My Positions

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Our county commissioners regularly change the rules (aka The Comprehensive Plan and Land Use Plans) to accommodate the wants and desires of out-of-town and multinational developers.  

We don't have a vision of what we want our county's communities to be and even when we do try to speak up, we are ignored.

Let's set strong rules on how we want to develop that match what our residents want and then Stick To The Plan!

Development is a privilege, not a right.

Deferred impact fees, extra taxes, more police/fire/teachers, lagging infrastructure...it all adds up to ungodly traffic, kids stuffed in portable classrooms, teachers working 3 jobs, 40 minute wait times on emergency calls, millions in forgivable loans to businesses that don't have to actually bring jobs they've promised and don't forget skyrocketing property taxes. 

As commissioners say, "That's the price of progress", or "If you want to live in a premium county, you have to pay premium prices...why don't you just move?" the residents of Pasco including many of our pioneer families are horrified by what is being done to this rare treasure of Florida.

We are driving down the development superhighway at 100 mph, ignoring our map, with no vision of where we're we want to go all while throwing taxpayer dollars out the window to the wind.

Time to stop the spending and added taxes.  Let's slow our growth rate and make it part of our Comprehensive Plan.

Remember when we used to have Board of County Commissioner hearings after 5 so residents who work can participate? 1:30 pm on a Tuesday marginalizes your voice.  

See my video on Youtube: https://youtu.be/0MuqOfe-Jy4

Further, when you have your 3 minutes to speak, Commissioners are often playing on their phones, talking to each other, or even leaving the room.

It's time for the disrespect to end.  Developers have regular meetings with the planning staff.  Residents used to also - we need to reinstate that access and let your voices be heard.

The "communities" being developed aren't really communities, and they are not communities we can call "my hometown."  

What we are stuck with is cookie-cutter sprawl.  You can find the exact same "communities" anywhere across the country - same floor plans, same elevations, same roadways - with romantic names of the very thing they've destroyed.

We can do better!

First we need an inventory of what we have and occupancy.  We've paid millions of dollars to nationally recognized consultants who told us we were on a trajectory to overdevelopment...14 years ago.

There are ways we can slow the roll.  I'll be adding them to my YouTube Channel. We can require development standards that create REAL communities we love.

We simply cannot support the level of development irresponsibly sprawling across the county.  Our natural resources are limited - and most especially water.

Our East Pasco well fields are being looked at as the next water resource to exploit. We could become a swiss cheese of sinkholes if we pump too much.

Our springs are down and our overpumping is helping suck salt water into our waterways and aquifer.

And as we run out of capacity, we are being told "Toilet to Tap" is a great solution.  I don't agree. 

See my YouTube video: https://youtu.be/c80-Wu82fUM

We are paving over our natural recharge areas. We are letting the run off from our paved areas dump untreated into the Gulf of Mexico and our other waterways. We are at a tipping point that is being compounded by our drought conditions.

Water is the new oil when it comes to natural resources and we are making it scarce.  The price for irresponsibility is too high - we have to make some choices that protect our future.