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Schools Official Seeks Limits On Dirt Trucks

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By B.C. MANION, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 2, 2008

LUTZ - The man who oversees safety issues for Hillsborough County public schools cringes at the thought of heavy dirt trucks mixing with traffic heading to and from three public schools on Lutz-Lake Fern Road.

He's so concerned about the safety of students, teachers, staff and parents that he appeared last week before Land Use Hearing Officer Harold Youmans to ask that trucks from a proposed borrow pit on Lutz-Lake Fern Road be prevented from using the road in front of the schools any time they are open.

The site is unique in the county because there are three schools within 1,000 feet of each other that will be using the same access road, said Glen Lathers, of Hillsborough County public schools.

McKitrick Elementary and Martinez Middle are open, and Steinbrenner High is slated to open in August 2009.
County staff had proposed banning the trucks in front of the schools while they are in session, but Lathers said that's not enough.

"We are not agreeing to any concession that will allow hauling in front of these schools," Lathers said, during a public hearing Jan. 25 on the borrow pit request.

Stephen J. Dibbs wants to establish a borrow pit on the north side of Lutz-Lake Fern Road, west of the Suncoast Parkway.

He wants to remove 2.5 million cubic yards of dirt from the site over 10 years. He proposes to dig four holes, ranging from 20 to 35 feet deep. Pit operations would take up about 50 acres of the 300-plus-acre site.
Dibbs wants to remove the site from the Keystone-Odessa Community Plan. That request was rejected by the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission on Monday night and is slated for consideration by the Hillsborough County Commission at 6 p.m. Thursday.

Denise Layne, land-use liaison for the Lutz Civic Association, said Dibbs' request to get out of the Keystone-Odessa plan proves the borrow pit doesn't fit with the character of the surrounding area.

"Compatibility is a huge issue here. Is the pit too big for our area? We say, 'Yes, it is,' " Layne said.

The pit would be less objectionable if the operating permit were for three years instead of 10; if the maximum number of truck trips per day were spelled out; and if the closest residence to the pit were at least 1,200 feet away - in keeping with the minimum distance from homes of other borrow pits in the county, Layne said.

Attorney Vin Marchetti, who represents Dibbs on the borrow pit and the land-use requests, said the land-plan request was irrelevant to the borrow pit discussion.

He also objected to Layne's request to limit the operation to three years.

Angelo Belluccia, a transportation expert on Marchetti's team, said having the borrow pit on Lutz-Lake Fern Road would reduce the distance that fill dirt trucks have to travel to get to roadway and construction projects.

"It provides a benefit overall for the county and the region," Belluccia said.

Marchetti said his client exceeds distance requirements between the borrow pit and adjacent residences.

If opponents desire a greater setback, they should seek to change the code, he said.

Marchetti vehemently opposed the school district's proposed restrictions.

He said his client wants to bid to haul dirt to a county project to widen Lutz-Lake Fern Road, east of the Suncoast Parkway to North Dale Mabry Highway.

"The only reason we would go east on Lutz-Lake Fern Road would be to provide dirt for Lutz-Lake Fern Road," Marchetti said.

But the school district's proposed condition would so severely limit the borrow pit's operations that Dibbs wouldn't be able to compete for that bid, Marchetti said. "I think it's an equal protection issue, and I think my client will pursue that," Marchetti said.

Marchetti also objected to a condition that requires a wetlands monitoring program to be developed in coordination with the Southwest Florida Water Management District, Hillsborough County and Tampa Bay Water.

He said the condition would put Tampa Bay Water in a regulatory posture.

But Susan Spurgeon, an attorney representing Tampa Bay Water and Paula Dye, the water agency's chief environmental planner, said the goal is simply to hold anyone who does damage to the environment accountable.

If damage occurs, they want to be able to sort out whether it was caused by Tampa Bay Water, which draws down water in the area, or the borrow pit operation, they said.

After conferring with Dibbs, Marchetti dropped his objection.

Attorney Deborah L. Martohue, representing two land owners next to the Dibbs' property, took issue with a condition that would allow the possibility of a buffer wall and trees to be installed on the north side of a county easement. The neighbors want the wall and trees to be installed on the south side of the easement, to protect access to their properties. Martohue, Layne and Marchetti also raised a number of procedural objections, which Youmans said he would address in his ruling due Feb. 15.

Reporter B.C. Manion can be reached at (813) 865-1507 or bmanion@tampatrib.com.

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