pcn3.htm  June 8, 2006

Residents have more questions regarding Trilby Estates

June 8, 2006

By Joe Potter, Editor, Pasco County News  

TRILBY -- Commissioner Pat Mulieri, Ed.D., county attorney Robert Summer, chief assistant county attorney Barbara Wilhite and Sam Steffey, Pasco County's Growth Management Administrator, attended the Wednesday, May 31 meeting of the Greater Trilby Community Association to answer questions regarding the proposed Trilby Estates subdivision.   

Commissioner Ted Schrader had also planned to attend but was unable to do so because of a schedule conflict.   

Developers are seeking zoning approval from the county for the project where they plan to develop 95 home sites on 342 acres of property in the area of Powerline and Christian roads.   

The Pasco County Board of  County Commissioners is scheduled to have a public hearing regarding Trilby Estates at 6:30 p.m. on  Tuesday, June 13 at the Historic Pasco County Courthouse in Dade City.   

The developers hope to be permitted to have lot sizes ranging from 2 acres to 7 acres located within the development that will have access from both Powerline and Christian roads. Purchasers of the lots — which will range in price from  $200,000 to $300,000 — will hire  their own builder to construct their  homes, which may not be less than  2,000 square feet. No mobile homes will be permitted within the development, said Clarke Hobby, an attorney representing the developers.   

Hobby said people who spend that amount on their home sites generally spend $300,00-$500,000 on their homes. He reiterated at the May 31st meeting — the second to be held in two weeks — that the development will be "upscale."  Plans for the Master Planned United Development (MPUD) have been in the works for 18 months.

It was noted during the meeting that plans for Trilby Estates have been drawn up under Pasco County's current comprehensive plan that will be superceded this fall when a new comprehensive plan becomes effective. The development could have contained many more homes if it had been developed under provisions of the new comprehensive plan because it would have been developed as a conservation sub- division. This is a designation that applies when developer seeks an increase in density on a piece of property that contains 100 or more acres. The conservation subdivision classification would have required Trilby Estates to have 50 percent open space and would have given the developers density credit so they could have planned for more homesites. Currently, the plans for Trilby Estates call for approximately half of each lot to be designated as open space.    

Under the county's current comprehensive plan, the open space may be contained within the lot. Therefore, lot owners in Trilby Estates could use their open space for various purposes, including building a barn, having a small amount of animals, or having a garden.   

Under the new comprehensive plan, open space will not be permitted to be part of the lots within a conservation subdivision.    Steffey said the county's planning department does not envision having all of the open space within a conservation subdivision located at one end and all the housing units located at the other end. Rather, the open space would be used in such a way as to help maintain the character of the property before the development went in. For example, this would enable people driving by a conservation sub- division to see a few rooftops, as opposed to a mass of 150 rooftops as in the case of some developments.   

Questions were raised regarding whether Trilby Estates should have a centralized sanitary sewer and water system. Sumner said he thought each development should have a central water system. However, the water system issue is more relevant to the site plan consideration, Sumner said.

Sumner then addressed the sanitary sewer issue. He noted that a sewer system is for high  density areas and that Trilby Estates is not a  high density area.

It was also noted during the meeting that  any drainage occurring as the result of the development of Trilby Estates must be kept on  the property through the use .of retention  ponds and other means that will be discussed  when the site plan for the development is considered. That will not occur unless or until  the zoning- issue has been favorably agreed upon by the commissioners.

Toward the conclusion of the meeting, Hobby remarked that it is in Pasco County's  5- and 20-year Cost Affordability Studies to  place a multipurpose trail along both Christian and Powerline Roads. Some people had favored having a trail run along former railroad right of way that has been abandoned.  However, Hobby said, that is not a practical alternative because of development that has occurred where the railroad right of way previously existed.