Should East Lake be annexed by Oldsmar
October 8, 2008 by admin
Filed under News, Palm Harbor News
and what is the real reason Oldsmar wants it? Is it to improve the quality of life for those the area it annex’s or is it to put the Shoppes of Boot Ranch, East Lake Woodlands shopping centers and ultimately Lockheed Martin on its tax roles. The mayor does not mention Lockheed Martin, but they will be surrounded if the deal goes through and may not have a choice. This is a big prize for the Mayor and Oldsmar if the residents agree.
Is there a need for Oldsmar to extend its reach to the Lake Tarpon Canal? What will happen to the taxes of the properties involved and if they are raised by Oldsmar will they impact our prices at the checkout counters. Most, if not all of us living in Woodland Hills shop at the stores that would be annexed and costs get passed on. Also, if annexed, what would the impact be to local real estate prices be. What would the impact be to residents if Oldsmar’s industrial tax base shrinks?
Are they worried that Nielsen is outsourcing and they need a way to replace the revenue? The Times ran this not too long ago and it was before the annexation announcement.
Layoffs at Nielsen concern Oldsmar residents
There are may questions to be answered and hopefully the residents impacted will ask them. This has failed 4 times now according to the Times and why do they keep trying? There must be a reason and I would imagine it is the almighty tax dollar.
There is an important meeting tomorrow night and if you know anyone that should attend please pass it on. If you are a local Realtor please tell your associates and stay informed. It is at 7:00 PM at the East Lake Country Club. From the ELW website it is described as:
The City of Oldsmar will host a Town Hall Meeting for residents of ELW to answer questions regarding annexation. The meeting will be held at the ELW Country Club Clubhouse.One of the proposed benefits of annexation by Oldsmar is brought up in attachment A in documents given to the Fire District. Nothing like having a say in government.
The attachment can be downloaded Attachment A
That all sounds good, but then there is this comment raised at the Oldsmar City Council meeting.
From the Oldsmar City meeting on August 5th 2008 this was brought up on page 1 of the minutes.
Jerry Walters, 1108 Robinwood Drive – referred to recent newspaper articles regarding thepossibility of annexing East Lake Woodlands and stated that it would double the size of the City. He
expressed concern that this might result in a great number of people from East Lake Woodlands running
for City Council and suggested changes be made so that 3 of the Council Seats represent specific areas,
with 1 at-large member plus the Mayor. Ronecker replied that the Council has not taken any formal
action on the annexation. The area consists of 6,000 people and 56 different Homeowner Associations.
Walters asked what other communities besides East Lake Woodlands are being considered. Haddock
replied they are Brookers Landing and El Pasado. Full text download
The East Lake Fire District has its concerns and they are the ones that come to our neighborhood. Here is a link to their site which has more information on this story.vClick for the Fire District
The St. Pete Times broke this story in July when Oldsmar announced its land grab attempt.
Oldsmar itches to grow
By Theresa Blackwell, Times Staff Writer
In print: Tuesday, July 22, 200
Undeterred by four failed attempts to annex unincorporated West Oldsmar, Oldsmar is looking westward once again.
This time Oldsmar hopes to bring the East Lake Woodlands, Brookers Landing and El Pasado subdivisions into the city limits, as well as the Shoppes of Boot Ranch and East Lake Woodlands shopping centers.
“The city of Oldsmar has changed,” said Mayor Jim Ronecker. “It’s a great, progressive city that has a lot to offer its residents.”
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Attended the Town Hall meeting last night along with 150 to200 other residents. The presentation by Oldsmar was brief and very general. It is never good to start a presentation with an apology but it appears the mayor did not consult the religious calendar (Yom Kippur) and the at the end they gave the first reading of the Oldsmar ordinance as Tue. Nov. 4, which might be election day? The crowd sentiment seemed to be that people thought they were getting serious detail on the financial and other benefits and none was provided. The suggestion from the floor that Oldsmar wants to annex Lockheed Martin, ELW Plaza, the Shoppes at Boot Ranch a and the commercial property to the north there seemed to raise Mayor Roneckers blood pressure considerably. Annexing East Lake Woodlands by referendum is the only way to force annexation on those properties without giving lots of incentives. Anyway, the battle lines are forming and I will update everyone.
The Pinellas Planning Council approved the Oldsmar report in respect of Oldsmars ability to serve the infrastructure of the annexation area. According to David Healy, Exec. Dir. of PPC, The county asked the staff to check the Oldsmar computation of 30.17% voter/owner acreage and concluded that Oldmar may have been “conservative”. Several of the council members seemed to recognize that the exclude finger sticking into the annexation are is 43 acres of Progress Energy Right Of Way. If include in the annexation this would make it 29.54% and kill the referendum. But that is not the function of the PPC but rather the county. So maybe let Commissioner Latvala know your displeasure. You would think the county would not want loose more than $ 1 Billion (yes with a B) from their tax rolls. Stay tuned or go to Bright house Channel 622 to see the PPcC meeting of Oct 15.