Pasco commission wants rural Lacoochee to get ‘executive’ housing
The plan to nudge the northeastern Pasco County communities of Lacoochee, Trilby and Trilacoochee into an economic upturn might be about to veer in another direction.
At the strong urging of the county commissioner who represents that portion of Pasco, chairperson Ron Oakley, the board directed staff to build in room for “executive” housing on 1-acre lots in what is predominantly a low-income area now.
Late last year, county staff presented the Greater Lacoochee Community Plan, a detailed document developed by a consultant and county staff with community input. The plan, covering 11,288 acres, proposes a significant industrial land component and commercial development to bring jobs into the area.
Nearby residents immediately pushed back, saying the county promised to preserve much of the area as rural when it created its future growth plan nearly 20 years ago. The “northeast area” rural plan was approved to allow another portion of East Pasco to be developed with high density housing in what is now the Villages of Pasadena Hills, Trilby resident Richard Riley told commissioners on Tuesday.
The tradeoff was supposed to ensure that area would always retain its rural nature, he said. He was specifically concerned about a green swath of real estate designated on the map for the Lacoochee Plan, an area where Evans Properties Inc., an agricultural company based in Vero Beach, owns thousands of acres.
But the designation was always considered nonbinding, according to county staff.
Riley then ripped the map in half in front of commissioners, saying keeping the plan was fine but the large green-shaded housing area depicted to the west should be excluded.
Supporters of the rural designation also urged the commission to follow the unanimous request of the Planning Commission to allow its members to have a full discussion of the Lacoochee Plan before a County Commission vote. But Oakley said he did not see a need for the Planning Commission to review a nonbinding plan.
Instead, he outlined what he wanted to see in the Lacoochee area. He wanted to see businesses and especially a food market in the core area of Lacoochee because that was needed there. The plan also includes a collaboration with the Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative.
The utility has been working with Pasco officials to develop a 33-acre industrial site in Lacoochee known as One Lacoochee Center. “As the former Cypress Farms Housing Authority site, the One Lacoochee Center is envisioned as a catalyst which is intended to kick start the struggling economy,” according to the Lacoochee plan.
But Oakley said he also wanted a housing area to be developed in the zone that would be another option instead of the the high-density housing Hernando County is planning just across the county line to the north.
Oakley said that he wanted County Administrator Mike Carballa and long-range planning to establish a transitional housing area to provide a needed residential product to serve the business development coming to the Central Pasco Employment Village, Mirada, Double Branch, Abbey Crossings and the Interstate 75 Gateway area.
That housing area should not exceed the density of one home per gross acre, which he said honors the rural protection zone plan.
Oakley said that there is a need for executive home sites. Commissioner Jack Mariano agreed, saying he understood that a project under discussion in that area could be developed for executives and could include a new golf course.
Commissioner Kathryn Starkey said she thought it was important to have more dense housing areas in the same locations as the jobs the county hopes to see developed in the core of Lacoochee. County staff assured her that the county’s growth plan already identifies higher-density housing areas in that zone.
