Rezoning Approved For K-Bar Ranch Homes

More than a thousand new homes are on the horizon for the K-Bar Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI) in New Tampa, as the Tampa City Council unanimously (6-0) has approved a rezoning for the area, despite an outcry from residents of the Easton Park neighborhood (also in the K-Bar DRI) along Morris Bridge Rd.

At the August 6 meeting in downtown Tampa, council members heard the second reading of a new development order for M/I Homes, which includes a rezoning of K-Bar Ranch that will allow for the construction of up to 1,400 new homes in the DRI, as well as 20,000 sq. ft. of commercial space and a nearly-60-acre city park. 

Leading up to the first hearing for the rezoning on July 29, Easton Park residents protested with signs and a march through their community. At the Aug. 6 second hearing, six Easton Park residents addressed the council, expressing concern about the future K-Bar Ranch Pkwy., which will connect Kinnan St. to Morris Bridge Rd. through the Easton Park neighborhood. 

Resident Dale Clark told council members that what residents really were opposing was not the road itself, but bringing the road through Easton Park and adding an intersection into the community. 

“(That intersection is) going to be quite dangerous,” Clark said. “It’s going to effectively separate a third of our development from all of the amenities that we enjoy — the pool, the park, the school bus stops. Kids are going to have to cross a four-lane, 45-mile-per-hour road to get to the bus stop.” 

Clark said that residents also are concerned with the traffic that the road likely will create through their community. He cited facts from the recent Go Hillsborough transportation report that said in 2010, there were 12 bicycle fatalities on Hillsborough roads, twice the national average. 

“Is putting a four-lane road right through the middle of a community going to help those numbers?,” he asked, before presenting an alternative that took the road north of Easton Park to connect with an existing dirt road, just south of the Pasco county line. Clark said that the alternative road would protect the wildlife corridor in K-Bar Ranch and remove any potential traffic impacts from Easton Park.

“We’re asking (council members) to delay the approval to consider researching other alternatives,” Clark said. “Use your judgment and your empathy for what we’re going through.”

Dale’s wife Donna Clark spoke about the importance of protecting the wildlife corridor that runs through the northern section of K-Bar Ranch. 

“I encourage a slow speed limit for the road that either will plow through or hopefully go around our community,” she said. “Animals are so prominent in Easton Park that they come to us. They’re on our roads, on our sidewalks and in our yards.”

The Clarks’ young daughter Sadie also addressed the council, explaining that M/I Homes offered to add vegetation to the development in exchange for narrowing the wildlife corridor by 200 feet, with a buffer from homes of only 25 feet in some places.

“Is this enough room for animals to feel safe from us?,” she asked.

Resident Christine Morrell asked that the council would allow for speed bumps along K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. and the ability to make Easton Park a gated community.

Dist. 7 council member Lisa Montelione asked Tampa senior transportation planning engineer Melanie Calloway why taking K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. north of Easton Park wasn’t considered. Calloway said that it was, but a 100-foot Tampa Electric Company easement prevented it and that parcel of land was not part of the rezoning. She also explained that the design for the future road has been altered and will be built to handle 40-mile-per-hour traffic, but the posted speed limit will be 35 mph, not 45.

Calloway said that roundabouts also are being considered to help reduce speeds.

M/I Homes spokesperson Scott Steady told council members that the road was planned years ago because that’s what was determined to be the best place for it in anticipation of future development.

“We’re committing to working with the city on planning for pedestrian safety (along K-Bar Ranch Pkwy.),” Steady told council members. “I don’t see how we can go back to square one and redesign this.”

Montelione said that there will be a lot of steps taken between the passing of the rezoning and the time shovels hit dirt in K-Bar.

“Along the way, as we go through design review and some of the other processes that are standard for any development, residents will be considered and consulted,” Montelione said, adding that she’ll be making sure that promises are being kept. She added that she and other city officials will be holding town hall meetings to make sure that they are.