Guest Editorial: Stop Oaks at Riverside Apartments

A group of residents has been opposing the construction of an apartment complex along Amazon Drive off Little Road. The issue comes before the Pasco County Commission  Tuesday, Aug. 27, when the board considers a request from residents to to stop the project from moving forward.

Here's a letter from Marlieta Lassiter,  one of the residents opposing the project:

"On Tuesday August 27th, 2013 at 1:30 PM the Pasco County Commissioners will hold an appeal public hearing at the West Pasco Government Center on a zoned apartment complex in the Trinity area. The vacant land for the apartments is located 8/10 of a mile off Little Road on Amazon Drive. The site is surrounded by five subdivisions of well-maintained single family homes. Pasco doesn’t need more apartments; we need to fill of all the vacant houses. Get rid of the blight in residential areas.

The surrounding area has single family residences. Riverside Village and Heritage Oaks have traffic lights on Little Road. We have many small children who live in the area. The two main roads have no sidewalks; children walk and wait to catch school buses under dangerous conditions. Could this happen to you, after you have invested in your home? YES

We need community support our subdivisions already flood severely in a rainstorm. An important watershed will be lost and the apartment’s land elevation will be above the existing residences in the area. We fear our homes will be threatened like Trinity Oaks and Thousand Oaks by commercial buildings built on higher elevation. We are in flood zones that require flood insurance.

The citizens in Pasco County need to be aware of the consequences of building elevated commercial structures next to residential areas. Do you have vacant land in your communities? The Pasco County Zoning Department has already approved the apartment complex plans. We need public support- Pasco County voters please attend this meeting and oppose this. We don’t need another $3 million dollar fix like Trinity Oaks and Thousand Oaks. Commercial property elevated above their homes and substandard drainage created a nightmare for them. On Little Road south of Mitchell Ranch Road a large noisy commercial pump is siphoning off water to keep the retention pond from flooding into the subdivisions there. Another is located in the subdivision pumping water out to Mitchell Road drainage ditch. I have lived in Pasco County since 1968 and this is very sad.  Mother Nature always challenges the follies of man.

Marlieta Lassiter, Resident on Nile Drive