Pasco Officials Hear About Flooding Woes & Fears From Local Residents During Nov. 7 Planning Commission Meeting
By JOEL PROVENZANO & GARY NAGER
In light of the historic flooding that took place this year, following multiple tropical systems that criss-crossed our area — but especially from Hurricane Milton last month — many Pasco County residents have taken to social media and even to governmental meetings to voice their concerns about how they believe the rapid growth of the county has led, whether in-part or in-whole, to these flooding problems.
Most have voiced generalized concerns, like, “If the county keeps allowing the building of new homes and apartments, where will all the water go?,” while others pointed out that this year’s unprecedented and all-time-record-setting rainfall was bound to cause issues no matter how the land is or is not developed.
The latter group’s point at least appears to be somewhat backed-up by the fact that large sections of rural counties in central Florida — far away from any recent major development — are STILL underwater, more than a month after Milton passed through.
But, now that this flooding did occur, is there room for change in Pasco’s approach to new development? These are the questions being asked by local residents.
Changes to policy and perception can be slow with government. Typically, a few good case examples will help to move the needle toward finding solutions and possible compromises.
Pasco residents may have gotten their first real good crack at this process recently, with a proposed development called the Tall Timbers MPUD (Master-Planned Unit Development) positioned just south of Mirada, off of rural Tyndall Rd., on the “outskirts” of Wesley Chapel.
The owner of this pristine 38-acre site (Xtreme Team 41, LLC), which is currently zoned Agricultural, is requesting to rezone the property, located within the “Connected City” MPUD area, to allow for 180,000 sq. ft. of commercial and 380 multi-family units (which the plan shows as townhomes).
On Nov. 7, the Pasco County Planning Commission held a public hearing for this rezoning case, giving residents an opportunity to speak, and they definitely took advantage. Out of a handful of passionate speakers — both before and after the agenda item was presented — one person really stood out as the main objector, with some well-crafted and researched arguments — Michael Pultorak.
Pultorak (photo) is a Realtor® who lives just down the street from the proposed development on Kenton Rd., in an area of rural residential lots. His main concern was flooding and he had plenty of visuals to back-up this concerns before Tall Timbers was even discussed.
“I’m speaking here for all the residents of Pasco County,” he said. “The thousands of flooded-out residents on the east side of the county.”
Pultorak added, ““The problem is that this area is the most sensitive piece of the Connected City. “Everything that has purple lines on it (graphic right) was flooded,” Pultorak said as he showed the commission a map with marks indicating how the subject property and the property immediately to the south were affected by the recent storms.
“All of the commercial in this proposed development is supposed to be on the south side of that red line on this (below) photo. The red line is where the road is going to go. The 106,000 square feet of commercial is all in what flooded. This is an issue now like it never has been before because of the media and because of emotions. We don’t want to stop development, we don’t want to stop future neighbors from moving in. But, we need your help before any more developments are allowed to come in, increase density, change comprehensive views, or get elements of the current plans approved to make it cheaper or faster [for them] to build. Please meet us in the middle and protect us, your current residents, thank you,” to which the audience applauded.
Professional engineer Jon Moody, one of the Planning Commission’s main speakers, said that the county already has stormwater regulations “up to the 100-year flood” in its Land Development code, and that, “Florida has some of the most stringent water regulations of any state in the country.”
Pultorak responded that the King Lake drainage basin, next to his house and Kenton Rd., was a primary concern because the water has nowhere to go.
“This is frustrating for us because the argument is always that the county is following state building codes,” Pultorak said. “But state building codes are a minimum. Pasco County is a higher risk flood area because this was all cattle pastures and now we’re putting high-density developments on these pastures. So, when we cover the surface with non-permeable roofs, foundations, driveways and roads and shed water into retention ponds, there’s a capacity limit and developers have refused to exceed that minimum to protect their neighbors from the 100-year storm during the wet season.”
Moody answered, “We are all very concerned about the flooding that occurred because of back-to-back hurricanes, but what type of plan do you envision or would like to see? I practice stormwater for a living and we follow those regulations. What level is enough protection? The state may look at its regulations and say that maybe looking at a 24-hour event isn’t enough. In my own experience, one day isn’t usually the problem. It’s when you have three or four days of rain in a row. Unfortunately, what we saw with Milton were rainfall amounts that came in an extremely short time. Heavy rain is usually 12 inches in a 24-hour period, but with Milton we had 16-18 inches of rainfall in some areas in a 4-6-hour period. That’s an unprecedented event that no one could have contemplated. But, what level of protection is it that you think we need?”
Pultorak thanked Moody for being reasonable and constructive, “In contrast to some of your predecessors who have asked me where I got my civil engineering degree. I don’t have one, but I do have three Master’s and a Ph.D. in common sense at this point. Common sense tells me that when the environment is changing, that however we’ve been looking at things, we should consider sliding that scale and make improvements if we have proof that what we are having developments abide by is now threatening our current county. My neighbors here were flooded with two days of rain before the hurricane hit. So, maybe we need to reevaluate the standards we hold new developments to. Because currently, with what we’re using, they’re flooding out their neighbors. So, can we maybe tap the brakes on some development and figure out how to protect our current residents.”
Moody responded, “I don’t think there are easy answers. Are there things we can do to reduce stormwater runoff? Sure. Maybe we can require less impervious surface and more green space.”
Pultorak also said that there have been so many individual approvals on portions of the Connected City that the county and developers may have lost sight of that project as a whole.
“I think it’s long past time to have a public workshop on the Connected City,” he said, “because, when that project was originally brought to Pasco, it was supposed to be a community that would make Lake Jovita jealous. But, I’m watching and I’m seeing a heck of a lot of warehouses and light industrial in these zoning amendments and warehouses don’t look to me like the South Tampa ‘vibe’ we were promised. When the Connected City turns into 2 million sq. ft. of distribution space, it doesn’t bring to mind the South Tampa vibe that was going to make Lake Jovita jealous.”
Power-Pointing
Pultorak had a chance to come back later in the meeting and present his specific observations about the proposed Tall Timbers development.
He displayed aerial images of the subject development property which he said were taken the morning of the meeting, that clearly showed the 38-acre parcel still holding significant amounts of water (that wasn’t clearly visible from the road).
Pultorak also showed topographic (topo) maps indicating on the property where the multiple existing (historic) lakes and wetlands were located and noting how the development showed a commercial building over one of the existing ponds (which he says have expanded since the storms) and potential parking over other wetland areas, an issue that he said is likely to affect the natural flood plain that serves the surrounding properties, including his.
He noted that the site plan also proposed two very large retention ponds (totaling 9.5 acres) in areas where two existing ponds were, and two parks (green space) totaling 1.7 acres, in addition to the townhomes and commercial.
Pultorak stated that perhaps the best use for the entire property would be for it to be used as green space for the Connected City. The Planning Commission members echoed his concerns about the wetland impacts (as well as the need for a comprehensive Connected City public hearing) and asked county staff if a building was not placed over the wetland (to avoid impacts) would it still meet the conditions of the binding site plan?
In light of the drainage concerns and outstanding questions, a proposal was put forth to continue the meeting to Thursday, December 12, and before adjourning, the commission asked for an engineer (representing the development) to come to the next meeting to explain how the potential impacts to the flood plain could be addressed. The continuance passed unanimously.