Hillsborough County commissioners on July 22 continued a proposed modification to the Eastern Oaks planned development — a project now proposed at 89 units — after residents who live on North 70 Eighth Street and Elm Street said the neighborhood’s narrow, dead-end streets cannot safely absorb the added traffic.

The board voted 7-0 to continue the project to the Aug. 12 land use hearing so staff and the applicant can address resident concerns about access, traffic and public safety.

The applicant, represented by Tim Healy of Frontier Engineering, told commissioners that the project team reduced the original entitlement from 95 units to 89 to avoid requiring a southbound left-turn lane from Sly Avenue onto 70 Eighth Street. He said a transportation distribution study prepared by Michael Yates and reviewed by county Transportation Planning supports the change. “If we could eliminate 2 attached units then we could get by [without] the warrant for a left turn lane on Sly,” Healy said.

Neighbors said the reduction does not solve a larger access problem: they warned that Elm Street and 70 Eighth Street are narrow, dead-end residential roads that already serve schools, places of worship and commercial truck routes, and that adding dozens of dwellings would create congestion and safety hazards. “We are talking 160 dwellings that will dump out onto our tiny little narrow dead end single dwelling road,” said resident Robin Rodriguez, who said she and her husband care for a family member who uses a wheelchair. She pointed to school-related traffic peaks and delivery and service trucks that already make turning and pedestrian safety hazardous.

Resident Abram Miller added that the street width is small — “maybe about 20 feet across” — and said the neighborhood’s character and emergency access could be compromised if the development moves forward without additional mitigation. Other residents described past incidents — including road-blocking storm damage — that complicated emergency access and said increased traffic could slow response times.

The applicant said the site has previously been approved under a PD and that site constraints — wetlands, drainage and right-of-way geometry — limited options for a left-turn lane and led the team to seek an alternative mitigation package that includes pedestrian sidewalks and drainage improvements. Healy told commissioners Transportation agreed to require a continuous sidewalk along the property frontage to Sly Avenue and targeted drainage work to mitigate impacts. “We will have you put a sidewalk in the whole length of your property and all the way up to Sly Avenue with drainage improvements as needed,” Healy said.

Commissioners pressed staff and the applicant about the broader traffic picture. Commissioner Wrold/Wellsteller (name as recorded) asked whether reducing the number of units could shift impacts to nearby parcels and whether the new connections being required between adjacent planned developments might funnel additional traffic onto 70 Eighth Street if neighboring projects later develop. County planning staff explained the purpose of required vehicular connections is to provide interior links so multiple projects do not have to use 70 Eighth Street as their sole exit; the staff also cautioned that many potential connections depend on adjacent property owners developing in the future.

Given the number of community speakers and outstanding technical and intersection questions, the board voted to continue the item to allow staff to collect additional information and to give the applicant time to coordinate further with neighbors and transportation reviewers. The motion to continue was made by Commissioner Wellstell and seconded by Commissioner Meyers; the board set the resumption of the hearing for Aug. 12.

The applicant said he would coordinate with staff on sidewalk and drainage conditions and that the project team was not connected to a separate parcel to the north that residents had raised in testimony. Neighbors asked staff and the applicant to pursue additional mitigation options, including alternative access alignments or improved traffic-calming measures on Elm and 70 Eighth Street.