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Balance of nature

Building homes between Mill Bayou and the Little Manatee River would spoil the natural beauty and affect water quality, opponents say.

By LETITIA STEIN
Published September 2, 2005

RUSKIN - From his front yard, Frank Harrison marvels at Florida's unspoiled beauty.

The calm waters of Mill Bayou lap the edge of his neighborhood on Saffold Park Drive. Modest homes overlook a spit of land overgrown with native pines, cedars and a colorful bouquet of wild flowers.

"You want to see what Florida looked like 200 years ago?" Harrison, 57, asks.

He points across Mill Bayou to a sliver of land.

"It's right here," he says.

But a developer wants to change the view drastically.

SWW Inc. has proposed building 30 houses on this 15.6-acre piece of land, sandwiched between Mill Bayou and the Little Manatee River. Most of the proposed homes would feature waterfront views.

Neighbors and environmentalists say any development here would be a mistake.

"This is lupine here," said Ruskin resident Mariella Smith, pointing to a plant native to Florida. When in bloom, lupine shoots blue spiral flowers into the air.

"I just smell a gopher tortoise around here in these burrows," she said.

Smith, co-chair of the Sierra Club chapter in south Hillsborough, and others have seen foxes, woodpeckers and hummingbirds. Pines, palms, oaks and ceders tower over the property's uplands. And delicate mangroves fill in the shoreline.

Four years ago, David and Beryl Looney built their dream house next to the proposed development on Seventh Street. As neighbors, they have a family of night herons. After a bad storm, frogs flood the property.

Now the Looneys worry about 30 homeowners chopping down mangroves in order to sod lawns.

"I just don't see how you can build that many houses down there without tearing everything up," said Beryl Looney, 66.

Neither does the Sierra Club's Tampa Bay and South Hillsborough chapters, which are opposing SWW's request to rezone the land from agricultural uses to planned development. The county's environmental stewards also have raised objections.

The Environmental Protection Commission reported that the land available for development mostly lies along a narrow strip less than 350 feet wide, a tight squeeze for a subdivision. The number of homes proposed could impact the water quality of the Little Manatee River and Cockroach Bay, the only state aquatic preserve in Hillsborough County, the EPC said.

Already, the EPC noted, it has spent about $400,000 to study and relieve man-made damage to seagrass beds around Cockroach Bay.

The county natural resources department pointed out that county codes prohibit removing mature, native trees within 100 feet of the Little Manatee River unless absolutely necessary.

The department wanted to know how the developer would meet this requirement, as well as guarantees that native plants around sensitive wetlands would not be disturbed.

Based on those reports, county planners were recommending denial of the development, Petition 05-0645.

Since filing the controversial rezoning application in February, the developer has requested at least six zoning hearing continuances, staff said. A hearing is now scheduled for Sept. 27.

The developer's representatives declined to comment for this article.

Facing community opposition, the developer has significantly scaled back the proposal already. Initial plans seven months ago called for 67 homes on about 60 acres.

For neighbors, the stakes are personal.

Bob Hasch has lived near Saffold Park Drive for almost 25 years. When he and his wife moved here, a dirt ramp marked what now is the county's Domino Park and Boat Ramp. Today, the land is worth more than the modest homes that sit on them.

The remoteness and natural beauty of the community drew Hasch here. Now he worries that 30 homes will overwhelm the neighborhood's narrow, winding roads.

"I don't begrudge anybody making a pick of their investment, but let's get real people," said Hasch, 60. "You look out there and nothing is man-made. The man upstairs made it."

Letitia Stein can be reached at 661-2443 or lstein@sptimes.com

[Last modified September 2, 2005, 02:15:35]