TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Residents Hear About Industrial Park

ADVERTISEMENT

By RAY REYES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 16, 2008

PLANT CITY - If all goes according to a developer's plans, more than 1,200 acres adjacent to the demolished Coronet Industries phosphate factory will soon be home to a bustling industrial park with a mix of retail stores, recreational fields and workforce housing.

That was the scenario presented by developer Steven Schafer to residents during a town hall meeting Jan. 9 at Hillsborough Community College's Plant City campus.

Schafer, the president of Michigan-based Schafer Development, said his proposed industrial park south of U.S. 92 and east of Park Road would be worth about $800 million at its maximum build-out. The cluster of light industry, offices and warehouse distribution centers will become "a huge tax base for Plant City" and will create hundreds of jobs, Schafer said.

Highlights of the developer's plan include:

•A total of 3.2 million square feet of buildings. Building heights would be limited to two stories.

•A landfill on the property last used in the 1960s will be capped, and eight recreational fields will be built on top of it. Schafer will build the fields, but the city would maintain them.

•About 60,000 square feet is reserved for what Schafer called neighborhood retail, which could include a doctor's office, sandwich shop, dry cleaners and day care services for the employees of the industrial park. It would not include "big box" stores such as Wal-Mart, Schafer said.

•Land will be set aside to build homes or apartments for employees to make it easier for individuals and families to adjust to a new area, Schafer said.

•Improvements to main access roads such as U.S. 92, Park and Coronet roads and Henderson Way are in the works. Schafer Development is also seeking to upgrade railroad crossings. Some rails through the property have only crossing signs, and Schafer said he would like to install automated gates to increase safety.

Residents seemed impressed with Schafer's presentation.

"It's workable," Springhead resident John Weatherholt said. "It's a given the land will be developed. I'd rather see this type of development than thousands of homes."
Weatherholt was referring to Lakeside Station, the proposed subdivision of 2,600 homes and commercial development that was approved by the city in 2004. It would have had more houses than Walden Lake.

Sunrise Homes, the developer of Lakeside Station, has abandoned the project. Spokesman Bob Appleyard cited the subdivision's "sheer scale" and the downturn in the housing market as factors that stalled and ultimately derailed Lakeside Station.
Schafer said he is in negotiations with Sunrise Homes to buy the property and have ownership transferred to Schafer Development. Schafer is also seeking a special designation for the land through Florida's Brownfields Redevelopment Act.

The state statute describes brownfields as land that "may be complicated by actual or perceived environmental contamination." The designation would give Schafer Development liability protection while offering incentives to attract companies to build and create jobs on brownfield sites.

"We, as new land owners, don't want to be held responsible for the former owner's past deeds," Schafer told the 18 residents who attended last week's meeting.

The site includes old phosphate land, but Schafer said he does not think the soil is contaminated. There are traces of heavy metals in the groundwater, Schafer said, but businesses and dwellings in the proposed industrial park will tap into municipal water. There also will be deed-restrictions against drilling wells on the property.

Coronet's phosphate factory opened in 1908 and closed in 2004. Area residents and former employees claimed the factory caused illnesses and declining property values. A lawsuit filed by hundreds of residents and former employees is pending. Coronet officials maintain that the phosphate facility did not harm public health, and officials have found no health threat.

The Jan. 9 meeting was the first in a series of three that Schafer would need to get brownfield status for the land. Another is scheduled for 6 p.m. Jan. 28 at the Trinkle center of HCC's Plant City campus, 1206 N. Park Road, and the third will be held at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 11 during the city commission's regularly scheduled meeting at city hall, 302 W. Reynolds St.

Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 865-4433 or rreyes@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT