Pasco unveils Pasco 2050 draft: planners propose simplified land‑use map, mixed‑use nodes and density tiers

Pasco County planning staff and consultants presented a draft rewrite of the county comprehensive plan — “Pasco 2050” — in a workshop to the Planning Commission, showing proposed chapter organization, new future‑land‑use categories and a draft schedule that would transmit the plan for adoption by the end of 2025.

David Engel, director of Pasco County Planning and Economic Development, opened the workshop and called the rewrite “a very, collaborative effort,” describing a multi‑year public engagement process that began with a 2023 visioning phase and continued through policy drafting in 2024.

“This is the culmination of that effort to provide some information for the planning commission and get your feedback,” Engel said.

Staff and consultants outlined several major changes in the draft: consolidation of the existing 14 comprehensive‑plan elements into 11 themed chapters (branded with names such as “Pasco Grows,” “Pasco Moves” and “Pasco Lives”), a streamlined future‑land‑use taxonomy, creation of three tiers within a new Suburban Density Residential (SDR) category, and a set of mixed‑use place‑making nodes (neighborhood corners, community squares and urban centers).

Chris Dorey, the consultant presenting the chapter changes, said the rewrite preserves statutory requirements while reorganizing and simplifying the plan. He said Pasco will keep the “good parts” of the current plan but update language, definitions and cross‑references.

Terry (staff presenter) described the land‑use translation in detail. The draft consolidates agricultural categories into a single AGR (agricultural/rural) category; creates RDR (rural density residential, 0.3–2.9 dwelling units per acre); establishes SDR (suburban density residential, 3–17.9 du/ac) broken into three tiers (Tier 1: 3–5.9; Tier 2: 6–11.9; Tier 3: 12–17.9) to allow context‑sensitive design; and introduces UDR (urban density residential, 18–64 du/ac) within the county’s urban service area. Terry said the tiered approach is intended to let the county consider density increases locally and require design mitigation where higher tiers abut lower ones.

“We wanted to create scenarios where our planning is more context sensitive in the solutions that we’re applying,” Terry said, explaining new compatibility matrices and design rules that will be paired with the land‑use categories.

The presentation also consolidates several commercial and mixed‑use types. Staff proposed a new CEO (commercial/employment/office) category to replace disparate EC, TC and MU categories, and a CORE category combining COMM and ROR. Office and light industrial categories would be combined as ORI (office/research/industrial) with continued allowances for limited supporting commercial uses.

Hyatt Mazzelli, senior planner and internal lead for the rewrite, said the team also reorganized chapters for parks, conservation, intergovernmental coordination, economic development and capital improvements, removed duplicative policies, added new policies for resilience and tree preservation, and aligned language with recent changes in state statutes and the Land Development Code. Mazzelli said drafts of additional chapters will be posted on the Pasco2050 website as they are finalized.

Staff told the commission they plan a series of “Summer of Engagement” open houses to present the draft to residents and said Pasco2050 will be transmitted for adoption by December 2025. “We will start our summer of engagement … hosting open houses across the county to reveal the plan to the public,” Mazzelli said.

Commissioners raised questions about near‑term implementation: how the county will handle zoning and permitting in the interim before the land‑development code is updated, where heavy industrial and planned‑industrial sites will be placed, and whether the county should invest in alternative transport infrastructure (rail, runway) to attract certain employers.

Staff responded that existing zoning — including MPUD vehicles — can carry many projects forward in the near term and that a separate land‑development‑code update will follow the comprehensive‑plan adoption to align zoning districts with new future‑land‑use categories. Staff also said they have studied potential industrial locations in collaboration with regional entities and will refine planned‑industrial policy where needed.

Several commissioners offered broader comments on growth and housing cycles and urged caution about entitlement levels and market timing; staff said the draft increases local flexibility while keeping statutory protections such as utility connection thresholds and capital‑improvement coordination.

The workshop produced no formal vote; staff asked for and received feedback and said they will continue drafting, post additional chapter drafts on pasco2050.com, and schedule the public open‑house series.