Commissioners To Consider RaceTrac Proposal Today (April 9)

The zoning hearing master's recommendation is for the Hillsborough County Commissioners, at a land-use meeting today, April 9, to approve, with conditions, a RaceTrac petroleum development at the southeast corner of Kings Avenue and West Lumsden Road.

It's a project that is bitterly opposed by a group of community activists, who periodically have been sporting "Deny 12-0263" signs in protest of the development in front of the wetlands they are determined to protect.

"Deny 12-0263" refers to the RaceTrac Petroleum Inc. application number.

A Brandon Patch report posted April 8 noted one such protest, held April 5 at the site. There in attendance were protestors Vivian Bacca, Sophia Coleman, Irene Rodriguez, Manny and Joni Colver and Edith Stewart, a former Hillsborough County lobbyist and public affairs officer.

• See Has Brandon Become a Gas Pan Alley?

Surrounding the corner are office park developments that took shape without permission to encroach on the wetlands in question. Attorney Vince Marchetti, they said, successfully moved to have the current issue reviewed in terms of zoning as distinguished from the wetlands, which he noted, is a concern of the Environmental Protection Commission.

The activists are concerned that the the splintering effect will lead to a back-door acceptance of a RaceTrac development on historic wetlands. They said their overriding aim is to protect the county's wetlands rule.

"This is bigger than this piece of property," Stewart said. "I see it as a litmus test of the wetlands rule. If this corner goes, the next corner goes and all the wetlands will follow."

In response to the April 5 post, Brandon Patch readers Allen Shaffer and Nancy Gorrell offered their support.

"The wetlands at Lithia Pinecrest & Bloomingdale were covered for Publix and people got flooded out of their homes," Shaffer said in his posted comment. "Now the county is spending tax payer dollars to try and fix the problem. Wetlands have a purpose and that is drainage and filtration."

Noted Gorrell, in her posted comment:

It's time for the county commissioners to stand up to big business and do what's right by the citizens who live in the area. Destroying wetlands to create yet another traffic nightmare, not to mention the environmental impact this will have, is not in the best interest of those of us who live and travel in the area every day.

Zoning hearing officer Steven Luce recommended against approving the plan in November, according to a Tampa Bay Times report. So did the Environmental Protection Commission, as the 2.5 acres of land RaceTrac wants to build on includes wetlands. The Hillsborough County commissioners decided in December to have the hearing officer reconsider the zoning application without considering the impact on the wetlands, which was already being weighed by the EPC, according to the report.

As previously reported, Stewart noted that residents and activists put up a "long, drawn-out fight" when the office park developments were first proposed, to include the corner wetlands. "Citizens stood up for perserving these wetlands and didn't think they'd have to come out and do it again," Stewart said. "They probably thought no one was watching, but we are."

"A deal is a deal," Bacca said. "We already have a problem in Brandon with so many wetlands developed."

"They're compromising the future of our water source to make money today," added Rodriguez, who lives nearby in Oak Park, who laments as well the added traffic flow the proposed development represents. "Why would anybody compromise their future water source to make money today?"

"They changed the rules of the game in the middle," Joni Colver said. "We need some wetlands and some trees and some green around. We don't need pavement everywhere. We already have several gas stations. We don't need more."

Indeed, Stewart said Bloomingdale Avenue is also known as "Gas Pan Alley," with Throntons newly opened at U.S. Highway 301 and Progress Boulevard and Wawa under construction just east on Bloomingdale Avenue.

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RELATED COVERAGE:

• Wetlands Rule Ignored To Allow Gas Station's Development

• Potential RaceTrac at Kings Avenue and Lumsden Road Debated

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