The property being preserved extends from north of the Watergrass community to Kiefer Rd. & east from where Curley Rd. meets Elam Rd. to the Kirkland Ranch property line. (Pasco County map modified by Joel Provenzano)ย
Residents wanting to see land and the environment protected in eastern Pasco County are getting their wish, as one local family intends to sell their almost 1,000- acre ranch to the state for natural preservation, instead of to developers for homes or apartments โ and the state just approved the funds to do exactly that.
How much?…. $30.8 million.
Days after our article went to print last month, entitled โWhere Are The Villages of Pasadena Hills (VOPH) & Why Should You Care?,โ a surprise press release came from the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD, aka โSwiftmudโ) on Aug. 26, explaining that the Kirkland Ranch portion of the land in VOPH โ immediately between the Kirkland Ranch school complex and the community of Watergrass โ was approved to be purchased by Swiftmudโs board, with funds being provided by the stateโs Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
โWe appreciate Governor Ron DeSantis and the Florida Legislatureโs commitment to preserving this conservation land in one of the fastest-growing areas in Pasco County,โ said Swiftmudโs executive director Brian Armstrong. โThis important purchase will help preserve the regionโs lands and water resources for future generations.โ
Deemed to be a critical watershed for the state of Florida, and specifically Pasco County, the six contiguous cattle farming parcels owned by Kirkland Ranch since 1956 (938 acres total, of which 41% is wetlands), would have made up almost all of the residential area of โVillage Kโ in VOPH, directly along the burgeoning Curley Rd. corridor (see attached map for location). But now, that land will remain fully undisturbed.
โThis acquisition meets all four of the Districtโs โAreas of Responsibility,โ which are water supply, water quality, flood protection and natural systems,โ the Swiftmud news release from Aug. 26 says, โand is consistent with the Districtโs โFlorida Foreverโ workplan.โ
For those not familiar, VOPH is the 20,000+ acre special development district making up the area directly between Wesley Chapel, Dade City and Zephyrhills.
This purchase will presumably affect two of Pascoโs so-called โvision roads,โ the first being the northern Watergrass Pkwy. extension that was supposed to cut diagonally through Kirkland Ranch, serving as an important north/south corridor. The other is the eastern Elam Rd. extension, which would have run behind the Kirkland school complex (which includes the Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation and the Kirkland Ranch K-8 school) โ all of which was shown in the โPasadena Hills Land Use Vision Planโ and transportation maps, but now that itโs no longer being developed, these road extensions are likely off the table. But, weโll keep you posted.