Oldsmar Report on the Annexation of East Lake Area
October 9, 2008 by admin
Filed under News, Palm Harbor News
If you live in the affected area I would read this document as it contains some interesting provisions to watch out for. This is the 1st one and it could amount to a substantial bill for East lake Woodland residents. The key statement is brought into compliance. I would ask “who brings it and who pays for it?” If you live in a neighborhood that has 40 homes and the bill is $100,000; do the math.
On the other hand if I was living in the current boundaries of Oldsmar I would ask my Mayor why are you wasting our tax dollars for another attempt to annex an area that does not want to be called Oldsmar. I would go to the next City Council meeting and ask if there were better ways to spend tax dollars.
On to roads.
STREETS AND ROADS
Currently the County controls four main roadways in the ELA area: East Lake Woodlands Parkway,
Woodlands Parkway, Woodlands Boulevard and Sunflower Drive. These County roads are leased to
the Community Association and the Community Association maintains these roadways. Local streets
within individual neighborhoods are private and maintenance is currently the responsibility of the
individual HOA’s. Sidewalks are installed on both sides of the main thoroughfares: East Lake
Woodlands Parkway, Woodlands Parkway and Woodlands Boulevard and on both sides of the
private neighborhood streets. The roadways are paved to provide for two-way traffic and include
curbs and gutters and are adequately constructed to handle its low volume neighborhood usage. In
the event this area is annexed by the City, the four main roads currently owned by the County and
maintained by the Community Association would be maintained by the City. The City has the ability
to provide maintenance to these major roads to include the sidewalks and drainage structures on the
four main roads. All private roads that are currently the responsibility of the individual Homeowner
Associations would continue to be maintained by their respective HOA’s. Construction and upkeep of
the roads would then be funded through municipal taxes.
The City provides all traffic regulation devices such as signposts and street and stop signs. Street
and stop signs in ELA area were determined to be in acceptable quantities and condition at the time
of this study. Any area currently lacking sufficient traffic signs, traffic signals and street lighting, will
be brought into compliance with acceptable standards for all traffic regulatory devices and
streetlights. An adequate streetlight program currently exists in cooperation with Florida Power
Corporation and Tampa Electric. The regulatory signs would be handled through the City’s Public
Works Department.
Lockheed Martin is included if ELW goes
The property is accessed by Tampa Road and East Lake Road. The annexation area includes 74.0
acres owned by Lockheed Martin Tactical Defense Systems which shares its southern, eastern and
northern boundaries with the City and its western boundary with the East Lake Woodlands
development. The land use and parcel information was obtained from the Pinellas Countywide Future
Land Use Map and the Pinellas County Property Appraiser data and maps. The legal description
provided delineates the entire perimeter of the proposed annexation area in accordance with Chapter
171, F.S. The proposed annexation area is located just north and west of the previously designated
Oldsmar Planning Area.
Link to the document can be found here
Remember that if it goes to vote, a majority wins. If you are against this you must speak up and make your vote count.
Here is another city document that was to be discussed at the last council meeting.
Update – Nov 7, 2008
Read the latest report in the ELW Heron by Bryan Kutchins, Chairman of the ELWCA Annexation Committee
Why are you having information on East Lake Woodlands on your site? Isn’t your web page supposed to be about the Village of Woodland Hills and not us. What’s oldsmar got to do with it.
Fair question Bob,
I live in woodland Hills and the site is about it and the Palm Harbor area. I put it up for discussion since it affects the area in which I live. If Oldsmar is successful in convincing East Lake Woodland homeowners, they will be taking taxes out of the counties budget and putting into their pockets. I pay taxes to the county and if revenue to them goes down, my taxes might go up. In my opinion they are using ELW as a means to gain shopping centers with Target, Publix and then also Lockheed Martin and put them on their tax roles. If the residents feel that this is good for them they should vote for it. However, I would review everything said and done by Oldsmar to know what will happen to your taxes as well. Also I would look at the numbers that they are using to satisfy the county requirements for annexation. If I am not mistaken they are less than 1% over the minimum and that would also bother me.
Thanks for visiting.
I think you would be wrong to assume that this is dead before it starts. I live in ELW, and I support. Why? Because our County government could care less about us, and, IMHO, if you are not it a City these days, you are screwed.
Many people on this side of the Lake were hoping to see the Palm Harbor incorporation happen, because then it would be natural for the Town of East Lake to follow. However, our self-serving County and legislative people killed that.
I’ll gie the Oldsmar thing a fair look. I know our County Commission could care less if we’re here or we’re not.
Good point Bo,
I wish the Palm Harbor incorporation would have happened as well. I trust that the residents of ELW will do their diligence and make sure the deal is right for them and not just Oldsmar. The residents that I know are a demanding lot and hopefully there are a lot of good questions for the Mayor of Oldsmar to answer. Change may or may not be good and hopefully all of Oldsmar’s motives are thoroughly debated.
My best guess is that they will be adding 750 million to 1 billion in taxable value to the cities coffers. In today’s paper Mayor Rick Baker comment about St. Petersburg’s attempted annexation of Tierra Verde and said “annexation would benefit all St. Petersburg residents and anytime you annex a new property, you increase your tax base.” They have failed twice and are trying again. ELW would be a nice chip in the Oldsmar bucket.
The question remains to be answered will ELW benefit or will Oldsmar benefit at the expense of ELW. It is too bad Palm Harbor and ELW could not get together and leave Oldsmar out of the picture.