Rezoning Request Riles Rural Lithia Community

A Lithia-Pinecrest Road resident is requesting a rezoning so he can legally store recreational vehicles and boats on his property.

However, Lithia residents fear the requested rezoning will open up the area to commercial development. They plan to protest the rezoning when it goes before a zoning hearing master Sept. 19 at 6:30 p.m.

The property at 6530 Lithia-Pinecrest Road is one of three parcels, totaling 18.9 acres, owned by Louis Maloni on the south side of Lithia-Pinecrest, just west of Browning Road. 

For the past 10 years, Maloni has been using the property to store boats and RVs for snowbirds living in the area. The property also contains three single-family homes used by Maloni and his family.

After residents complained that the property was being used illegally to store vehicles, the county Code Enforcement Department investigated in November 2009 and found Maloni to be in violation of county zoning laws.

Maloni said he had to wait for the snowbirds to return before he could remove the boats and RVs from the property. But in March 2010, a code inspector found he was still using the property for storage. At that time, Maloni indicated he planned to file a petition to rezone his property so it could be legally used for storage.

But it wasn't until January that the property owner's land use attorney, Vin Marchetti, finally filed the rezoning request asking to change the property from agricultural/rural designation to a planned development.

Maloni received another notice Feb. 8 that he was in violation of land use codes.    I

A Code Enforcement Board/Special Magistrate Hearing took place April 7, and was continued until June 1 because the property owner had applied for a waiver fees for the rezoning.

The fee waiver was granted April 29 and, at the June 1 zoning hearing, the property was found in violation of code, but no penalties were assessed since the owner was in the process of rezoning.

In addition to requesting the rezoning to PD, Marchetti is asking for a waiver to allow a commercial use in the agricultural/rural land use category that is not near an intersection. Normally, commercial development in the rural category is allowed only at intersections.

In the request for a waiver, Maloni's engineer, Kevin Mineer, noted that the size, scale and location of the storage facility is in direct response to the market and the needs of the adjacent public -- the 4,500-unit FishHawk Ranch and other nearby residential developments that do not provide RV or boat storage within these communities.

He added that only 10 percent of the total property is devoted to the storage facility.

Maloni has also requsted a variance from the condition that he build a 6-foot-tall stockade fence to screen the storage area, noting that the storage area is approximately 400 feet from Lithia-Pinecrest Road and is difficult to see from the road. Maloni is contending that he has already planted many trees to further screen the storage area from public view.

However, Pam Clouston, president of R-Land, a group of residents striving to keep the area rural, fears the rezoning would open up the area to commercial development.

"Once it's zoned planned development, there's no guarantee the property owner will use it for storage," she said. "He could sell it and the property could be used for commercial development. Once the rezoning is granted, it goes with the land even if the original site plan is not built. Anything can be put in there -- a strip center or a big-box store. All the new property owner would have to do is apply for a modification."

Clouston said she fears the rezoning could result in an extension of the Urban Service Area boundary down Lithia-Pinecrest Road. This area is currently in the Rural Service Area where commercial development is restricted.

"He has something like 64 letters of support," said Clouston. "My guess is that they are from the folks who are storing things on the property."

She is rallying residents in the area to attend the Sept. 19 zoning hearing to protest the rezoning.

"If we have enough people protesting, we might be able to keep this rural property rural," she said. "This is just the first step. It will still have to go before the county commission. But, in order to speak at the BOCC meeting, a person has to either speak at the zoning       hearing or send a letter and fill out a form as a party of record." 

On Sept. 7, The Planning Commission concluded that the request to rezone the property from agricultural/rural to planned development was inconsistent with the Hillsborough County Future Land Use Plan. Then, on Sept. 12, county planner Brian Grady also recommended against approving the rezoning request.

"So now we'll see what the zoning hearing master recommends," said Clouston. "This should be of concern to everyone living in this rural area. If this domino falls, all the rest will go with it."

Marchetti was not available for comment at press time.