BRANDON, Fla. — To Katherine Cosmas, residing simply outdoors Brandon proved to be the most effective of each worlds: it’s near Tampa, however not too shut.
“It was just great to live out here because we were close enough to be into the city, 25 minutes from Tampa, and far enough away where we weren’t in congestion — in traffic — 24/7,” she stated.
Lately, nonetheless, Cosmas stated her day by day routine has turn into tougher.
Frequent congestion on roads like Bloomingdale Avenue, Lithia Pinecrest Road, and Bell Shoals Road means her commute to work in Hyde Park can now take as much as an hour.
“You can never count on anything, and if you’re running late, you’re just going to be late,” stated Cosmas.
She fears that unhealthy visitors may quickly develop worse if an previous cow pasture close to the nook of Bell Shoals Road and Guiles Road turns into the world’s latest neighborhood.
The Falcone Group, a Boca Raton-based developer, utilized for the correct rezoning to permit for 180 properties on the roughly 38-acre website, which is simply north of Bloomingdale Avenue. Currently, the plan requires 74 single-family properties and 106 townhomes. The development will embrace an entrance/exit on each Bell Shoals Road and Guiles Road.
Hillsborough County
“We’re just not prepared for it,” she stated. “I understand growth and the need for growth — we live in a great state and a great place — but we’re just not prepared for it. Our schools aren’t prepared. Our roads aren’t prepared.”
Kathryn Barry, one other neighbor, stated no matter considerations about visitors and different points, a development with so many townhouses doesn’t match with the group round it.
The Brandon Community Plan, which guides the group’s progress, requires “low-density residential” and “single-family homes with lot sizes of at least half-acre” in the world the place the development is deliberate. Areas like that one, based on the group plan, could retain zoning that provides them the “feel of a semi-rural lifestyle.”
“Pretty soon, we are surrounded by something that doesn’t go with the small-town atmosphere of the Brandon Community Plan,” stated Barry. “Our focus has never been on no development. It’s just that development that’s consistent with the community, and I think that that’s what we were hoping.”
Those considerations are why she helped launch the Facebook group “Cows to Chaos” for like-minded neighbors to arrange and keep knowledgeable.
WFTS
Additionally, she and different neighbors plan to attend a pair of two upcoming conferences.
The undertaking will obtain a rezoning public listening to at 6 p.m. on September 19 on the Robert W. Saunders, Sr. Public Library in Tampa.
Additionally, neighbors will get one other likelihood to fulfill with representatives of the developer throughout a neighborhood assembly at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday on the Winthrop Barn Theatre (11349 Bloomingdale Ave. in Riverview).
ABC Action News reached out to the developer however has but to listen to again. Nevertheless, in its utility filed with Hillsborough County, the Falcone Group stated the undertaking “will be compatible with the surrounding area.”
“The project proposes uses that already exist in the area (single-family detached homes and townhomes),” it reads, in half. “These uses are complementary in size and scale to the surrounding area.”
Additionally, a visitors examine ready for the developer says visitors also needs to function at an “acceptable level” even with the extra visitors the undertaking would create.