Your Action Needed

Your community needs your help. The parcel of land that sits between US-301 and Dartmouth Hill Road has an interested developer, who is asking Hillsborough County to waive its planning rules so that it can do something else with the property other than what the county thought would work there when it envisioned how Riverview would grow.

The county has a meeting July 24th, at which it will consider the developer's request. We need to have a presence at that meeting, either in person, or by petition.

The county made its plans for a reason. It envisioned a "downtown Riverview," for which we would be part of its uptown district. It wanted buildings built near the road with parking in the back to create a more community feel. This is especially important for St. Charles Place because we have 268 units in very close proximity to the parcel.

If the developer gets its waiver, it could not only tear down the trees that make our beautiful entrance along Lake St. Charles Blvd., it could build a mega-gas station like a Race-Trac basically on top of us. Or any number of things that we would hate. Who knows? And while we have planted trees on our side of Dartmouth Hill Road, they would not be able to shut out all the light from such a giant store, operating 24/7.

Don't misunderstand: That parcel is zoned for commercial development. Something will go in there at some point. But county planners worked for more than a year to create a comprehensive plan designed to make Riverview and its US-301 corridor more than another strip mall way station on the way to the next major shopping center.

So what can you do? Write a letter to the Board of County Commissioners asking it to reject the application. Send it to the planner with Hillsborough Countyu Development Services that is leading the review of this application. Her name is Isabelle Albert. And her email is AlbertI@hillsboroughcounty.org. The application number is PRS 12-0600.

In addition to the email and mailing address listed above, you can send comments or testimony to either Hearings@HillsboroughCounty.org or by regular mail to:

    PGM - ZONING HEARING SECTION
    PO BOX 1110
    TAMPA, FL 33601

You do not need to be a homeowner to do this. If you live here, this is your community, too.

Here is the letter I'm going to send. You're welcome to use that as a template for what you write. It will mean more if you use your own words, rather than simply copying and pasting this.

Board of County Commissioners

c/o Ms. Isabelle Albert
Hillsborough County
Development Services Department
20th Floor
601 East Kennedy Blvd
Tampa, FL 33601

RE: PRS 12-0600

Dear Commissioners:

I own a home in the St. Charles Place townhome community in Riverview, and I ask that you reject the application PRS 12-0600 to waive the development standards within Section 03.20.00 (the Riverview Downtown - Uptown Overlay District) of the Land Development Code. Our tightly-packed community of 268 homes sits next to the planned development site and I fear that approving the developer's request will damage the quality of life and community, as well as home values, of my neighbors and me.

When I bought my home, it was explained that development would happen in that spot, so I understand that. But I also understand that county planners worked with citizens for more than a year to create a long-term development plan to help distinguish the Riverview Community from the miles of suburban development that line US-301 to its north and south. County Commissioners approved the rules. If we couldn't keep the green space in that parcel, being part of a downtown offered the next best thing.

Now someone, probably for the sake of another gas station, wants to erase not only the hard work of county planners and Riverview residents, but the unspoken agreement all of us in St. Charles Place made when we bought our homes. If you approve this waiver, we could lose the chance to make Riverview a distinctive community, built with thoughtful plans and original charm, that will bring higher quality development, and ultimately more tax revenue for the county.

I urge you to stand for the county's long-term plan for the Overlay District, and reject PRS 12-0600.

Sincerely,

John McQuiston

‏

HOA Meeting Tomorrow and Storm Update

First, the HOA monthly meeting is still on as scheduled for tomorrow night. If that changes because of bad weather, we'll update the blog and post to Facebook. If you check Facebook regularly, that could be the fastest way for to get notice about community news. Find us at facebook.com/StCharlesPlaceHOA.



Speaking of weather, Tropical Storm Debby's forecast track has turned again, this time bringing it into Florida. It could even come back south and strike us. WE ARE UNDER A TROPICAL STORM WARNING. That means we can expect to see tropical storm conditions within the next 48 hours.

Low lying and coastal areas have already seen flooding, and even our community had a tree fall and block part of one of our entrances. With luck, we'll get no more than some soaking rains and high winds. Without luck, we could get much worse.

Storm Update -- Stay Alert

Originally thought destined for Texas, Tropical Storm Debby will prove a slow-moving rain maker that could still strike Florida. The image above from the National Hurricane Center shows its likely forecast track as of Sunday afternoon.

Here in our community, we already had to clear a tree that fell across part of our entrance at Lake St. Charles Blvd. If you see damage, please contact the board and our property manager, Brian Wade, at Leland Management. His contact info is in the right-hand column of this page.

Stay safe.

Storm Warning

We have enjoyed extraordinary luck with weather since our community began in 2006. A current mass of developing weather in the Gulf of Mexico has some potential to change that.

It will also serve as a good reminder to make storm preparations.

The National Hurricane Center says that the disturbance shown in the image above has a 70% chance of becoming a tropical system, and weather forecasters say that most computer models show the storm moving east toward Florida over the weekend.

Even if it does not grow into a hurricane or strong tropical storm, forecasts call for anywhere from 4-7" of rain over the weekend. High winds could come, too.

If you have patio furniture or decorations on patios or porches that could blow away, you might want to secure them or bring them inside. Rains will test the capacity of our storm drains and retention ponds. We've had rains here, but nothing close to what forecasts call for now.

We have no reason to expect problems but you should beware of the weather, and make plans in case we lose water and electric service. Although the community has a property manager paid to help us, it manages other communities, and if those suffer damage and outages, too, it will take a while for us to get attention. Same with other emergency services.

Some tips: Stock up on bottled water, non-perishable food, a NON-electric can opener, batteries, flashlights, and a battery-powered radio. They also make radios with hand cranks that recharge them so you don't need batteries. These radios can even charge other devices like cell phones.

You probably won't need them, but better to keep them handy, and know where they are, then to presume that our good luck will continue, and face real problems when you haven't prepared if the luck turns bad.