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Hillsborough County zoning master recommends approval of plan to turn landfill into homes

The recommendation to the county commissioners hasn't deterred neighbors from fighting the project.
Credit: 10 Tampa Bay
Susan Pritchard is joined by several other members of the Twelve Oaks Civic Association which opposes the project

TOWN 'N' COUNTRY, Fla. — Hillsborough County commissioners have been advised to approve a rezoning request that would build homes on top of an old landfill. We've confirmed the county zoning master issued that report earlier this month.

One of the biggest problems people in the nearby Twelve Oaks neighborhood have is how the county evaluated traffic for the proposed project.

In the report, the county states there are already 575 car trips every single day from this parcel and that the project would decrease traffic. When the county projects traffic impacts, they use the highest number of possible trips currently allowed under the zoning for a property, not trips already existing. 

“Their stance with the traffic situation is actually — we find very laughable,” Susan Pritchard, president of the Twelve Oaks Civic Association, said.

The developer wants to build 52 homes on the old Barry Road landfill site. That's six fewer than what is currently allowed with its zoning designation, so the traffic study says traffic would decrease by building additional homes. 

“The county already can't keep our roads in shape,” Pritchard added. “We just had to have trucks come out and fill potholes six inches deep.” 

Ultimately, it's up to county commissioners to vote the rezoning up or down at a meeting in May. 

The civic association wants their district commissioner, Harry Cohen, to vote against the plan. In a text to 10 Tampa Bay, Cohen said, “I am not in a position to discuss the matter prior to the hearing. It is quasi-judicial and anything I say would compromise my ability to decide fairly on the case.”

To build the homes, the developer agreed to dig up and remove all of the trash that's buried on the property. That alleviated concerns from county environmental services about gas build-up and homes potentially sinking.

As an online petition to oppose the homes adds more signers, neighbors hope to keep the pressure on the county commission to listen to them over county staff and grant their wish — to keep living next to a landfill.

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