Needed: We The People, To Help Shape Growth Plan

By KAREN BRANCH-BRIOSO The Tampa Tribune

Published: Jun 23, 2007

TAMPA - Wanna talk growth?

Not that Lordy-traffic-is-a-mess or those-new-subdivisions-are-suffocating-me kind of talk.

Here's your chance to speak in future tense about ways to improve the quality of life in unincorporated Hillsborough County for as far ahead as 2025. You don't often get this chance. Once every seven years or so, local governments have to update their comprehensive plans for long-term growth.

That time is now.

The planning commission, the independent planning agency for Hillsborough and its three cities, has made several suggestions for revamping that plan. Staff based it on more than 3,000 public comments gathered in recent years.

And now, before county commissioners finalize it this fall, planners are fanning out across the county to say:

"This is what we came up with. Did we get it right?" said Melissa Zornitta, an executive planner with the planning commission.

There are four meetings. The first, in Carrollwood, is Thursday at Gaither High School. The others will be in July in Brandon, Ruskin and Town 'N Country.

Residents have this extra chance because the county commissioners didn't like two parts of the proposal and killed them at a workshop in March. They deemed the changes too complicated and later voted to ask for a six-month extension on the plan, which was due this month.

Now the deadline for getting it to the state is February.

The commissioners killed a three-tier system that planners suggested to encourage denser development in urbanized areas near established public bus routes. The less urbanized the area, the fewer incentives.

Also scrapped: 70 new goals and policies that the planning commission staff offered to add to the chapter of the comprehensive plan known as "Livable Communities."

Those included, among other things: encouraging new homes to be built near parks or schools, a push for public art projects around new development, promoting aesthetically pleasing signs and landscaping, discouraging billboards, calling for county incentives for developers who provide more recreation and open space than the minimum, and a push for more bicycle lanes.

At the public meetings, the staff will provide a look at what's left of the proposal.

Among the concepts the planners addressed in their proposed changes are:

•Promoting community designs where people can walk or bike from their homes to public buildings such as schools and to parks or community centers

•Refocusing new growth to areas with existing water, sewer and bus lines

•Fighting the loss of rural lands

•Addressing the need for new ways to pay for new roads and stormwater facilities

Denise Layne, executive director for the Coalition 4 Responsible Growth, will be there. She said people other than the regulars need to be at the meetings.

"Not enough of the community is truly engaging themselves," Layne said. "There were 3,000 comments the first time, but we have over a million people in this county. If only 3,000 are getting back to you, more people need to get engaged. You get fresh eyes coming up with things on handling growth.

"And the important thing is not only coming out to these meetings, but also to engage in the public process once it gets downtown."

Reporter Karen Branch-Brioso can be reached at (813) 259-7815 or kbranchbrioso@tampatrib .com.

SPEAK OUT ON HOW HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY GROWS

Hillsborough has to update its vision for how the unincorporated parts of the county should grow through the year 2025. The Planning Commission came up with proposed changes to the comprehensive plan, based on community input that began in 2003. Now, before the county commission makes everything final this fall, the commission staff is heading to the neighborhoods to ask: Are these the changes you wanted?

To help answer that question, attend a meeting in your neighborhood. All will be held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the following locations:

Thursday, June 28

Gaither High School

16200 N. Dale Mabry Highway Tampa, FL 33618

Carrollwood/Lutz/Keystone Area

Thursday, July 12

HCC Brandon Campus

10414 E. Columbus Drive

Tampa, FL 33619

Brandon/Valrico/Thonotosassa Area

Thursday, July 19

South Shore Regional Library

15816 Beth Shields Way

Ruskin, FL 33573

South County Area

Thursday, July 26

Alonso High School

8402 Montague St.

Tampa, FL 33635

Town N’ Country/Citrus Park Area

For more information, go to http://www.theplanningcommission.org/hillsborough and click on the link entitled “EAR Amendment Open House Information.” Or, call executive planner Melissa Zornitta at 813-273-3774, ex. 354.