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Meeting on horse farm zoning set Thursday
By ANNE LINDBERG, Times Staff Writer PINELLAS PARK -- The final phase in the dismantling of one of the area's last horse farms will begin Thursday when a city board considers a zoning change that would allow apartments and houses to be built on the property. No matter what the Planning and Zoning Commission does, the eventual approval from the City Council is considered a certainty. In order to annex the property, the city promised the zoning change among other enticements. Developer Roger Broderick wants to build 130 apartments and 16 estate-style homes at Millbrooke Station Stables, 5400 62nd Ave. N. Each home would have enough acreage to put a horse in the backyard. Also proposed are a mini-riding trail around the subdivision and a trail around the perimeter of a 10-acre city-owned tract that abuts Millbrooke. The development would require adding a left-turn lane to the intersection of 58th Street and 62nd Avenue N, said Tom Shevlin, Pinellas Park's director of zoning. The intersection widening is calculated to answer neighbors' concerns about increased traffic along 62nd, a street that already is heavily traveled. The intersection change alone, Shevlin said, "will be of significant benefit to the community." The Millbrooke rezoning has gained attention from horse owners and neighbors who do not want to see the land changed and from neighbors who objected to Pinellas Park's recent annexation of the property. Once a mecca for horses and horse lovers, Pinellas Park and the mid-county area have seen many large stables disappear as development has taken over pristine land. As barns have closed, horse owners have found it more difficult to board their horses. At one public meeting concerning Millbrooke, a boarder said she had called all the barns in Pinellas Park and found only six open stalls. Some of the 50 or so horses that boarded at Millbrooke have been moved to Oldsmar or Manatee and Hillsborough counties. Forty horses still remain on the Millbrooke property and it's unclear where they might end up. It's also unclear when those horses will finally have to move. Shevlin said developers still will have at least two months of work after any final zoning approval before they can get all the necessary permits. And, it's possible, he said, that Broderick could begin construction on the residential estates first. The Millbrooke barn then might remain open longer than first thought. The annexation cut unincorporated Lealman in two, effectively preventing that area from becoming one large city as some activists had envisioned. Lealman activists complained about the deal that Pinellas Park brokered with Broderick: The Council waived $74,100 in development fees as well as the cost to purchase, install and connect 18 water meters and other equipment to the houses and apartment complex -- an additional $5,870 benefit to Broderick. The city also used its own property next door in calculating the density of housing that could be built on the Millbrooke property, hence Broderick could build more than he might normally have been allowed. The Planning and Zoning Commission, composed of of Pinellas Park citizens, is not bound by any prior agreement between the city and the developer, but the board's decision is only a recommendation. City Council will make the final decision. That hearing is scheduled for June 27 in City Hall. If you goThe Pinellas Park Planning and Zoning Commission will consider changing the zoning on a horse boarding stable from farm to residential. The commission meeting, which is open to the public, is 7:30 p.m. Thursday in the Pinellas Park City Hall, 5141 78th Ave. N.
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From the Times South Pinellas desks |
