When District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore argued for his apartment moratorium, he promised people that there were more than enough multi-family projects coming. He was opposed to land zoned for commercial and retail being turned into land slated for sprawling apartment complexes, saying there were plenty of entitlements for multi-family projects already in existence.
Moore may have had a point.
At the moment, there are more than 20 apartment complexes, ranging from the usual to those promising “luxury” and even “elegant” living locations in Wesley Chapel’s three zip codes — 33543, 33544 & 33545 (see map on pg. 7), that are either making their way through permitting, under construction or recently completed.
If you count other projects just outside the border of the Wesley Chapel area, that number grows. There are apartments coming to the Zephyrhills side of Eiland Blvd., just across the street from Wesley Chapel. In Land O’Lakes, Zephyrhills and San Antonio, that number exceeds 30 rental communities.
All in all, Wesley Chapel could be home to nearly 10,000 apartment dwellings in the next two years, if not sooner.
And, there are more projects not even in permitting yet, large multi-family communities headed to Wiregrass Ranch, the Two Rivers area on S.R. 56 and Epperson.
“The message I was attempting to send is justified by the number we’ve seen either come out of the ground or that are already (in permitting),” Moore says. “And there’s a ton more parcels that already have the multi-family zoning. There’s people holding out or not ready to develop and are holding on to those entitlements. That’s a lot more.”
While Moore continues to worry about apartment oversaturation, the debate still goes on in the County Commission. As recently as Oct. 11, members sparred over whether apartments were more important than jobs.
The Silverslaw Apartments (above) are being built just north of the Hyatt Place Wesley Chapel on the north side of S.R. 56 near I-75, and are one of many large rental complexes on the Wesley Chapel schedule over the nest 2-3 years. (Photo by John C. Cotey)
District 3 Commissioner Kathryn Starkey argued that the county has “hundreds of thousands of jobs coming…these people will need someplace to live.” District 2 Commissioner Ron Oakley, who represents the northern and easternmost parts of Wesley Chapel, agreed.
Eric Garduño, the government affairs director for the Bay Area Apartment Association, says Pasco County has always been near the bottom of statistics when it came to apartments per person. And the Tampa Bay area in general has always adopted zoning ordinances that favored single-family home developers over apartments.
“I think that’s starting to change in the sense that you can’t build single-family and single-family only to meet the housing needs as a community and a nation,” he says.
Wesley Chapel Blvd., which has expansion plans, is home to a number of large incoming complexes. The area around the bustling Grove Entertainment has close to 1,000 units on tap, including many that are already taking lease applications, and the corridors on S.R. 54 and 56 towards Zephyrhills have already attracted a number of projects.
“I think, generally speaking, policy makers really need to look at attracting jobs, and how that goes hand-in-hand with housing,” Garduño says. “You are starting to see it in a lot of places.”
On Oct. 18, roughly MP 30 residents gathered to ask Pasco County for solutions to traffic problems on County Line Rd. and near the schools on Mansfield Blvd. (Photo: John C. Cotey)
Kyle Molder tried a few years back in 2019 to draw attention to the unsafe crosswalks along County Line Rd. in Meadow Pointe Areas I and II, with minimal success.
But, as time went on, the danger only seemed to grow. In 2020, there was a car crash that killed the driver and led to the speed limit being reduced from 40 miles per hour (mph) to 35 mph, but it didn’t stop the speeding. The sounds of revving engines can be heard in the early hours of the morning, say residents who gathered at an Oct. 18 meeting at the Meadow Pointe I Clubhouse.
Another accident, back in September, involved three cars and, while no one died, it was just another example of County Line Rd.’s local reputation as a “drag strip.” Molder, who is running for Seat 2 on the Meadow Point II Community Development District (CDD), filmed his daughter trying to cross at one of the crosswalks, only to be stuck at the median as cars whizzed by and refused to yield.
According to a Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) Statistical Report requested by Molder, there have been 37 (FHP only) accidents in 2022 on County Line Rd. between Bruce B. Downs (BBD) and Mansfield Blvds. through Sept. 9.
With nearly four months to go in 2022 when that report was compiled, the total crash number is already more than in any other year going back to 2016.
This accident on County Line Rd. in Sept. was the latest in a string of speeding incidents that have concerned Meadow Pointe residents who live near the roadway. (Photo courtesy of Kyle Molder).
Molder organized the Oct. 18 safety meeting, and invited Pasco officials to attend, in order to shine a light on what they deem is a public safety hazard, as well as help deal with the traffic on nearby Mansfield Blvd., which is home to a preschool, three public schools and a college.
“The school zones need to be reinforced,” said Alicia Willis, the Vice-Chair of the Meadow Pointe I CDD (in Seat 3), who helped run the meeting.
Venkat Vattikuti, P.E., PTOE, the traffic operations manager for Pasco County, was more than an hour late to the 90-minute meeting but managed to squeeze a lot of good news in a short period of time to the 35 or so residents who attended.
Vattikuti said there is little the county can do about ending speeding. Even after reducing the speed limit on County Line Rd., a study showed that speeding had actually increased.
“Did we slow them down? No,” Vattikuti said. “We can’t fix the stupids. And we know all those stupids are in our neighborhoods.”
What the county can do, Vattikuti says, is fix the crosswalk issue. Currently, there are 19 crosswalks along County Line Rd. between Bruce B. Downs Blvd. and Mansfield Blvd.
Vattikuti said that is too many. He said the county is recommending consolidating 19 crosswalks into four, each spaced a half-mile apart.
Kyle Molder (left) and Venkat Vattikuti, P.E., PTOE, the traffic operations manager for Pasco County, talk to a gathering on concerned Meadow Pointe residents last month. (Photo: John C. Cotey)
Those crosswalks would have flashing beacons that are activated by pedestrians. According to Vattikuti, studies show that the percentage of drivers yielding at crosswalks goes from 20 percent to 90 percent when there is a flashing light.
Vattikuti said that Pasco County is willing to pay for two of the crosswalks, with the Meadow Point I and II CDDs having to pay for the other two. Once installed, however, the county would maintain all four at no cost to Meadow Pointe.
If Meadow Pointe puts in a request for the enhanced crosswalks, Vattikuti promised they would be installed in early 2023. “That I can guarantee you,” he said.
And, since speed tables are not allowed on County Line Rd. because the roadway exceeds 3,000 daily trips, Pasco is experimenting with raised crosswalks — which would serve nearly the same purpose as a speed table — in New Port Richey. If those prove to be productive, they can be employed on County Line Rd. as well.
Molder said he was pleased with what Vattikuti told the crowd. “I think it will help,” he said. “It’s a good start.”
As for the tangled Mansfield Blvd. school zones, Vattikuti said the county would be installing a 4-way light at Oakwood Preserve, in the hopes that it will break up the congestion. Additional signage already has been installed to help keep the sidewalk free for kids walking and riding to school.
Because the county did away with courtesy busing within two miles of the schools in that area — which include Wiregrass Ranch Elementary, John Long Middle School and Wiregrass Ranch High, foot and bike traffic in that area has doubled, according to those in attendance at the meeting.
“We have to keep it going now,” Willis told the residents. “Keep emailing. Keep calling. Don’t stop.”
Jim Schanstra says you can get green, healthy lawns with all-natural products, despite conventional thinking that harmful chemicals are more effective.
Keeping lawns green, free of pests and healthy is Organic Safe Lawns’ specialty. Whether it’s because your kids play in the grass or your pets like to run around in the yard, making sure they stay danger-free is a big deal for owner Jim Schanstra.
In fact, he says it’s why he started his business in the first place.
Schanstra suspects that exposure to DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) as a youngster had something to do with his wife Julie developing non-Hodgkin’s large cell lymphoma cancer. DDT was widely used in the U.S. in agriculture as a pesticide and as a household insecticide in the 1940s and 1950s, only to be banned in 1973.
Julie won her fight against cancer, with help from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN, but it was a constant reminder to Schanstra of the potential effects of chemicals used in the environment.
In 2006, just before a scheduled sales meeting with an organic fertilizer manufacturer, Schanstra says that one of the associates said that he’d read a recent news article that claimed Florida was using more chemical-based fertilizers and pesticides on residential properties than the rest of the U.S. combined.
“That statement hit me like a lightning bolt,” Schanstra says. “It was in that moment that I decided to do something about it. That was the conception of Organic Safe Lawns.”
In January of 2010, Organic Safe Lawns, Inc., became a Florida corporation.
“When I started out, that was my big, hard sell — how do I tell people we can really do it?,” he says. “If we can grow fruits and vegetables organically, why can’t we grow grass that way? That was the concept in my mind.”
Schanstra isn’t alone. The demand for organic fertilizers will grow 5.8% a year through 2024, according to Freedonia Group, an international industrial research company. Organic fertilizers will make up 7% of the $3-billion fertilizer market, thanks to a number of issues — including demand for organic food products and rising awareness of the potential negative effects chemicals can have on your health and the environment.
That also extends to lawns, which are gathering places for millions of families and their pets.
Schanstra works closely with one of the top organic fertilizer manufacturers and pioneers of the industry. The products — fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides — used by Schanstra and Organic Safe Lawns are certified by the Organic Materials Review Institute or OMRI, an independent testing company that certifies organic products. He says the products use a proven technology that was originally designed for fruits and vegetables, although Organic Safe Lawns deals strictly with lawns and ornamental plants.
Organic Safe Lawns, Inc., has now designed and manufactured more than 30 different organic fertilizer products of its own that are owned and trademarked by the corporation.
While most typical fertilizers are made up of synthesized chemicals, Schanstra says the products he uses are mostly mined from the shale level of the earth, where healthier and more acidic soil exists. There are richer supplies of micronutrients, enzymes and bacteria found in this soil than in other fertilizers.
“There’s no downside with our fertilizers,” Schanstra says.
Other lawn companies also use mined products, but they are converted into a granular form — those little balls you see in your grass after the lawn company has wrapped up — by incorporating binders and fillers to keep their shape. That’s where Schanstra says carcinogens are often entered into the mixture.
“Once those little balls dissolve, those chemicals end up running off into our aquifers, which are sometimes only a foot or two deep below, and can get into our water, streams and ponds and cause algae blooms,” he says.
Typical fertilizers come in two types of encapsulation. The first is water-based, meaning the fertilizer is released by coming into contact with water. The second is a polymer, or plastic encapsulation. Its releasing agent is heat.
Schanstra says those forms of release may be fine for more moderate northern climates. However, Florida’s famously erratic weather — sometimes too much rain and often too much heat — can sometimes cause the release of a month’s worth of fertilizer in a week or even a day.
Using chemical fertilizers and pesticides may lead to greener lawns — due to their higher concentrations of nitrogen — but they also can lead to the same typical lawn problems so common here in Florida. These problems include fungi and diseases, chinch bugs, webworms and mole crickets, all of which are often found in high-nitrogen soils.
“The cheapest way to get green grass is with high-nitrogen fertilizer,” Schanstra says. “We found that by reducing the nitrogen level (in the products Organic Safe Lawns uses), we almost eliminate fungus and pests.”
Schanstra also says that high-nitrogen fertilizers push top growth and weaken root structure. Over time, the lawn’s root system can’t sustain the foliage.
“A weakened root structure is like candy to bugs,” Schanstra says. “After using our treatment, you’ll see the bugs moving over into your neighbor’s yard.”
Chemical-based fertilizers are designed to be absorbed through the leaf (called foliar absorption). All of the organic fertilizers that Schanstra uses are absorbed through the roots. And, he adds, they are all water-soluble liquids that are safe for pets, wildlife and humans.
“When we apply organic fertilizers, we’re spraying that into the soil,” he says. “The only way the plant absorbs it is into the root system. My grass will grow a little bit slower, but my roots will be stronger.”
Top-coated lawns treated with synthetic pesticides and herbicides put people and pets in danger. Why do you think people applying pesticides wear rubber boots? Because, Schanstra says, they don’t want to get any of the application on themselves.
In that case, he adds, why would you want you, your children or your pets to track that into your house?
“The dog goes over into the neighbor’s yard to pee, and they’re chewing on their paws when they get back,” Schanstra says. “Kids crawl around and play on the grass and absorb it when they walk in it.”
The chemical herbicide Atrazine is still used widely across the U.S. and Florida to prevent pre- and post-emergence of broadleaf weeds, especially during the summer. It was found by the Agency for Toxic Substances & Diseases (ATSDR) to have adverse effects on the endocrine systems of mammals and that it likely also contributes to some birth defects.
“A lot of lawn companies will blanket your yard with Atrazine,” Schanstra says. “It costs just five dollars for a 600-gallon mix. They use it because it’s cheap.”’
But, Organic Safe Lawns’ technicians offer a safer chemical solution for weed control, which is spot-treated throughout the year. It isn’t as cheap as Atrazine, he says, but generally, the stronger root system his lawns have developed lead to fewer weeds anyway.
“We are about the process and the materials,” Schanstra says, “as opposed to using harmful chemicals with regard to weed control.”
Schanstra says he recommends treatment every 30 days, and that it isn’t any more expensive than hiring the lawn care chains.
Here are some important ways Jim Schanstra of Organic Safe Lawns says you can help keep your lawn green and healthy:
1. Check you irrigation regularly. Make sure all the heads are working properly. Check that all heads pop up through the lawn and spray fully. If they do not pop up check to see if the turf has overgrown the heads. If so, take a small spade and cut the turf away from the heads, and check spray for clogged nozzles, which may need to be removed and cleaned. Uncontrollable spray could mean a broken head, which would need to be replaced.
2. Follow Florida University Watering guidelines! Apply ½” to ¾” of water at each interval. This translates to approximately 20 minutes on a spray zone, pop up in the turf, spray heads in the bushes; 45 minutes per interval on rotor heads that spray and rotate like on a golf course; 30 minutes on drip irrigation found in the bushes.
3. Never water at night! Set up your irrigation system to complete its cycle by 8 am. This allow the water to go into the soil, and the sun will dry the leaf blades preventing unwanted fungus.
4. Never water midday! The sun will burn the leaf blades like a magnifying glass lens.
5. Proper mowing is very important! Mow every week in the growing season, April 1st through November 1st. Mow every other week in the winter months. Why is this important? Weeds grow much faster than turf. Allowing the turf to grow 10 days to 2 weeks in the growing season will allow the weeds to get to seed head, and then by mowing you will be planting weeds all over your yard.
6. Sharpen your blades monthly for a clean crisp cut.
7. Never mow wet grass. This will cause the cut to rip and tear the turf blades weakening the plant.
Organic Safe Lawns, Inc., services homes in Tampa, New Tampa, Wesley Chapel and Land O’ Lakes. For additional information, call (813) 393-9665, email organicsafelawns@verizon.net or visit OrganicSafeLawns.com.
The third time was apparently the charm for developers seeking to build a 320-unit apartment complex in the Seven Oaks Master Planned Unit Development (MPUD) Master Plan.
After having their efforts rejected by the Pasco County Planning Commission last year and the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) in January, and appealing the decision and going to mediation in the spring, developer DD/SR 56 LLC finally got the vote it needed to build the apartment project.
On Oct. 11, commissioners voted 3-2 in favor of modifying the MPUD and clearing the way for the new apartments and 25,000 square feet of commercial and retail space on 10 acres on Ancient Oaks Dr., just off S.R. 56, adjacent to Sam’s Club (see map).
DD/SR 56 LLC only needed to change one mind, and it succeeded. District 1 Commissioner Ron Oakley, who voted against the project in January, joined Dist. 3 Commissioner Kathryn Starkey and Dist. 4 Commissioner Christina Fitzpatrick by voting in favor of the project.
Dist. 2 Commissioner Mike Moore, who lives in Seven Oaks, and Dist. 5 Commissioner Jack Mariano remained opposed. They argued that the commercial designation for the 10 acres should remain because the area needs new jobs more than it needs multi-family housing.
Oakley, whose quote from the January meeting — “I’ve always felt that the size of the project is too large for the site” — was cited on a few occasions by opponents during the four-hour BOCC meeting, said his concerns about parking, traffic and pedestrian safety had been eased by the developer’s changes to the project.
“It’s a better fit on the site than it was prior,” Oakley said.
During the mediation process, the developer made a number of changes to its application, including a new site plan that includes two multi-story buildings. There will be vertical parking, and developers increased the commercial and retail space from 20,000 square feet to 25,000, which will be on the ground levels of the buildings.
There also were pedestrian safety and traffic issues that were resolved, including plans to extend and improve a walkway to Sam’s Club from the complex
Opponents argued that allowing 320 apartments on 10 acres was too dense and would not only create additional traffic and safety issues, but also would set a problematic precedent for the future.
“The 32 units per acre will set a dangerous and irreversible precedent,” said Chelsea Waller of Waller Law, who represents the Seven Oaks Community Development District. “Every developer is going to come into the county demanding the same density, and there goes the unique character of Pasco County.”
A presentation by opponents claimed that the 32 units per acre exceeds that of nearby apartments The Enclave (7.2), Bonterra Parc (10), MAA’s Colonial Grand (15.9) and the Windsor Club (16.3).
More than a dozen Seven Oaks residents spoke in opposition at the Oct. 11 meeting, citing mostly traffic concerns and compatibility with the rest of the MPUD. The location off S.R. 56 and the traffic congestion already in that area were the primary concerns.
One resident warned that such projects would lead to Wesley Chapel becoming like San Francisco (“If you go back there right now you understand what your future may look like if we approve this kind of stuff”), and another warned that the multi-story buildings could cause “sky and sun blocking.”
Waller argued that the changes made by the developers were insufficient to warrant approval. The project belonged in South Tampa or Orlando, she said, and was not compatible with Wesley Chapel’s urban dynamic.
But Joel Tew, the land-use attorney representing DD/SR 56 LLC, said that’s exactly what the developers are seeking.
“This is the poster child for a vertical mixed-use infill project,” Tew said, adding that it is supposed to look like Westchase Park or Hyde Park. “The whole point is to create a walkable look.”
While developers appear to have prevailed in their efforts to proceed with the project, an appeal could still be forthcoming, although it would likely take more than a year to get back to the BOCC.
As we’ve reported before, Wesley Chapel is getting a new Publix off S.R. 54, right across Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. from the Wesley Chapel Walmart.
And, guess where the old Publix, which is just a skip, jump and a hop away in the nearby Hollybrook Plaza on S.R. 54 and Bruce B. Downs Blvd., is headed?
Nowhere.
In fact, starting next year, the Hollybrook Plaza Publix will be beginning renovations.
That will probably be news to you, and a good many others, including us. After years of being told, and dutifully reporting, that the Hollybrook Publix would be “moving” or “relocated,” to make way for the new store, we, well, stand corrected.
“You (wrote) that the current location was closing,” says Hannah Herring, the marketing manager for Publix Supermarkets Inc., “and that is actually not happening. We’re keeping that one (in Hollybrook) open, and we’re opening another.”
That is definitely new news. We reported in September that the new Wiregrass Ranch Publix had filed plans with Pasco County for a new 60,548-sq.-ft. center, which would be anchored by a 48,848-sq.-ft. grocery store, which is correct.
But, the opening of the new store does not mean the end of the larger (60,632-sq.-ft.) Hollybrook location, which was built in 1997.
The store closing was something we had reported many times over the years. In 2015, we were told by developers at an old Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC)’s Economic Development Briefing that the Hollybrook Publix would be “relocating.” It has been repeated and reported a few times since.
“That was the story,” says Hope Kennedy, the CEO of the old WCCC and now of the North Tampa Bay Chamber (NTBC). “That was my understanding.”
Heck, there was even a rumor floating around that the whole plaza might be razed once Publix was gone in an effort to design an intersection at S.R. 54 and BBD that actually works and would decongest traffic.
Instead, it appears that S.R. 54 in Wesley Chapel will be home to two of the closest Publix grocery stores (to each other) anywhere. According to Google Maps, there’s only about a half mile between the two grocery stores if you take the roads, or a 10-minute walk.
“As it stands, we’ll have two locations, and one is going to be fairly close to the other one,” Herring says. “I’m not sure if it’s the closest, but we do have some locations that are really close to each in some areas.”
New Tampa, for example, has three Publix stores of its own. The New Tampa Blvd. location on BBD is less than five miles from both the Morris Bridge Rd. and Tampa Palms locations.
And, according to the Publix website, there are 15 Publix stores within 12 miles of the 33544 zip code in Wesley Chapel. Considering that Publix has 836 locations in Florida and is known almost as much for its level of saturation as is Starbucks, it does make sense.
Jim Hoff, who owns the Sonny’s BBQ just in front of the Hollybrook Plaza (on the BBD side), said he always thought the day would come that the Publix behind his restaurant would be replaced by the newer Publix once it was built.
He’s glad to hear that is not the case.
“This is the first I’m hearing that it is staying,” says Hoff. “We’re pretty established where we are, but would it have hurt a little? Yes. Publix is Publix. Having it there can only help us.”
