Civic activists seeking to halt runaway growth in Hillsborough won one and tied one last week against two politically connected development interests, an indication that either the activists are growing in strength or we are rapidly coming to election season. Or both.
The win: Commissioners sided with a crowd of about 50 activists to turn down a request by an Orlando developer who wanted to build an industrial park at McIntosh Road and Interstate 4 — outside of the county's urban growth boundary, which is designed to protect rural properties from development.
The tie (although some activists bemoaned it as a loss): Commissioners voted 5-2 to give developer Stephen J. Dibbs a delay on his request to rezone 37 acres near the Suncoast Parkway to allow more homes, retail and industrial construction on the site. (How much? Dibbs asked for a rezoning to go from an allowable six houses to a category that would allow him to build 208. He wants to build fewer than that — to save room for a new shopping center.) The Planning Commission had recommended that the project be turned down.
Activists said they are starting to turn out serious numbers of voters to protest just these kinds of sprawl proposals.
"The simple lesson is that politicians bend over easier in the dark," wrote Sierra Club member Mariella Smith in response to my blog site report on the votes. "We had a full house of citizens watching at the hearing last [Thursday], and not just from one or two threatened neighborhoods.
"When commissioners see people from every corner of the county," Smith continued, "pulling together to call on them to do the right thing everywhere (not just in our own backyards), our political clout outweighs the special interest dollars."
Another activist present, Kelly Cornelius of the United Citizens Action Network, echoed that assessment when I reached her the day after the vote, but she added another factor: commissioners' fear of the upcoming elections in November.
"The incumbents don't dare vote on this with an election looming," Cornelius said.
It isn't sexy stuff to write about Hillsborough County's urban services boundary, but the imaginary line that is supposed to contain suburban sprawl around Florida cities is important nonetheless. Around these parts, it's been under assault for decades.
But activists such as Smith, Cornelius, Dee Layne, Terry Flott and myriad others seem to be making some headway in making it at least uncomfortable for commissioners to allow more developments in the rural areas of Hillsborough County.
Longtime readers of the Loaf will remember Dibbs from articles last year when he was featured as the main culprit behind an ill-fated push by pro-growth commissioners to kill or mortally wound the county's wetlands regulations. Dibbs, who has built numerous subdivision and commercial projects in Hillsborough County, is a major contributor to county elections, more than $10,000 since 2002. He's also served on the host committee for some commissioners' larger fund-raising events.
How pervasive are his connections? Six of the seven current county commissioners are beneficiaries of his largesse: Ken Hagan, Mark Sharpe, Jim Norman, Al Higginbotham, Kevin White and Brian Blair.
The only commissioner he didn't give to was Rose Ferlita, who arrived late for the initial vote granting him a delay and who forced a second vote so she could register her displeasure. She was joined by Sharpe in opposition to the continuance.
On the upside, however, there was the 6-0 against the Orlando company's I-4 at Macintosh Road industrial park project. Some 20 people spoke against the proposal from ML Carter Development.
ML Carter hasn't contributed lots of cash to the commission, but its attorney, Tampa land-use lawyer Vincent Marchetti, is no stranger to the campaign checkbook. He has contributed to every single member of the County Commission at some point over the past four elections. The total: $6,850.
So is the lesson the Hillsborough County Commission can't be bought with campaign contributions? Or that contributions from a developer carry more weight than those from a land-use lawyer?
Or is the lesson that election season is no time to ask a political pal for a favor when 50 angry residents are sitting in front of them? After all, Dibbs' request for a delay in hearing his Suncoast Parkway project proposal didn't merely ask for a few months; he is putting off a decision until 2009, after the County Commission elections.
This article appears in Mar 5-11, 2008.