SUMMERFIELD: Environmental concerns have caused a snag in plans for a 180-home subdivision in Summerfield.
In May, the owners of Southfork asked Hillsborough County officials to rezone 69 acres southwest of their property on U.S. 301 just south of Big Bend Road. The undeveloped land currently is zoned for one home per 5 acres and nine homes per acre.
The parcel's owners want a planned development zoning and proposed offsetting the impact of new homes by restoring parts of the Bullfrog Creek system.
But in December, the county division of natural resources objected to the rezoning request, noting in a report that the site is a significant wildlife habitat and the site plans did not meet preservation requirements outlined in the land development code.
Gopher tortoises call the land home, and the site has the potential to support three animals that frequent gopher tortoise burrows: the gopher frog, eastern indigo snake and the Florida mouse. Development of the land could also have a negative impact on Florida scrub jays, which have been seen within 3 miles of the parcel.
A zoning hearing official was originally scheduled to consider the rezoning request in August. But the hearing has been postponed several times while county officials and the developer negotiate a site plan that will adequately protect wildlife habitats.
A zoning official is now scheduled to consider the request April 7. (Petition 03-0978)
The Hillsborough County Commission approved the following rezoning requests at its land use meeting Tuesday.
THONOTOSASSA: A 5-acre parcel on the west side of Stark Road just north of Pruett Road was rezoned to allow for subdividing into 1-acre lots. Andrew Baker, a county zoning official, had recommended that the request be denied because the developer couldn't say whether mobile homes or conventional homes would go on the site. Commissioners overruled Baker's recommendation. (Petition 04-0364)
MANGO: Land use planners Burcaw and Associates got the okay to rezone 18 acres on the northwest corner of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard and Waring Drive for a planned development. Plans call for up to 195 townhomes on the parcel, which is in a no-impact fee zone previously zoned for six homes per acre. The land currently holds three vacant buildings. Surrounding land uses are agricultural and residential to the north, residential to the east, an office park to the south, and commercial and residential to the west. (Petition 03-1594)
SUN CITY: Commissioners rezoned 81 acres on the south side of Stephens road, half a mile west of Randh Road, for a planned development. Developers wants to put 16 single-family homes on 2-acre lots on the land, previously zoned for one home per 5 acres. Surrounding land uses are a golf course across Stephens Road to the north, agricultural land to the east and west, and undeveloped land to the south. (Petition 03-1601)
RUSKIN: A 47-acre parcel at the southeast corner of 12th Street NE and 11th Avenue NE was rezoned for planned development. Metro Development Group wants to build up to 236 single-family homes on the site. The land is split into three parcels by railroad tracks and 15th Street NE. One parcel was previously zoned for one home per 5 acres; the other two are approved for six homes per acre. (Petition 04-0068)
RUSKIN: Twenty-eight acres on the north side of Shell Point Road just east of 15th Street NE were rezoned for a planned development. The developer wants to build 125 single-family homes on the site, which previously was approved for 102 mobile homes. (Petition 04-0180)
RIVERVIEW: A 13-acre parcel on the south side of Hackney Drive 200 feet east of Krycul Avenue was modified to increase allowable building height from 20 to 35 feet and increase lot coverage from 35 to 50 percent. KB Homes plans up to 42 single-family homes there. (Petition 04-525)
When and where
Hearings of county zoning hearing masters and land use hearing officers, and land use meetings of the County Commission are held on the second floor of the County Center, 601 E Kennedy Blvd. All hearings before a zoning hearing master begin at 6 p.m. Mondays or Tuesdays; commission meetings begin at 9 a.m. the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month. Both are televised on government access channels. Land use hearing officer hearings, which are not televised, begin at 9 a.m. every third Friday. Basic information about each petition is available at www.hillsboroughcounty.org/pgm/zoning/hearings.html. For information, call 276-2058.
