Springing Into Action

SPRING HILL -
There are no mermaids swimming in Bob Hill Spring.
The spring, located just yards from the intersection of U.S. 19 and County Line Road, feeds a small, meandering creek and five-acre pond - not a landmark river such as the Weekiwachee.
But to the residents of Holiday Springs RV Resort, Bob Hill Spring is just as precious as the famous one a few miles north on U.S. 19.
"You can see why we want to fight to protect it," said Maggie Wood as she, her husband Robert and a handful of other residents gave a tour of the resort grounds last week. "It's a piece of paradise."
Holiday Springs residents, along with owners Wayne and Lamont Garber, are fighting a proposal to rezone a 13-acre parcel adjacent to the resort to allow for commercial development.
The parcel, on the northwest corner of County Line and U.S. 19, is shaped like an upside-down "L," the bottom portion of which lies west of the RV park.
Two areas of the property - one at the northern end and another at the southern end, both along U.S. 19 - are already zoned commercial. However, a majority of the parcel is zoned for agriculture.
The landowner, Edward Kovach, seeks a planned development project zoning for the entire property. That would allow for myriad commercial uses, such as drive-in restaurants, a car or truck dealership, auto repair, liquor store or mini-warehouse, among about a dozen others.
The plan calls for separating the property into five outparcels, with five freestanding buildings totaling nearly 50,000 square feet.
The Planning and Zoning Commission approved the plan last month by a 4 to 1 vote. The County Commission will consider the proposal at its land use hearing on Wednesday.
Holiday Springs residents have submitted a petition with some 100 signatures to formally oppose the project. At least that many have signed up to board a chartered bus Wednesday and travel to Brooksville to speak up at the land use hearing.
They worry about how the project could impact their neighborhood and particularly the spring, which is about 100 feet west of Kovach's property line.
The potential automotive-related uses, which come with the requisite fuel, oil and other potential pollutants, are particularly troubling, they said.
"That was our worst fear," said Lamont Garber, who purchased the 35-acre property with his brother in 2002.
Holiday Springs is a community of roughly 250 parcels, most of which are occupied by tidy mobile homes. Others are "pull-in" lots for motor homes. About 200 are part-time residents who hail from Canada and states such as Michigan, Ohio and other chillier parts of the country.
The resort has created a swimming hole of the spring, surrounding it with a concrete patio and umbrellas. A nature trail meanders along the creek that flows from the spring and into a five-acre lake about a half-mile away.
A small, pink directional sign along a path to the spring whimsically proclaims it to be "the Fountain of Youth."
It might not be that, but it is a portal to the aquifer, Lamont Garber said, and the resort's well is just a few feet away.
County staff recommended approval of the proposal. Staffers noted the presence of a Class One wetland on the site but stated there are no designated special protection areas.
Zoning Commissioner Anthony Palmieri dissented in the vote.
"I'm surprised I was the only one," Palmieri said in an interview Monday.
Palmieri said he was concerned that the westernmost portion of the property extends far beyond the typical commercial development corridor along U.S. 19.
He also worried that the proposal didn't include specific strategies to protect what he called "some of the most environmentally-sensitive land in the county" from pollutants generated on the site.
"They really have not addressed properly what they're going to do to prevent any of these things from going into the spring," Palmieri said.
Planning Commissioner Anna Liisa Covell voted in favor of the plan but set the stipulation that the westernmost portion of the property, north of the spring, be set aside for drainage retention.
Covell said that the spring, so close to U.S. 19, would likely be more protected than it is now from polluted runoff because the Southwest Florida Water Management District would make sure the site plan includes safeguards.
"That's an easy out," Todd Pressman said in response to that argument.
Pressman, president of Pressman and Associates in Clearwater, is a zoning consultant representing Holiday Springs in its opposition to the development plan.
Too often, the county approves a rezoning request and assumes regulations of the water management district, known as Swiftmud, will protect natural resources.
"The county and the Planning and Zoning Commission still need to be responsible and reactive to those issues," Pressman said. "The county has an environmental responsibility now."
There has been no study on the spring, and no permit requests to Swiftmud or the Department of Environmental Protection that could vet potential hazards, Pressman said.
The property includes wetlands that are too valuable to destroy, he said.
The Gulf Coast Conservancy penned a letter to the County Commission stating that destruction of the wetlands would be "unconscionable."
Swiftmud has not yet received a permit application, a district spokeswoman said.
Kovach is seeking reduction in setbacks for the project, which would put development dangerously close to the spring, Pressman contends. The plan does not include enough buffering, he said.
"When was the last time you saw an auto repair shop 100 feet from a natural Florida spring," he said.
Much of the property is designated residential on the county's comprehensive land use map, which contradicts the zoning designation on much of the site, Pressman said. It should remain residential and agriculture, he said, with the two existing commercial nodes developed in a way that's reflective of the sensitive land nearby.
The sheer density of the proposed development exceeds what's prudent for a 13-acre property, Pressman said.
"The bottom line, when you add all this up, is that it's eight pounds of sugar in a five- pound bag," Pressman said. "They're putting way too much on this site than what should be."
Robert Williams, a Tampa attorney representing the developer of the site, refutes Pressman's assertions.
The plan is not too dense, per county staff's approval, Williams said. The developer actually decreased the square footage at the request of staff, he said.
He said state regulations will ensure the spring is protected.
"Whatever we do, we'll have to go through proper authorizations from Swiftmud," Williams said.
There are no specific plans for tenants at this point, Williams said, though he did say that SunTrust has expressed interest in relocating its nearby branch to the parcel.
"It will be a good, quality development with good neighborhood uses," he said.
Maggie Wood, a Holiday Springs resident, said the issue extends beyond concerns for the spring and the resort.
"Commissioners have to start weighing how much they want to preserve to keep people coming back," she said.