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Commission OKs Development Of Tract

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By GEORGE WILKENS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: July 23, 2008

PLANT CITY - City commissioners have approved a comprehensive plan amendment to allow development of the 1,009-acre Cone-Graham tract.

The property, situated between Wilder and Charlie Taylor roads, just south of Knights-Griffin Road, was annexed into the city in early 2007, with plans for a mixed-use development of commercial property and up to 2,400 houses. The development would be one of the city's largest subdivisions.

Development could be two years away.

Anticipating most voluntary annexation requests will come from that area, the city has adopted a Northeast Master Plan, which planners say can accommodate the Cone-Graham acreage, now mostly pastureland.

Opponents at the hearing included a local activist questioning the longevity of the Cone-Graham effort and a spokeswoman for a national environmental group.

Charlotte Butler-Nelson, president of the recently organized Alliance of Rural Citizens, urged commissioners to closely scrutinize concerns raised by the state Department of Community Affairs, such as the development's impact on roads and the rural neighborhood.

The state agency reviews amendments to the comprehensive plan, which is used to guide long-range growth.

"I'm really bothered that this comprehensive plan amendment is coming around for the third time," she said, referring to the proposed amendment deferred during previous cycles of comprehensive plan amendments.

Questioning whether the Northeast Master Plan "is a ruse to cover up some other type of agenda," she said roads, other infrastructure and water are not in place to serve a community of the size proposed.

Bev Griffiths of Riverview, chairwoman of the Bay area's Sierra Club, suggested incompatibility produced the delays.

"There must be something wrong," she said. "It sounds like you're trying to fit a square peg into a round hole.

"It's going to create urban sprawl. There are going to be serious transportation impacts."

If the project is approved, it should include a buffer along which wildlife can safely move and ensure relocation of gopher tortoises, she added.

Frazier Lane resident Marcia Spivey said the area is rich with not only tortoises, but also foxes, hawks and coyotes.

"I'm here to speak for these animals that have no voice," she said.

Attorney David Smith, representing the developer, said the delays were to allow time to respond to the community affairs department and Florida Department of Transportation, which had concerns about the project's impact on Interstate 4 traffic. Additionally, he said, county planners said it would be premature until Plant City adopted the Northeast Master Plan.

In the end, commissioners unanimously approved the amendment, which was revised to accommodate mixed residential-commercial development consistent with the Northeast Master Plan.

Some at the July 14 public hearing also objected to two smaller and unrelated proposed projects, but a decision on those will be delayed until later this year, commissioners decided.

The proposed amendments the commission delayed voting on are:

•A proposal to change the permitted use on 177 acres south of I-4 along the east and west frontage of Charlie Taylor Road, from residential, commercial and natural preservation to industrial.

•A proposal to change the permitted use on 40 acres south of I-4 along the southeast corner of South Frontage and Son Keen roads, from residential to mixed use residential/commercial.

Both were delayed until the second cycle for proposed amendment, with no specific date, but no later than the last commission meeting of the year, Dec. 8.

Reporter George Wilkens can be reached at (813) 865-4433 or gwilkens@tampatrib.com.

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