Not simply because readers in surveys decry the media\u2019s tendency to minimize good news, but also because this latest bright sliver \u2013 for all its brain-numbing insider terminology \u2013 suggests encouraging developments ahead, This Space pauses today to recognize the meeting of reasonable minds on the future of new subdivisions in northeast Pasco County.<\/p>\n
How far we have come from the bleak and acrimonious days of Oakstead, when developers brandished Pasco\u2019s antiquated comprehensive land-use plan to beat the county over the head.<\/p>\n
In those days, just seven years ago, boardroom brinksmanship was required simply to prevent builders from burying 1,000 acres in pavement or erecting cracker box houses every 60 feet.<\/p>\n
Now, with its new and much improved land-use plan having become the law of the county, such threats are a thing of the past. In late September 1999, it took a stubborn new commissioner with real estate savvy to head off an out-and-out debacle in the heart of Pasco; subsequently, the Simon Compromise \u2013 for Steve Simon, then a second-year commissioner \u2013 expanded parklands, reduced housing densities and mandated a school site, becoming a substantial basis for the next generation of county land-use plans.<\/p>\n
Plan Flexes Without Folding<\/p>\n
The first test of the new guidelines emerged when a handful of worried landowners in northeast Pasco sued to prevent imposition of \u201cconservation subdivisions\u201d in their rural corner. Such a designation would have required residential developments of at least 100 acres to cluster houses on one-half of the available land if the builder sought a higher density than the law prescribes.<\/p>\n
Clarke Hobby,<\/strong>\u00a0a Tampa-based attorney for the landowners, claimed his clients were only seeking \u201csome flexibility with design.\u201d The county and others, including environmental uber activist Jennifer Seney, having spent countless hours crafting the plan, were rightly skeptical. But after more than a half-day of bargaining, county negotiators, Seney and the state Department of Community Affairs conceded Hobby\u2019s point of view \u2013 flexibility could be tolerated \u2013 knowing other unchallenged comp plan measures would prevent developer abuse.<\/p>\n As Seney told Tribune reporter Julia Ferrante, \u201cWhen I looked at the overall picture, I felt like I could live with it.\u201d<\/p>\n The alternative \u2013 proceeding with litigation \u2013 was the nonstarter. Seney imagined \u201cbusiness as usual\u201d under the old comp plan while the lawsuit played out, leading to overbuilt facts on the ground no judge\u2019s order could undo. That, Seney said, was \u201cunacceptable.\u201d Not so long ago, county concessions to developers and their attorneys exacerbated already disastrous conditions \u2013 choked roadways, overtaxed schools, stretched-thin emergency services. This concession did no more than allow builders to break one cluster into several, providing for a rearrangement of a certain number of houses on a certain number of acres.<\/p>\n This is, indeed, very good news, very hopeful news, providing evidence of sharp, menacing teeth where once there were only impotent gums.<\/p>\n In the overall picture, that\u2019s a development the whole county can live with. Not simply because readers in surveys decry the media\u2019s tendency to minimize good news, but also because this latest bright sliver \u2013 for all its brain-numbing insider terminology \u2013 suggests encouraging developments ahead, This Space pauses today to recognize the meeting of reasonable minds on the future of new subdivisions in northeast Pasco County. How […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":786,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/palmharborrvrentals.com\/hobbylaw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/palmharborrvrentals.com\/hobbylaw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/palmharborrvrentals.com\/hobbylaw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palmharborrvrentals.com\/hobbylaw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palmharborrvrentals.com\/hobbylaw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=199"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/palmharborrvrentals.com\/hobbylaw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":762,"href":"https:\/\/palmharborrvrentals.com\/hobbylaw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/199\/revisions\/762"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palmharborrvrentals.com\/hobbylaw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/palmharborrvrentals.com\/hobbylaw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palmharborrvrentals.com\/hobbylaw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/palmharborrvrentals.com\/hobbylaw\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPutting Bite On Enforcement<\/p>\n
\nTom Jackson can be reached at (813) 948-4219.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"