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Pasco Approves Massive Project

Photo by: FRED BELLET
Jennifer Seney, a director of Pascowildlife Inc., was among the two dozen or so people who spoke out against the Cypress Creek Town Center proposal.

Pasco Approves Massive Project
By KEVIN WIATROWSKI kwiatrowski@tampatrib.com

Published: Nov 25, 2004

DADE CITY - Pasco County commissioners on Tuesday approved plans for Cypress Creek Town Center in Wesley Chapel, a massive complex anchored by what will be one of the largest regional malls in the Tampa Bay area.

The 5-0 vote clears the project for review by the Florida Department of Community Affairs, which must decide whether it measures up to county and regional land-use plans. The proposal should move to that agency by early December. DCA has 45 days to make a decision, and opponents have 15 days after that to file any challenges. Those opponents promised to continue their fight. “How much retail do we really need to meet the needs of county residents?” asked Leigh Jefts, spokesman for Citizens Against the Cypress Creek Town Center.

Commissioners approved Phase 1 of the project - about 1.3 million square feet of mall space and nearly 700,000 square feet of retail space outside the mall, as well as 120,000 square feet of office space, 350 hotel rooms and 250 multifamily housing units. That's about 75 percent of the entire project's mall and retail space and about half of its ultimate housing and hotel development.

About two dozen people from Hillsborough and Pasco counties spoke against the project, many expressing concern that the mall will overwhelm local roads and ruin water quality in Cypress Creek, which feeds the Hillsborough River and Tampa's water supply.

“I don't know why anyone would want to invite the things we have in Hillsborough County, such as crime, traffic and pollution, to Pasco,” said Thomas Wheatley, of Tampa. He's a field director with the Florida Water Coalition.

Developers said they have addressed all concerns voiced by residents during the three years of planning that culminated with Tuesday's vote.

“We haven't agreed to anything that can't be done,” said Tom Schmitz, vice president for design and construction for mall builder, The Richard E. Jacobs Group Inc. of Cleveland.

As to residents' concern about damage to Cypress Creek, project planner Georgianne Ratliffe with consultant Wilson Miller said the mall will stay 700 feet from the creek, a distance considerably farther than the 25-foot setback required by the state.

Commissioners didn't get everything they wanted, however. They had sought parking garage with multiple decks to contain potential runoff into the creek. Developers said it would be too costly.

The county did persuade developers to commit to saving a colony of gopher tortoises that live on the mall site.

Mall developers expect to draw shoppers from an area that encompasses Hillsborough County north of Fletcher Avenue and east of the Veterans Expressway, and Pasco County between U.S. 301 and the Suncoast Parkway.

That area includes the aging University Mall and a regional mall proposed for Long Lake Ranch in Pasco. The project also could keep closer to home Pasco shoppers who now travel to Brandon or Citrus Park, supporters said.

In response to concerns about wetland loss, Ratliffe reminded commissioners that the original proposal called for destroying 103 acres. That proposal met strong resistance from county and regional planners and was whittled to 57 by eliminating multifamily housing between the mall and Cypress Creek.

The wetlands that will be filled for the mall were heavily damaged by the construction of State Road 56, Ratliffe said.

“They're no longer pristine,” Ratliffe said. “We're going to replace better than we're taking out.”

Critics worry that the developers may not live up to their word, particularly given that the fine print of the wetland replacement plan will be written later, instead of being part of the Development of Regional Impact package.