Commissioners Vote For Moratorium

As expected, the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) voted unanimously to put a temporary moratorium on new applications and approvals for multifamily dwellings at Tuesday’s BCC meeting in Dade City.

The 180-day moratorium was approved by a 5-0 vote, following a reading of 50 emails submitted by residents that were unanimously in favor of the pause.

Commissioner Mike Moore, who represents District 2, which includes most of Wesley Chapel, spearheaded the moratorium. He claims that the moratorium area, which is between S.R. 52 to the north and S.R. 54 to the south, as well as U.S. 41 to the west and Bruce B. Downs Blvd. to the east, is oversaturated with apartments. Moore says the argument against more multi-family entitlements is centered on developers attempting to rezone property to build more apartments and townhomes, as opposed to using the property for its original commercial purposes. 

Opponents of the moratorium, like Eric Garduno of the Bay Area Apartment Association, argued multi-family residences play a vital role with providing affordable housing in a market where the median home price is rising. 

According to Realtor.com, the median list price of homes in Wesley Chapel is currently $320,000; according to Zillow.com, it’s $288,000.

However, the residents who emailed the county — mostly from Seven Oaks, where a proposed apartment complex on Eagleston Blvd. was the impetus for the moratorium — cited concerns about schools, traffic, road safety and the ability of the current infrastructure to handle additional people.

The county intends to collect data over the course of the 180 days, and will decide if there is indeed oversaturation, as Moore claims, and what should be done about it. 

Garduno says he is confident the data will show there is a high demand for multi-family dwellings.

Moore, however, believes otherwise.

“We do need to analyze and look very closely at the impacts multifamily can have in the area when it comes to economic development, when it comes to public safety, traffic, schools, infrastructure,” Moore says. “This gives us the time to do it…we can really, really dig in and see what impact these are going to really have.”