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Growth Plan Deal Pondered

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By GEORGE WILKENS

The Tampa Tribune

Published: May 21, 2008

PLANT CITY - Poised to adopt a master plan to guide development in and around the northeast part of the city, commissioners may try to strike a deal with Hillsborough County.

Reaching a joint planning agreement with the county could take a year or more - and some political savvy - city commissioners agreed during a May 12 special meeting to discuss the Northeast Plant City Area Master Plan.

The plan is designed to guide growth in an area of approximately 20 square miles, bordered roughly by Knights-Griffin Road to the north, County Line Road to the east and Paul Buchman Highway to the west and a few properties south of Interstate 4 and east of Park Road.

The plan is intended to help officials guide cohesive development and provide adequate public services in the northeast, expected to undergo tremendous growth in the coming 20 years.

Since 1995, Plant City's land area has expanded by 12 percent, and a majority of those 30 voluntary annexations that added 1,600 acres have occurred in the northeast sector in the past eight years, according to consultants.

The plan would allow 33,000 residential units clustered on 7,400 acres. The alternative, under current zoning, would allow 13,000 single-family houses haphazardly spaced throughout the area, consultants say.

Because two-thirds of the northeast study area is in unincorporated Hillsborough County, the city will seek county commission approval of a joint planning agreement.

City Commissioner Bill Dodson said implementing the plan may become as much of a political process as an administrative one. He suggested a workshop with county commissioners as the most methodical manner to discuss it.

"At the staff level, reception so far has been good," Assistant City Manager Gregory Horwedel said.

Adding that he cannot speak for county commissioners, he said he has "not seen any significant hurdles at this point" and remains cautiously optimistic.

"I believe the county will be open to these discussions" offered City Manager David Sollenberger.

The many political nuances of the plan will require face-to-face meetings, and hammering out an agreement "will take a considerable amount of time," possibly until the end of 2009, he added.

Scott Pringle of the Jacobs Carter Burgess firm hired as a consultant for the project, outlined $368 million in road improvements to minimize development impacts on I-4 and State Road 39, also known as Paul Buchman Highway.

The first phase carries a price tag of $195 million, not including right of way acquisition costs.

Recommended improvements include extending Park Road to Knights-Griffin Road and extending Midway Road to County Line Road and Paul Buchman Highway.

Consultants estimate the recommended roadway improvements will remove 5,000 to 17,000 vehicles daily from I-4 and S.R. 39.

"It is affordable," Horwedel said of the project. "The plan, I think, is financially feasible."

"I don't think we should be fearful. We should be energized," said Dodson, recalling the start of the project six years ago.

"We've been putting a lot of time into this, and I'm very pleased with the product," Commissioner Robert Brown said of the latest draft.

"If we do this right we're able to let the area grow without an adverse impact on the citizens of Plant City," Mayor Rick Lott said. "That's good growth."

Commissioners plan to adopt the plan within a month.

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

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