TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Residents Speak Against Rezoning

ADVERTISEMENT

By JOYCE McKENZIE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 1, 2007

Updated: 11/29/2007 07:22 pm

TEMPLE TERRACE - A contingent of half a dozen people from greater Temple Terrace left the Frederick B. Karl County Center in Tampa on Monday with the satisfaction of knowing they had spoken their minds, albeit realizing their voices may not carry much weight.

They were among those who, during a zoning hearing master meeting, spoke out in opposition to the rezoning of 49.5 acres of wooded land between Temple Terrace Highway and Harney Road abutting Davis Road for a mixed-use project.

The development would have 250,000 square feet of commercial space, four 6,500-square-foot out parcels and 200 multifamily residential units. It would include Kohl's and The Home Depot, as well as two unspecified fast-food eateries, a sit-down restaurant and a bank.

On the other side of the issue was lawyer Gina Grimes, who was seeking the recommendation of county zoning officer John Crislip to change the zoning designation on property owned by Citrus Assets, the company she was representing.

It had been part of the 100-acre tree farm owned by the Doris C. Harvey Marital Deduction Trust and property on which Wal-Mart in 2005 sought to rezone 39.4 acres for a store but later withdrew its request.

StreetSide Developers, which hopes to build the StreetSide at Temple Terrace development, hired transportation consultant Michael Raysor, who conducted three traffic analyses for the project. He said the project could generate more than 22,000 vehicles a day along that stretch of Temple Terrace Highway, a finding he said met the county's level-of-service standards.

"Many of the intersections also met the county's level-of-service standards, and those that would not operate at similar levels of service would not become worse," he said.

The county's planning and growth management staff has recommended adding turn lanes, at the developer's expense, to Temple Terrace Highway, Davis Road and Harney Road.

That doesn't make the developer's petition any more appealing to its opponents.

"My understanding is that when Wal-Mart wanted to get in there, they predicted 10,000 trips per day, and this project predicts nearly 23,000. The city of Temple Terrace is just about that many people," said William Smalley, a Temple Terrace resident whose business office is on Temple Terrace Highway. "Our roads cannot support this."

Yvonne Lombardo, who lives in the Temple Oaks community about a mile from the projected development, agreed.

"I'm concerned about the traffic on Davis Road from my subdivision, as well as other subdivisions whose only access in and out is Davis Road," Lombardo said. "Davis Road is primarily a residential road and, in my mind, there's virtually no way Davis Road could be widened" from two lanes.

Yolanda Clifton, who submitted 60 signatures from neighbors opposed to the development, said the density of the project is too great for the community.

"There are tons of retail sites with empty spaces," she said, citing one as the Sweetbay Plaza at the southeast corner of Temple Terrace Highway and Davis Road. "How can we build new places when we can't fill what we have?"

Davis Road resident Patricia Weick is concerned about the safety of children who board school buses in front of her home. She equated the space between the sidewalk and the roadway to that of the width of the 3-foot-wide lectern where she stood.

"The traffic on this road in the morning is terrible," she said. "We're trying to keep our road a residential road, and we don't need that kind of thing in our area. Put the shopping center on U.S. 301."

While the development would be outside the city limits, Grimes pointed out that the Temple Terrace city staff recommended approval of the project on the condition that its exterior complies with the city's Mediterranean-style design guidelines and that it use wrought-iron fencing and coordinated signage throughout the project.

It also requests there be no loading or unloading of trucks between the hours of 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. and that the developer provides a 12-foot paved pedestrian/bicycle trail that connects Harney Road and Temple Terrace Highway within the buffer along the west side of the project.

The county planning and growth management staff and planning commission staff have recommended approval of the project, providing there is a right-in-only entrance and right-out-only exit at Temple Terrace Highway, two entrance/exits along Davis Road and one entrance/exit on Harney Road.

Crislip will forward his opinions to Hillsborough County commissioners, who are expected to vote on the issue during their Jan. 8 public meeting.

Reporter Joyce McKenzie can be reached at (813) 865-4849 or jmckenzie@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT