Pasco County, FL - Urban Land Institute

Much of central, north
central, and northeastern
portions of Pasco County
remains rural.
go further and have sites in different parts of the
county ready with sewer and water already in
the ground so that the prospect is only in need of
building permits. All other discretionary permits
should be taken care of. Then, combined with
recommendations in other parts of this report
regarding planning and approval processes, applicants
will have some certainty on moving into
the building.
Central Market Area Strategies to Respect
Natural Systems and Processes
The panel suggests studying the development
and conservation uses between U.S. 41 and I-75,
and the Ridge Road extension and the north
county boundary. This area is largely undeveloped
at present; however, it will be under pressure
for entitlements. Water resource and conservation
issues, the level of entitlement in other
parts of the county, and the high costs of servicing
this area all suggest the county has time to
review its development policies in this area. The
panel suggests creating a study effort to elevate
conservation as a priority here—as a unique regional
asset with regional trail connections, water
flows between adjacent areas and counties, ecological
issues, agricultural continuity, ranchettes,
and clustered housing.
Central Market Area Strategies to Include
Property Owners
The following strategies are recommended to include
private property owners in the Central Market
Area development process.
Compensation to land owners: differential land
value. The panel is aware that efforts to rationalize
and focus the direction and location of development
may reduce, or postpone, disposition of
certain properties, out of synch with property
owners’ desires. Some mechanism needs to be put
in place to reflect dislocations in property development
timing, intensity, and ultimately, land value.
The current state and county concurrency funding
and impact fee assessments have the effect of
creating excessive fees making projects infeasible.
If the county moves to a trip generation fee based
on an area-wide assessment process, all projects
within the area may be assessed more or less
equally, acting counter to the panel’s recommendation
to prioritize. The funding measures currently
in place operate as a disincentive for development
of out-parcels given the large number of
improvements necessary for project approval. The
suggestion here is to create positive incentives for
landowners to willingly defer or even abandon development
proposals in parcels not conforming to
the new vision.
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An Advisory Services Panel Report