Commissioner Murman quoted in this Tribune article on getting people back to work:
Published: January 11, 2012
By Mike Salinero
Developers of a massive, mixed-use community in east Hillsborough County won approval Tuesday for changes that will save the company $30 million on roadwork around the development.
On a 5-1 vote, county commissioners approved Newland Communities’ proposed changes to the Lake Hutto Development of Regional Impact. County officials approved the development agreement in 2006 when Pulte Homes was planning to develop Lake Hutto, a residential and commercial development on three parcels totaling 1,127 acres.
Newland Communities, a developer of upscale subdivisions, acquired the property on FishHawk Boulevard in 2007 as the local housing market began to collapse.
With demand for new housing still soft, Newland asked the commissioners to reduce the number of homes in the development agreement from 3,192 to 2,599, while increasing retail and office space by 160,000 square feet.
“Only 56 homes have been built and sold since Lake Hutto was approved,” said attorney Andrea Zelman, who represented Newland at the commission meeting.
Zelman said the reduction in residential units and increase in commercial and office space will result in fewer trips in and out of the development. County transportation officials agree.
“People who live in the houses, some of them will work in the development,” Mike Williams, county manager of development review, said before the meeting. “It makes it less likely they’ll travel downtown.”
Newland used the lower number of projected vehicle trips as justification to scale back road improvements the company is responsible for funding. Instead of the $72 million Pulte agreed to in the original agreement, Newland will widen roads and improve intersections to the tune of $42 million.
County officials pointed out that Newland is spending $19 million more on roadwork than the company would be required to under a law passed last year by the Legislature.
But that explanation didn’t satisfy a handful of community activists who argued that additional commercial use in Lake Hutto will increase traffic in and out of the development. They pointed to FishHawk Boulevard, which Newland has agreed to widen from two to four lanes, but only for the 1.3 miles between the development and Bell Shoals Road. The original agreement called for the road to be widened its entire length from Bell Shoals to Lithia Pinecrest Road.
“Even in the present time, even without Lake Hutto and its traffic, we get backups every afternoon,” Dave Kulow of the Boyette Springs homeowners association said after the meeting.
Pam Clouston, a member of Rural Lithia Neighborhood Defense, said the commissioners were doing a “disservice to citizens of FishHawk and beyond” by removing requirements to widen FishHawk Boulevard and a section of Lithia Pine-crest Road.
Commissioner Sandy Murman agreed with the activists that all of FishHawk Boulevard needs widening. But more important, she said, is getting the road projects under way that Newland has agreed to fund.
“Let’s get something moving,” Murman said. “Let’s get people back to work.”
