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Hillsborough to extend south county growth moratorium

Proposed development rules for Wimauma and Balm are panned during public hearings Thursday.
 
Businesses and homes are pictured on State Road 674 on  Aug. 27, 2020, in Wimauma. Thursday night, Hillsborough Commissioners delayed proposed changes to growth-guiding  land plans for Wimauma and Balm following criticism at two public hearings.
Businesses and homes are pictured on State Road 674 on Aug. 27, 2020, in Wimauma. Thursday night, Hillsborough Commissioners delayed proposed changes to growth-guiding land plans for Wimauma and Balm following criticism at two public hearings. [ LUIS SANTANA | Times (2020) ]
Published Feb. 5, 2021

TAMPA — Hillsborough commissioners said they will extend a development moratorium in south county through the rest of the year after proposed growth-guiding land plans for Balm and Wimauma drew heavy criticism Thursday night.

The commission adopted a 270-day moratorium on new zoning applications for the two areas in late 2019 and extended it again last year. The pause was intended to buy time to rework community plans in response to rapid-fire residential growth that had strained government’s ability to provide transportation, water, schools and firefighting services to the rural areas.

But the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted the in-person community meetings, and the county said virtual sessions became problematic in largely lower-income Wimauma, where more than a third of the residents don’t have internet access.

In response, commissioners said they would extend the moratorium, scheduled to expire May 31, until Dec. 31 to allow more input on the proposed land-use rules.

Related: Wimauma at epicenter of Hillsborough land disputes

That decision came amid two public hearings lasting nearly 4½ hours Thursday night, in which farmers, land-use lawyers, affordable housing advocates and others panned the recommended amendments to the county’s land plan.

Agricultural interests bashed a proposal to eliminate the density credit for wetlands, which would essentially reduce the number of homes that could be built on their properties. They said it would diminish the value of their land and their future borrowing power, and could eventually lead to more rapid development of farm property amid a cash crunch.

“You don’t solve infrastructure problems by taking property rights away from landowners,” said rancher Jimmy Selvey, the son of former Commissioner Jim Selvey.

Related: Hillsborough plan would reduce home-building tied to wetlands

Commission Chair Pat Kemp has advocated for setting housing densities on the number of upland acres on a parcel rather than including regulated wetlands in the housing calculations. The Washington D.C.-based economic and real estate consulting firm, WTL+a, retained by the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission as part of the community plans rewrite, offered the same recommendation late last year.

But after the heavy pushback from the agricultural community, commissioners, on a 5-2 vote, scrapped the idea of excising the wetland density credit from the community plans. Kemp and Commissioner Mariella Smith dissented. Instead, the issue is scheduled to be determined in April when commissioners consider Kemp’s separate wetlands credit proposal, which would cover all of the county’s rural areas, not just Wimauma and Balm.

During the hearings, some speakers called for incentives to encourage affordable housing developments in more rural areas of Wimauma. They are allowed now in the downtown core, because it is in the urban service area served by county water and sewer utilities. Others objected to what they perceived as exorbitant buffering and green space requirements.

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The commission called the public hearings as part of the process of sending amendments to the county’s land plan for state review. But in agreeing to extend the moratorium, commissioners also supported Commission Stacy White’s suggestion to delay the state applications to gather more community input.

Despite the numerous objections, not everyone was unhappy with the recommendations.

“I think that we cannot overlook the property rights of the rural community and the people that moved out to these rural areas to avoid traffic and congestion and to live in low-density areas,” said Vivienne Handy.