Roads/Access
Last Updated October 2021
A very dangerous situation by the Quail Hollow Elementary School – We can’t handle more traffic – Certainly not 6,500 additional daily trips passing by this school.
The property has two access points: one is through Dayflower Blvd via Woodsman and Mangrove Dr. and the other is through Quail Hollow Blvd via Sandy Lane.
The County has stated that all roads leading to this development are substandard. This includes Dayflower Blvd and Quail Hollow Blvd. Substandard road means it does not meet minimum county standards for residential roads. The County will insist on road upgrades.
These roads work fine for us. We have no need for any upgrades. Required upgrades are for the sole benefit of a single landowner – the developer.
The county required a “Substandard Road Analysis” from the developer to a) determine what upgrades were necessary and b) determine an estimated cost (Section 901.4.E.1, Land Development Code aka LDCs or LDRs).
The Substandard Road Analysis is deficient. There is no cost estimate.
Additionally, significant issues were not addressed:
- There is no discussion of the Sandy Lane Bridge improvements. The single lane bridge cannot accommodate anything wider than 9-10 feet.
- There is no discussion of improvements to the existing blind curve at Quail Hollow Blvd and Sandy Lane. Northbound left turn access is currently dangerous. Additional volume turning left onto Sandy Lane will transform this access into a fatality zone.
- There is no discussion of the need to alleviate the blind curve at the Elementary school.
- The proposed entrance on Mangrove actually creates a blind curve. No discussion.
- School start and end times will be worsened by this traffic. Turn lane and road widening improvements should be discussed to eliminate this traffic hazard.
- Nowhere does the report address where public utilities would be laid. The developer’s analysis says no additional right-of-way is required for improvements, but that is inaccurate if utility pipes are included in the analysis.
In another road report called “Access Management Analysis”, the developer submitted that 12,250 trips will be added to our roads. This is less than what was previously shown on the “Timing and Phasing Application Review” form as 13,309 trips. (a reduction of 1,059 trips).
The Access Management Analysis also projects a 60/40 split of those trips in and out. Dayflower at Old Pasco Road takes the 60%, which caused the developer to recommend a traffic light (less than ¼ mile from the brand new traffic light at Quail Hollow Blvd). The developer is supposed to pay 100% of the traffic light and turn lane improvements. This not surprising as Old Pasco Road is a collector road and on those roads Pasco won’t pay for improvements caused by developers.
How can it be a good idea to add so many trips to a road that it will cause the need for a traffic light and substantial turn lanes less than 1/4 mile from a similar recent upgrade?
The traffic increase is too intense for our established neighborhoods and roads and causes a public safety issue.
Of major community concern is the developer’s request for a “fair share” arrangement to pay for upgrades. That means once an estimated cost is determined a “fair” percentage of payment will be required from the developer. There are two problems with this.
- A true cost estimate cannot be made unless the above issues are included in the analysis. Without these needed traffic solutions, the estimate will be too low and;
- The balance of cost for the upgrades will be paid by the community through assessment.
Shall we call what the community must pay the “unfair share”?
Pasco County does not pay for residential road improvements. This long standing policy has property owners along the roads assessed for the cost of the road improvement (this includes repaving). Once a road is improved, it does become part of the county’s maintenance program, but that’s for basic potholes filling, repairing road edges and mowing rights-of-way.
The County has recently come under fire this policy. The program is called the Paving Assessment program (PVAS) and has been featured at the following link.