Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Zoning

House won't come easy

By ANDREW MEACHAM
Published January 6, 2006

LITHIA: Property owner Barbara Pierce wants to build a house north of Lithia Pinecrest Road off Bryant Road so she can live beside family members.

To do that, she needs a zoning change, from agricultural to agricultural with houses. Five houses sit on her property now. Adding another won't be routine.

The county in December introduced a zoning rule that limits new residences on some agricultural properties from one unit every acre to one unit every 5 acres.

A descendant of the Bryants, for which Bryant Road is named, Pierce and her relatives have owned the property since the 19th century, said Herb Hurlburt, who filed the application on Pierce's behalf.

"She's not trying to build a subdivision," Hurlburt said.

Hurlburt said the county originally recommended that Pierce apply as a planned development. Instead, he is requesting an exception to the new rule.

"There are times when common sense should apply over the rules," Hurlburt said.

The request goes to the zoning hearing master Jan. 18. (PETITION 06-0031)

THONOTOSASSA: The St. Francis Foundation, owner of an adoption center on St. Francis Lane, wants to expand the grounds and add services. If Everyday Blessings gets its rezoning request, from agricultural to a planned development, the current adoption center will gain 10 houses with six bedrooms each, 18 duplexes, a chapel, administration building, park and conference center, among other amenities.

The expanded facility would be called the Village at Everyday Blessings and would house foster care children as well as children who could be adopted. The center will offer housing in the duplexes to seniors who volunteer their time to the organization.

The program gets financial backing from the county, state, individuals and corporations.

If developers of the expanded Village at Everyday Blessings want to win approval, they will have to develop a conservation plan. The county's Natural Resources Department has objected to the proposal based on significant wildlife habitat and has called for a wildlife survey to determine the extent of gopher tortoises, burrowing owls, fox squirrels and other species.

The rezoning request goes to the zoning hearing master Jan. 17 and to the County Commission March 7. (PETITION 06-0038)

CORRECTION: Writers prefer to hand out information, but at times we have to take some of it back as well. A Dec. 23 column about a proposed development by Manatee Bay Associates in Ruskin gave the correct square footages for each unit, from 2,625 to 6,000 square feet. However, the article failed to make clear that those sizes refer to lot sizes, not houses.

The development, called Little Manatee Community, would result from a land swap in which developers gave a 78-acre parcel of environmentally sensitive land to the county, conditional on future zoning changes. The project goes to the zoning hearing master Jan. 17 and to the County Commission on March 7.

Andrew Meacham can be reached at 661-2431 or ameacham@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 5, 2006, 08:51:07]