May 31, 2023
BY MICHELE MILLER
What’s What New Port Richey
It was way back at the turn of the 20th century when I had the opportunity to interview Dr. Jane Goodall, The famed primatologist had come to Pasco County, of all places, to visit the Pasco Schools’ Energy and Marine Center that sits nestled among the mangroves that protect the Pasco coastline.
The EMC is a gem of a local resource where students, including my own brood, have embarked on adventurous field trips to learn hands-on, about the coastal estuary which serves as a nursery for marine life sheltered among the oyster beds and mangrove roots. As a reporter covering local education, I enjoyed the opportunity to write about kids taking on the role of marine scientists as they conducted and recorded water tests, kayaked, and seined for fingerlings, crabs, and other creatures in the knee-deep waters that serve as a nursery of sorts for young creatures and a local food source that will eventually make way to the deeper gulf.
It’s beautifully breathtaking, especially when taking in the view from the EMC observation deck.
The thing is, you have to drive by the unbridled sprawl of US Highway 19 to get there.
After meeting with students in the Hudson Middle School Roots & Shoots Program , a local offshoot of an international environmental youth movement she founded, Dr. Goodall was given a tour of the EMC.
What did she think of the drive down US 19? I asked her when it came time for questions from the local press.
Turns out she closed her eyes for most of it.
“There really wasn’t anything pretty,” she was quoted as saying in the story, published in the then, St. Petersburg Times.
And about that WalMart that was being erected on the corner of US 19 and Ridge Road? Well, she figured that we didn’t need any more of those.
Maybe you’re thinking along the same lines.
Development has been booming big time in Pasco as the median age in the county gets progressively younger. Local residents really don’t have the luxury of keeping their eyes closed during their travels. In fact, we as residents should be keeping our eyes wide open and taking the opportunity to weigh in – aside from complaining on social media about all the car washes, apartment complexes, fast food joints and storage units cropping up all over.
The time is now and the forum is at a series of countywide workshops hosted by the Planning and Development Department on the Pasco 2050 Comprehensive Plan.
Pasco County officials and staff are currently working on the state-mandated initiative which will offer a vision of what Pasco County’s transformation will be over the next 25 years and beyond.
Growth is here and it’s not going to stop as evidenced by the cleared sites we drive by every day. What we, as citizens should want to know, is what that’s going to look like before all that development happens.
“We know that we are going to have growth and we want people to have a say in that”, said Kristen King, the former coordinator of Keep Pasco Beautiful, who recently took a position as Planner with Long Range Planning for the county. “There are certain areas that need to be preserved such as wetland areas and areas in northeast Pasco that are zoned rural and are going to stay rural. We need to plan for that so we don’t continue with the sprawl that has happened in the past. But we also need to increase density where the infrastructure already exists to meet the community’s needs.”
That takes thoughtful planning.
Citizens have been invited to weigh at a series of workshops. The first workshop was held in San Antonio. Another is scheduled for Monday, June 5 at the J. Ben Harrill Recreation Complex in Holiday.
Can’t make this workshop? Go ahead and weigh in via the county’s online Visioning Survey which can be accessed here – mypas.co/2050VisioningSurvey. Citizens can also register for updates on future meetings at Pasco2050.com.
There are two additional series of workshops to come, said Hayat Mazili, Project Manager for the 2050 update, adding that informational booths will be set up at area events, such as the recent Earth Day Celebration held at Crews Lake Park in Spring Hill.
The current workshop topic, Where are we now? seeks to get a handle on the current status of Pasco County by finding out what people like, and what people dislike, she said. The second series will hone on Where do we want to go? The third will address the question, How do we get there?
About 65 people attended the first event held in St. Leo, with many voicing concerns about the rural areas and lack of transportation and affordable housing in northeast Pasco County.
“We had a lot of good conversations with the residents,” Ms. Mazili said. “We know that there are things that need to be fixed.”
Workshops will build on the other and culminate in providing the community’s collective recommendations and strategies to the planning commission at a public forum.
The main priority is to make Pasco County a place where people can live, play and work, Ms. Mazili said, adding that tourism and transportation are part of making that happen.
According to statistics, close to 74,000 people leave Pasco County each day to go to work, Ms. King said.
“We are trying to bring employment to Pasco County, but what does that look like? That’s something that Pasco County (officials) can’t do on their own”, she said. “We need input from citizens, non-profit groups, businesses and municipalities including cities like Zephyrhills and New Port Richey.”
We don’t want to be a bedroom community,” Ms. Mazili said. “We want to be a thriving community.”
“The planning process doesn’t stop at 2050 – it’s an ongoing process,” she said. “Amendments might be necessary. We will be updating the plan to make sure that the overall objectives of the plan are being implemented and in line with what the community wants. We tell developers what they are allowed to do and the policies that they have to follow to make sure that the plan stays relevant.”
Public participation is an essential component of the visioning process, Ms. Mazili said.
“We need the community to give their input and feedback on what they want to see and then we will present that information to commissions. Voices go far in this process so we want to hear from the community. We need to work together to make sure we stay on target.
“Our slogan is Our Pasco, Our Vision, Our Plan,” Ms. Mazili said. “It’s ours. It’s not just the people that work for that county that are part of this. It’s all of us.”
There’s your cue. Now onward.
Students dig into hands-on learning at the Energy and Marine Center, Tampa Bay Times, Dec. 2013
Teens dig estuary’s wildlife, Tampa Bay Times, Oct. 2000
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