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Brandon's Proposed Community Plan To Debut

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE

dlwhite@tampatrib.com

Published: March 25, 2009

BRANDON - Should Brandon have estate-size lots or city-style lots with homes built close to the roads?

Should roads remain rural or include urban amenities such as sidewalks, streetlights, benches and bus shelters?

Should developers be asked to conform to certain architectural standards, or should they be allowed to build whatever style of building they want?

These are just a few of the questions members of the Brandon Community Plan steering committee have been struggling with for 18 months as they put together a proposed guide for the community's future.

Residents will have an opportunity to view the committee's work and make suggestions of their own when the Hillsborough County Planning & Growth Management Department and the steering committee present an open house on the Brandon Community Plan from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Brandon Regional Service Center, 311 Pauls Drive.

The Brandon plan is among two-dozen community plans, overlay districts and special districts that have been drawn up in communities throughout Hillsborough County since 1998 to address growth, development, transportation and environmental issues.

A similar plan is under way in the Seffner-Mango area.

Once completed, the plans will be incorporated into the county's land-use plan used to make land-use and zoning decisions.

Brandon resident and civic activist Lisa Rodriguez is among a dozen residents who have attended the monthly steering-committee meetings.

"I've been disappointed that more people haven't turned out for the meetings," she said. "Hopefully, they will be interested enough to come to the open house and ask questions. After all, this is the plan that will shape our community for years to come."

Valrico resident George May, also a faithful steering-committee member, echoed Rodriguez' sentiments about the light turnout at the monthly meetings. He said it's something he experienced before as a member of a committee that helped put together the State Road 60 overlay district and the Brandon Main Street Plan.

"We're coming up with ideas to make our community a better place to live," he said. "We really need everyone's input."

"We'll go to the public open house and get feedback on what we've done and then come back and do some serious tweaking," said county executive planner William Lamboy.

For the most part, Lamboy said, residents attending the steering-committee meetings have been in agreement. They want to preserve Brandon's small-town atmosphere by encouraging new development with family-friendly design.

They've outlined seven goals.

The first is to designate districts including Urban Center, Urban General, Suburban Small Lot, Suburban Large Lot, Semi-Rural and Light Industrial.

Within those districts, the committee recommended design characteristics. For instance, the Urban Center Zone would have commercial and mixed-used development with rear-yard or courtyard buildings fronted with arcades, awnings and balconies. Parking would be on the street or in back.

The Suburban Large-Lot Zone would be limited to single-family homes of half an acre to 1 acre.

Another goal is to identify and create new activity centers that have a half-mile walking radius. These would include a downtown center in the Urban Center, along with the Brandon Main Street that already has been approved, town centers in the Urban General Zones, village centers in the Suburban Small-Lot and Large-Lot zones, and hamlets in the Semi-Rural Zones.

The plan also calls for connecting bus and light-rail services and identifying roads that need to be widened and intersections that need to be improved.

May, who headed the transportation subcommittee, said his committee backs more north-south routes and proposed that the county investigate widening Parsons Avenue north to Interstate 4. His committee also suggested completing the Gornto Lake Road extension through the Westfield Brandon mall and conducting a transportation study for improvements to Valrico Road.

In addition, the committee has proposed that the county consider taking Bloomingdale Avenue off the county's truck route plan and relocate the truck route to Boyette Road and FishHawk Boulevard when those roads are widened to four lanes.

Then, the committee would like the county to develop a Bloomingdale Overlay District similar to the overlay district it developed for Brandon Boulevard.

The committee also says it is important to preserve historic structures, protect the environment and environmentally sensitive areas, and acquire properties to create connected parks and preserves. In addition, the committee would like to set landscape guidelines that encourage the use of native, drought-tolerant plantings.

Finally, committee members also would like to create urban design and architectural design standards in Brandon, eliminating the helter-skelter architectural styles apparent along Brandon Boulevard. The committee would like to see uniformity in setbacks, building heights, facades, parking, signage, lighting and style.

Once the plan is adopted by the county commission, Lamboy said it will be up to the community to ensure that it's properly implemented.

THE WORK IN PROGRESS

• Residents can see the committee's work and make suggestions when the Hillsborough County Planning & Growth Management Department and the steering committee present an open house on the Brandon Community Plan from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Brandon Regional Service Center, 311 Pauls Drive.

• For information, contact county executive planner William Lamboy at (813) 276-8337 or lamboyw@hillsboroughcounty.org.

• An overview of the plan is available at www.hccommunity planning.com/brandoncommunity/.

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524.

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