Pasco plans to designate ecological corridor on 1,500 acres

August 15, 2023 By B.C. Manion

The land use designation on more than 1,500 acres in Land O’ Lakes would be changed from planned development to conservation, under a proposal sent to state officials for review.

The Pasco County Commission voted on Aug. 8 to send the proposal to the state, and then it will come back to the county board for final action.

The 1,517.89 acres proposed for the change are located south of State Road 52, north of State Road 54, east of the Suncoast Parkway and west of a CSX Rail corridor in Land O’ Lakes.

The property is in the area previously referred to as Project Arthur, but now known locally as the emerging community of Angeline.

The change will amend the county’s conservation map in the North Pasco to Crossbar Critical Ecological Corridor and the North Pasco to Connerton Ecological Corridor.

The proposed change is a result of a collaboration between the county’s Planning and Development Department and its Parks, Recreation, & Natural Resources Department, according to the county board’s Aug. 8 agenda packet.

The departments are working together to implement an agreement approved on Nov. 19, 2019, relating to Project Arthur ecological corridor sites.

The proposed land use change includes 843.50 acres for the North Pasco to Crossbar corridor and 674.39 acres for North Pasco to Connerton corridor, according to the agenda materials.

“The 843.50 acres of the North Pasco to Crossbar corridor were acquired by the Environmental Lands Acquisition and Management Program (ELAMP),” materials in the agenda packet add.

The county’s ELAMP acquired that land from Len-Angeline LLC and the James and Mabel Family Partnership LLP, et al, for $21,950,000, according to the background materials.

On another matter, the county board approved Carmen Chucrala and Doug Traub each to three-year terms serving as consumer representatives on the Pasco County Construction Board (PCCB).

That board has 10 voting members who have the jurisdiction and authority to hear and decide alleged violations of the county’s codes and ordinances.

The board is made up of volunteers representing these disciplines: an air conditioning or mechanical contractor, an aluminum contractor, an electrical contractor, a general contractor, a plumbing contractor, a general or residential contractor, a roofing contractor and three consumer representatives.

There are currently vacancies for an aluminum contractor, an electrical contractor, a general contractor, and a roofing contractor.

In other action, the board approved:

Published August 16, 2023