” “It should have a
residential appearance and a pitched roof,” he said.
Not much of what officials said Thursday seemed to placate angry residents,
Tischer-Cooper said. “The county and state keeps doing this to the Florida we
used to have,” she said.
“They don’t maintain the roads, then they keep building here, there and
everywhere, and putting all these things on two-lane roads so people can’t get
in and out. It’s felt by everybody.” |