Environmental

Last Updated May 2021

This piece of land has a great deal of environmental value.

Over 50% of this land is wetlands and not at all suitable for building. Of the 523 +/- acres of wetlands, 92% are of the highest quality recognized (Category I and II wetlands) by Pasco County. The county’s Comprehensive Plan, section FLU A-4 requires their protection and avoidance.

Cypress Creek is located west of this land and in an area owned and protected by the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD). The creek is a major tributary to the Hillsborough River, a potable water source for the region. The creek is designated as an Outstanding Florida Water and requires extra protections.

The physical encroachment caused by clearing, digging, filling and crossing the wetlands will begin a process of degradation that once begun will never stop. Intense, dense developments contribute significantly to continuous pollution from yard waste, street run off, chemicals, trash and dumping. A 40 x 100 foot lot does not allow for any storm water storage or treatment and its runoff will forever impact the wetlands. Paved streets handling 13,309 daily vehicle trips will also ensure continuous impacts are imposed on the wetlands.

Over 58% of this property is located in the 100-year floodplain. That means these uplands flood. That surface flooding assists in handling the volume of water that drains from Quail Hollow and Angus Valley. When the developer fills the uplands to get house pads out of the wet, it will cause drainage patterns to shift. This is never good no matter what any storm water model may tell us. Storm water models are only educated guesses and there are always unanticipated consequences to guessing.

This site and Cypress Creek are recognized by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission as Strategic Habitat Conservation Areas. They were designated this way due a significant amount and diversity of protected and/or threatened species located on the site.

Alligator Creek (Tributary 18) from the Golf Course Development to beyond this proposed MPUD has been named a Relatively Permanent Water (RPW), which means it flows continuously. Quail Hollow and Angus Valley know this as their main storm water conveyance structure. The tributary flows indirectly into the Hillsborough River, a Traditional Navigable Water (TNW), through Cypress Creek. The tributary has a biological, chemical and physical effect on the river. In November 2019, the Army Corps of Engineers claimed jurisdiction over it, which increased the environmental value of the entire MPUD area.

The environmental value of this MPUD acreage is high enough that two agencies, SWFWMD and Pasco County Environmental Lands, have expressed interest in acquiring the property.