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Apartment Complex Plan Rejected

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By TOM BRENNAN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 23, 2008

VALRICO - Despite winning the latest skirmish over a proposed apartment complex, residents aren't claiming victory.

They realize the true test will come in three weeks, when county commissioners weigh in on the project east of Albertson's plaza at Bloomingdale Avenue and Lithia-Pinecrest Road.

Members of the Hillsborough Planning Commission rejected the developer's attempt to change the county's comprehensive growth plan to accommodate the complex Jan. 14. There was only a single dissenter on the 10-member board, Hung T. Mai.

"While we are very happy with the planning commission vote, we still have to get as many people as we can to go before the county commission," said Kevin Dorsey, president of the Buckhorn Homeowners Association and the umbrella group - Valrico Organizations Interested In Controlled Expansion, or VOICE - that has been spearheading the opposition.
County commissioners are scheduled to hold a workshop on the proposal Thursday and vote on it at a public hearing Feb. 7. If ratified, it would go to the Florida Department of Community Affairs for additional review.

Crosland Development wants to build 268 apartments on 19.6 acres on the north side of Bloomingdale, behind the Albertson's shopping center. The conceptual plan calls for 9,600 square feet of retail space along Bloomingdale with apartments over the shops.

The first hurdle Crosland most clear is modifying the comprehensive growth plan. The company would later have to rezone the property.

Crosland threw residents a curve at the planning commission hearing when it seemed to make a last-minute modification. The developer originally wanted to increase the property's growth plan category to allow 16 units per acre, up from the four units permitted. The modification would allow 12 units per acre. Vincent Marchetti, Crosland's attorney, told planning commissioners his client would not oppose reducing allowable construction from 16 to 12 units per acre. He said the company wouldn't formally alter its request, but it would go along if planning commissioners wanted.

Planning commission rules would have forced Crosland to withdraw its request and resubmit a new proposal six months later if the developer made a formal change.

The maneuver drew the ire of residents and some planning commissioners.

"They were trying to manipulate the process," Dorsey said.

Commission chairman Bruce Curry called it a procedural ambush.

"You make a certain request. The staff does its work to make a judgment. The people make a judgment. Agencies make a judgment. And then on the day of the hearing you come in and then you ask for something else," Curry said. "It throws everything into disarray."

Commissioner Jerry King agreed.

"If we continue to ignore our own rules that we try to impose, how in the world can we expect our staff and the citizens to put any degree ... of reliability upon what we say or what we do?" he asked.
Marchetti defended the move.

"Staff felt more comfortable with it the 12 units per acre so we offered it up if they wanted to do that," he said.

The planning commission staff and county planners opposed the original request. County planners modified their report two days before the hearing, saying they would support 12 units per acre instead of 16.

The planning commission staff report also hinted that such a request would be more acceptable.

Steven Griffin, the lead commission planner, said staff did not review the modified request because Crosland did not submit it.
Marchetti said planning commissioners got hung up on the density change and ignored the project's merits. He said it is precisely the type of infill project the county growth plan appears to champion.

Even with the density reduction, Marchetti said, Crosland wouldn't reduce the number of apartments it wants to build.

"You have to generate X number of units to make this type project work," he said. He put that number at about 250.

The project drew unprecedented opposition before the planning commission. Residents sent more than 1,200 letters and e-mails voicing their disapproval and promised to continue the effort when the proposal progresses to the county commission.

"Residents have shown an unchanging desire to keep the area east of Lithia-Pinecrest single-family neighborhoods," said Ken Nailing, also of Buckhorn and another VOICE spokesman. "This has been a resounding response and awareness of what residents want and don't want in their neighborhood."

Reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at (813) 657-4528 or tbrennan@tampatrib.com.

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