The Big Story: Mixed signals on Hillsborough sprawl
February 29th, 2008 by Wayne Garcia in Issues & Wonky Shit, Politics, Tampa Bay PoliticsIt ain’t sexy stuff to write about Hillsborough County’s urban services boundary, but the imaginary line that is supposed to contain suburban sprawl around Florida cities is important nonetheless. Around these parts, it is under assault:
[Hillsborough County] Commissioners allowed a last-minute continuance of another bid to breach the county’s growth boundary, a move that angered 50 or more citizen activists who traveled from far-flung areas of the county to oppose the development on Lutz-Lake Fern Road near the Suncoast Parkway.
Developer Stephen Dibbs, who was not at the meeting, sent a letter this week to the commission asking for a delay on his proposal for a 36.6-acre development on Lutz-Lake Fern Road and Suncoast Parkway.
Dibbs wants to increase the density on his property tenfold, from one house per 5 acres to two houses per acre, and build a shopping center.
The continuance was the second granted by the commissioners this month after dozens of residents turned out to fight growth plan amendments that would push high-density development into rural areas.
“They’re making a mockery of this process,” said Kelly Cornelius, who then turned to the audience and asked, “Who else is tired of these continuations?” The crowd answered with a roar.
That’s the Trib’s account. The Times downplayed the vote and didn’t mention the dissension:
Commissioners were scheduled to vote on two other controversial amendments, but hours earlier, developer Stephen J. Dibbs withdrew his request to remove 305 acres from the Keystone-Odessa Community Plan, which governs growth in the northwest Hillsborough community, and asked commissioners to postpone until 2009 considering a proposed denser development near Lutz-Lake Fern Road and the Suncoast Parkway.
Dibbs is particularly well connected to the commissioners, raising thousands of dollars in commission races and serving on host committees for high-powered fund-raising events. He just missed making my list of 10 “Money Men” in 2006, raising a litle more than $10,000 for county candidates (including 6 of the 7 current county commissioners — Ken Hagan, Mark Sharpe, Jim Norman, Al Higginbotham, Kevin White and Brian Blair) since 2002.
The only person he didn’t give to was Commissioner Rose Ferlita:
Commissioner Rose Ferlita, who didn’t arrive at the meeting until after the vote to give Dibbs the continuance, asked chairman Ken Hagan to hold the vote again so she could record her disapproval.
The vote was held again, with Ferlita and Mark Sharpe voting no.
“I think this has been done before, and it … beats down our citizens,” Ferlita said.
Dibbs was also the driving force behind a move to gut the county’s environmental protections for wetlands.
So let’s face it; it’s hard to say no to a guy who has raised thousands of dollars for you. And that’s why our urban services boundary is susceptible to change and further sprawl.
On the upside, commissioners did vote 6-0 against extending the growth boundary out east of Tampa, along I-4, when they turned down a request by an Orlando company that wants to build an industrial park:
Orlando’s M.L. Carter development wanted a land use change on 94 acres near I-4 and McIntosh Road. Representatives of the developer said that was the perfect spot for an industrial park and could draw high-paying jobs to Hillsborough.
“The county’s missing many opportunities,” attorney Vincent Marchetti said.
But commissioners said they wanted to wait for the county staff to complete its study of the I-4 corridor.
About 20 people spoke against M.L. Carter’s proposal, which they said would jeopardize the county’s rural communities.
“This is absolutely outrageous that you would even consider this,” said Terry Flott, president of the Seffner Community Alliance.
The commission voted 6-0 against the land-use change. Commissioner Kevin White left before the vote.
I don’t find any record of the Orlando firm contributing to county commission races, but its attorney, Vin Marchetti, is a major local donor, contributing more than $12,000 in city and county elections. He has donated $7,000 total to all seven current county commissioners.
So is the lesson the Hillsborough County Commission can’t be bought with campaign contributions? Or that contributions from a developer carry more weight than those from a land-use lawyer?
(I’m going to post a spreadsheet of Dibbs’ and Marchetti’s campaign contributions and other documents about Dibbs’ request to push beyond the growth boundary over at Fix It Now Tampa Bay, our civic journalism website.)
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February 29th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
A delay is always easier to win than an up-or-down decision. Commissioners figured they could take the criticism for delaying the Dibbs decision until after the elections (when his contributions will be banked and the public attention won’t be as costly), but they couldn’t afford to vote “yes” for Marchetti’s sprawl, especially with the elections heating up. After Marchetti lost that round, he asked for, and got, a delay on his client’s associated proposal to allow extension of urban services into rural areas for projects like his throughout the county — a proposal with much more far-reaching consequences, which will allow his client to resurrect his original plans in the future.
The simple lesson is that politicians bend over easier in the dark. We had a full house of citizens watching at the hearing last night, and not just from one or two threatened neighborhoods. When commissioners see people from every corner of the county, pulling together to call on them to do the right thing everywhere (not just in our own backyards), our political clout outweighs the special interest dollars.
They’ll trade one pissed-off neighborhood for a deep-pocketed campaign contributor, but they can’t afford to piss off all of us just to do one favor.
The big lesson is: if you don’t want your community plan trashed, complain loudly when Stephen Dibbs tries to trash the Keystone Community Plan; if you’re tired of traffic getting worse on your commute, show up to demand smart transportation planning everywhere; want to curtail costly sprawl and see mass transit options in your lifetime? make our commissioners believe we are all watching every time they mess with our Comprehensive Plan. Because each little change to our Comp Plan is a step toward our future, for better or worse.
February 29th, 2008 at 11:50 pm
Let’s not get hyper-focused on Dibbs and Marchetti, of course they’re scum, but their master is concrete robber baron Ralph Hughes.
WANTED: Candidates to replace Blair, Hagan and Norman.
March 1st, 2008 at 10:32 am
Wayne:
One more thing, I really appreciate your investigative journalism. Someone needs to teach the Tampa Tribune and the St. Pete Times this lost art–this is partly why the local land development industry are running amuck (besides citizen apathy).
March 2nd, 2008 at 10:30 am
Let’s try to remember the chain of events here. Dibbs withdrew his 305 acres because he got his borrow pit approved 2 weeks ago, so he currently doesn’t care about removing it from the Keystone-Odessa community plan. But what makes that borrow pit work is that the county is widening Lutz Lake Fern Rd and the state is opening up the Suncoast Parkway interchange just east of his property, which is a condition of him being able to move his dirt—it is the ONLY haul route he is allowed. Amazing how the stars line up when you put on major fund raisers (I like to think of them as appreciation parties), for not only Brian Blair and Ken Hagan, but also for Kevin Ambler, who was the major force behind the Suncoast interchange dollars being allocated.
The real bugger in this scenario is that in a time of steep budget cuts, reductions in vital services, as well as diminishing library and park hours, we are seeing tax dollars spent on 2 road projects that are not needed, on a road that is not close to failing, and opening an interchange that will ultimately cause greater traffic issues and development pressures in an area that doesn’t need any more of either.