Compromise Reached On Seven Oaks Parcel Adjacent To Clubhouse 

A dispute between the residents of Seven Oaks and Crown Community Development, which developed the master-planned community, has been settled with an impressive compromise, brokered in no small part by Pasco County District 2 Commissioner Seth Weightman, who represents Seven Oaks and most of Wesley Chapel on the Board of County Commissioners (BCC). 

Since 2017, Crown has been trying to re-zone a vacant parcel of nearly 1.2 acres (see map) that is adjacent to the Seven Oaks Community Club for both office and possible recreational uses. 

The unspecified recreational uses, which could have been anything from a park to a bowling alley to a putt-putt golf course, was the cause of the dispute between Crown and the residents of Seven Oaks, led by Seven Oaks Community Development District (CDD) supervisor Jon Tomsu. 

The concern was that these types of recreational uses would attract large numbers of cars to not only travel, but also possibly park, on Seven Oaks’ primary north-south thoroughfare, Ancient Oaks Blvd. 

The BCC had turned down Crown’s rezoning request back in 2018, but a mediator ruled in June of 2020 that the Parcel 12 could be divided in two, with the 16.8-acre CDD maintaining its ownership of Parcel 12A (which includes the community center), and Crown retaining the 1.2-acre Parcel 12B, with the ability to add office uses. 

The fate of the parcel still had not been decided when Covid hit in 2020 and the possible rezoning wasn’t brought back to the BCC for a vote until its July 11 meeting. 

Weightman brought Tomsu and Crown attorney Barbara Wilhite together to settle the dispute, with Tomsu saying that although he was OK with a less intrusive PO-1 office use for the 50,000+-sq.-ft. space, he would not agree to any “recreational use” on the site. 

After Wilhite agreed to the office-only stipulation, the agreement was brought before the BCC and unanimously approved. 

“That was a great coming together of two parties — the residents of Seven Oaks and Crown Development,” Weightman said. “Ultimately, the CDD leadership and Crown came together to go with office space and match what was already there. It was a nice negotiation and agreement to have that issue come to an end and I think it was the best possible resolution for that site.” 

Weightman’s legislative aide Andy Taylor agreed. 

“When they were talking about recreational uses, like a Main Event-style use, where people would be coming in and parking on the roads in Seven Oaks, everything about it just didn’t make sense. It was nice to see it finally get resolved amicably.” 

The rezoning was officially approved at its second reading before the BCC on Aug. 8, without objection. Public comment also was not permitted, per Wilhite’s request at the meeting on July 11.

Developer Finally Gets Approval For Seven Oaks Project

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.

LOCH IT IN!

Angie Ng, top left, celebrates swimming the length of the Loch Ness Lake with her team of friends, and poses in front of the stories lake the day before the swim. (Photos: Courtesy of Angie Ng)

As it turns out, there is a Loch Ness monster.

Her name is Angie Ng.

Swimming the final 1,500 meters on a four-person relay, after already logging 6,000 meters on two previous legs, Angie (above) churned her arms and fluttered her legs faster than she ever remembered, cutting through the famous Scottish Lake Loch Ness, the seconds ticking away.

When she finally reached the end, tripping and falling on the rock-covered beach, the Seven Oaks resident had helped set a Loch Ness record for a 4-person relay team in the 23-mile long lake.

Not bad for a 52-year-old mother of two.

Angie, and her friends Eliza Chang, Ryan Leung and Chun Kong Mak, finished the July 27 swim in the frigid lake in 11 hours, 29 minutes, 27 seconds. The British Long Distance Swimming Association still needs to certify the record, but for now it tops the 11:38.20 mark set in 2019 by a four-person all-male team.

“Two days before the swim, we realized breaking the record was doable,” Angie says. “But our goal was just to complete a skin swim (without a wet suit) in the cold Loch. We tried our best and are very happy with the results.”

It was an eventful final leg. 

Angie, who didn’t think she would be needed again after her two previous legs, was told by one of the observers she needed to swim the final 1,500m. Oh, and she had to do it in roughly 38 minutes if they wanted to set a record.

“At that moment, I realized the burden to break the record has landed on a 52-year-old mom who has not been competing in 30 years, and who just re-started training barely six months ago,” Angie says. 

Those months of doing laps in the early morning at the Seven Oaks Clubhouse pool were about to pay off. It was a tough swim – the current seemed to be taking her to the right, so much so that, at one point, the boat had to move from her left side to her right to keep her from swimming into a channel where there were other boats.

“I sprint and I sprint,” Angie says, adding that she focused on her breathing and keeping her shoulders loose.

 She swam the final 200 meters alone, as the boat could go no further, due to the depth of the lake. 

 Because her luggage was lost when she arrived in Scotland, Angie was without her contact lenses and prescription goggles. She says that all she could see was a big patch of yellow, which was the beach, “and I was told just swim straight into it. So I swam and swam, yet the beach was so near yet so far, like it can never be reached.”

 She finally saw some rocks on the lake floor, and crawled and fell and crawled and fell again across the slippery rocks on the shore. When she was completely on shore and not touching any water, the swim was officially over.

 “I raised my arms, signaled to the boat and there, we completed our marvelous Loch Ness swim,” Angie said.

Not only did Angie finish her swim in borrowed goggles, she was fortunate enough to get the last one-piece swimsuit in her size from Primark, a discount store, for six pounds, or seven U.S. dollars.

Angie has been swimming since she was 3 years old, her mother starting her in the pool to combat her bronchitis.  She continued to swim as she grew up, competing on the Chinese National Team in international and Junior Olympic events.

Angie trained for her swim almost every day at the Seven Oaks clubhouse pool.

She also swam competitively for two years at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, before work, marriage and children took her out of the pool.

Despite participating in the mile-long Hong Kong Cross Harbour Race in 2016 and 2018, the last year the event was held due to Covid (until resuming in December 2021), she barely has had time to get in the pool.

But, now that daughter Kristen is at the University of Central Florida and son Kelvin is at the University of Washington (in Seattle), Angie’s mornings are free for swimming.

She just needed a mission.

In January, she found one when Eliza called with the crazy idea to swim Loch Ness. Angie eagerly jumped into training to be part of the first relay team from Hong Kong to even attempt the challenge.

While Angie trained at the 89º Seven Oaks pool, the water in Loch Ness averages around 59º in July. It was 55-57º during her swim.

Because she was rusty, she could only swim 500 meters when she started training, but soon added more distance, with 24 laps becoming 250 laps and more this summer. Most days she swam 5,000 meters, or a little more than three miles, and even managed a few longer (10,000m) workouts.

In preparation for chilly Loch Ness, she filled her bathtub at home with ice and water 3-4 times a week, taking 15-minute soaks hoping it would prepare her for the lake.

 Angie and her team started a Facebook page documenting their preparation, and to raise money for charity. A nurse practitioner at the University of South Florida, Angie is donating 100% of her portion to Doctors Without Borders.

As for Nessie, Angie can’t be sure if Loch Ness’s famed monster was around or not, because she didn’t have her goggles. 

But, if Nessie was there, she wasn’t the only monster in Loch Ness that day.

Developer Not Taking No For An Answer On Seven Oaks Apts.

After failing to convince Pasco County commissioners to accept one of their proposed projects in Seven Oaks, SD Wesley Chapel and Stock Development, LLC, are appealing the decision under the state’s Land Use and Environmental Resolution Act.

At the Feb. 22 Pasco Board of County Commissioners (BCC) meeting, county attorney Jeffrey Steinsnyder told commissioners that SD Wesley Chapel and Stock Development are claiming the 3-2 vote against their project was “unreasonable and unduly burdensome.”

Steinsnyder said the appeal was rare. “It’s been a while since we had one,” he said.

SD Wesley Chapel and Stock Development LLC want to rezone a 10-acre parcel (S-19) at the southern portion of Seven Oaks (just north of S.R. 56; see map above) currently zoned for commercial and retail so it can build a high-end 320-unit apartment complex as part of a vertical mixed-use development.

The proposed apartment complex would include a pool, a dog park and open space for gatherings in the southern portion of the complex.

Steinsnyder said the developers and county have agreed to meet with a special magistrate, David Mechanik, who is a Florida Supreme Court-certified mediator.

While a site for that meeting hasn’t been chosen, the public is invited to attend, especially those who are affected by the proposed development. If a resolution can be reached, another public hearing would be held and the BOCC would have to vote on the project again. 

Pasco’s Planning Commission originally voted down the plan to rezone the 86,000 square feet of retail and office space in September due to a number of concerns.

After the developers amended their original plan, the BCC voted 3-2 against it at the Jan. 11 meeting, with District 2 commissioner and Seven Oaks resident Mike Moore joining District 1 commissioner Ron Oakley and commissioner Jack Mariano of District 5 in opposition.

The Seven Oaks application was submitted prior to the BCC’s current apartment moratorium.

At the exceptionally long Jan. 11 meeting, dozens of Seven Oaks residents showed up to speak against the project.

Gary Lemberg, the president of the Seven Oaks Property Owners Association, told commissioners at that meeting that he hadn’t talked to a single Seven Oaks resident that favored the project. “Our board is definitely against it,” he said.

 The arguments against the project varied, from traffic concerns on Ancient Oaks Blvd. (a major north-south route through Seven Oaks) to the effects on school capacity to general compatibility.

Opponents of the project, including attorney Chelsea Waller-Douthard of Waller Law, mentioned the number of apartment complexes already in that area.

Windsor Club at Seven Oaks to the east has 240 units on 14.7 acres, and the Colonial Grand at Seven Oaks rental community to the west has 318 units on 20 acres.

In addition, the Enclave at Wesley Chapel has 312 units on 43 acres, and Bonterra Parc has 264 units on 26.3 units. Both are located across the street from Seven Oaks, on the south side of S.R. 56.

The proposed project “is double the density of any apartment community in Seven Oaks, and two-and-a-half times the density of other apartments in the area,” Waller-Douthard said, adding that it was more of a fit for South Tampa or Orlando than Wesley Chapel.

Planning Commission Says No To Rezoning Efforts

County planners say the lone remaining property in the parcel above (outlined in red) should be preserved for retail and office space, not more apartments.

In a sign that developers in Pasco County may be facing a new uphill battle when it comes to rezoning property in order to build apartments, the county’s planning staff and Planning Commission rejected an effort to do just that in the Seven Oaks development, just off S.R. 56 and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd.

First, the county’s planning staff recommended denying a substantial modification to the Seven Oaks MPUD Master Planned Unit Development (MPUD) Master Plan, and then, by a 3-1 vote on Sept. 8, Pasco’s Planning Commission voted down the plan to rezone 86,000 square feet of retail and office space for a 320-unit apartment complex.

Chris Williams, the director of planning for the Pasco School Board, had to leave before the Planning Commission vote but did voice his support for the developer’s plans.

Roberto Saez, MBA, CGC, AIA, a 14-year Seven Oaks resident, made the motion to deny. Saez formerly served as a senior construction project manager for Pasco County, and while he noted that the project was impressive, and something needed in the county, “this is not the right location.”

The proposed apartments would be located on a 10-acre parcel, currently zoned for commercial and retail development, adjacent to the Sam’s Club on S.R. 56. Ancient Oaks Dr. serves as the western boundary of the parcel, BBD as the eastern boundary and S.R. 56 as the southern boundary.

The proposed apartment complex would include a pool, a dog park and open space for gatherings in the southern portion of the complex.

But, opponents of the project note that there already are two apartment complexes in that area of Seven Oaks — Windsor Club at Seven Oaks to the east and Colonial Grand at Seven Oaks to the west. And, the Enclave at Wesley Chapel and Bonterra Parc apartments are both located right across the street, on the south side of S.R. 56. The residents also raised concerns about traffic issues on Ancient Oaks Blvd.

Joel Tew, the attorney for the developer DD/SR 56 LLC and Walmart, refuted each argument, and claimed the decision to recommend denying the rezoning appeared to be driven by politics, a reference to the county’s current multi-family moratorium.

Politics Or Public Benefit?

Pasco’s Board of County Commissioners, led by District 2 commissioner and Seven Oaks resident Mike Moore, issued a moratorium on accepting any new apartment applications back in May, after debating for months whether the county, and specifically most of the Wesley Chapel area, was facing too much of a glut of multi-family development.

While the Seven Oaks application was submitted prior to the moratorium going into effect, the political headwinds were still felt, Tew says.

“At the pre-app (meeting), staff told us that there was no problem with this application,” Tew said. “Staff said it was a great spot for this. It’s only now, due to a political directive, that staff at the last minute was told to oppose this application. That’s unfortunate.”

The county’s Planning and Development Department wrote that the project, as proposed, “is inconsistent with Comprehensive Plan Policy FLU 1.8.7, Economic Development, and Policy FLU 1.8.10, Preservation of Capacity for Employment-Generating Uses.”

I
“In a normal world, if this project came in, it would be on (the) consent (agenda). You wouldn’t think twice about it. You’d be thanking the developer for building exactly the mixed-use project that this county has begged all developers to build.
 — Attorney Joel Tew

Nectorios Pittos, the director of planning and development for Pasco, said an independent third-party analysis that was conducted concluded that the proposed 320-unit rental apartment development would generate $188,375 in annual county revenue over a 10-year average, but the current MPUD entitlements for nearly 90,000 square feet of commercial use would generate $743,375 in annual county revenue. 

The county, Pittos said, is placing a high priority on county revenue- and employment-generating land uses, which he says the current project would not do.

However, Tew, who complained he received the third-party analysis days before the hearing, disputed it by showing a chart of other similar multi-family projects and their tax bills. Extrapolating those numbers to the proposed 320 units, Tew said the proposed Seven Oaks project’s tax bill actually would generate $850,000 yearly, which, over 30 years, which would mean a $25-million windfall for the county’s coffers — and more revenue than the $22.3 million that a commercial project would generate over the same time period.

“I don’t know where they came up with those (lower) numbers,” Tew said.

Without the political overtones, Tew said, the proposed multi-family project would be a slam dunk.

“I ask that you look past the politics,” he said. “In a normal world, if this project came in, it would be on (the) consent (agenda). You wouldn’t think twice about it. You’d be thanking the developer for building exactly the mixed-use project that this county has begged all developers to build.”

Three Seven Oaks residents spoke against the project at the meeting, which was held at the Dade City Courthouse, while two others called in, also in opposition. John Thompson, one of those residents in attendance, said the project was like “fitting a square peg in a round hole” and that the area needed more room for small businesses, not more apartments.

County planners did offer another option for committee action — a continuance to the Nov. 4 Planning Commission meeting to allow the Planning & Development Department to “develop and include conditions of approval for vertically integrated mixed use building(s) that have commercial and office entitlements on the ground floor and multi-family entitlements on the upper stories.”

Tew rejected the alternative motion, saying the developer said there was “no viability” or market for such a project.

“Ironically, when I bring new clients in to meet with staff, this is exactly the kind of project they ask my clients to build,” Tew said. “When we find a hole in the donut that has everything around it, all of a sudden it’s not acceptable.”

Moore and the rest of the county commissioners will hear Tew’s apartment proposal in the coming weeks.

The county’s six-month moratorium, which went into effect May 4, has been extended another six months. Part of the plan is to determine exactly how many multi-family projects already exist in the county, and study whether the county, especially in areas like Wesley Chapel, has reached its saturation point.

Moore says he is not opposed to multi-family projects, just the efforts to rezone parcels approved for commercial and retail projects to build apartments. He says that there already is plenty of land with entitlements for multi-family projects, and cited a number of projects currently in progress.