By the way, Dibbs contributed to the election campaigns of Hagan, Norman and White. He also contributed to Sharpe's campaign, however Sharpe clearly is more interested in the people's concerns rather than the developers.
According to Mike Salinero of the Trib:
"But commissioners allowed a last-minute continuance of another bid to breach the county's growth boundary, a move that angered 50 or more citizen activists who traveled from far-flung areas of the county to oppose the development on Lutz-Lake Fern Road near the Suncoast Parkway.
Both developments require first changing the county's growth plan to extend water and sewer lines into areas normally reserved for rural development.
Developer Stephen Dibbs, who was not at the meeting, sent a letter this week to the commission asking for a delay on his proposal for a 36.6-acre development on Lutz-Lake Fern Road and Suncoast Parkway.
Dibbs wants to increase the density on his property tenfold, from one house per 5 acres to two houses per acre, and build a shopping center.
The continuance was the second granted by the commissioners this month after dozens of residents turned out to fight growth plan amendments that would push high-density development into rural areas.
"They're making a mockery of this process," said Kelly Cornelius, who then turned to the audience and asked, "Who else is tired of these continuations?" The crowd answered with a roar.
Dibbs also withdrew a proposed plan amendment that would have removed 305 acres from the Keystone-Odessa Community Planning area. The land includes the 36 acres he wants to develop. The community plan restricts development to one house per five acres.
Commissioner Rose Ferlita, who didn't arrive at the meeting until after the vote to give Dibbs the continuance, asked chairman Ken Hagan to hold the vote again so she could record her disapproval.
The vote was held again, with Ferlita and Mark Sharpe voting no.
"I think this has been done before, and it ... beats down our citizens," Ferlita said.
On Feb. 7, the commission continued another proposed amendment to extend the urban service area to allow a mixed-use development with 174 homes near Gunn Highway and Van Dyke road."
1 comment:
We need to start taking photos now of what Lutz and Odessa look like, because if developers like Dibb's get their way, and government seems bent on letting that happen, we will have a hard time remembering what rural Florida looked like. I'm a fourth generation Floridian and I struggle to keep my childhood memories of Florida alive. There are so few areas left that even come close to resembling those memories. I drive down these once country roads and try to burn images of cow pastures, orange groves, and farm houses into my brain.
Post a Comment