Commission approves comprehensive-plan change and rezoning for vehicle recycling facility in Seffner despite residents’ water-quality concerns

The Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners voted 5-2 May 8 to approve comprehensive plan amendment CPA 23-20 and a concurrent planned-development rezoning, PD24-1139, that will allow a vehicle recycling facility and open vehicle storage at a group of parcels on East Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard near Seffner.

Planning Commission staff recommended the map amendment be found inconsistent with the comprehensive plan and cited conflicts with the rural-area and wellhead-protection policies. The Planning Commission likewise recommended inconsistency. County Development Services and Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) staff, however, reported no objection to approval of rezoning subject to conditions; the Zoning Hearing Master and the hearing officer recommended approval. The BOCC split the recommendations: an initial motion to deny CPA 23-20 failed (motion failed 1-6), then the board approved the comprehensive plan amendment and rezoning with Commissioners Hagan and Myers voting no (motions carried 5-2).

Public opposition during the hearing was extensive. Residents and environmental advocates described a long history of noisy stacks of vehicles, concerns about stormwater and contamination, and enforcement letters from state agencies. Resident Sandra Zale read a sequence of agency actions and wrote that "as of yesterday, May, no application has ever been made to SWFWMD, and the activities continue," asking the board to “Please deny CPA 2320.” Todd Randolph, speaking for the Sierra Club Tampa Bay Group, cited the Water Element policy 1.3.0.12 and asked the board to deny the amendment because "no additional areas shall be designated with industrial land use plan categories within the WRPAs," which he said applies to the site.

Speakers described multiple inspections and enforcement letters by the Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) and the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) dating to 2022-2024; residents said SWFWMD had required remediation for 5.6 acres and that violations related to soil compaction, unauthorized activities, oil staining and incomplete implementation of stormwater pollution-prevention measures were recorded on the site.

The applicant and counsel said the operation has a long history in the area and argued it is a legal nonconforming use on some parcels. Counsel said the site’s current operations are in compliance with state permits and with the EPC’s green-yard best-management-practices program. Applicant representative Rebecca Kurt said the LIP future-land-use designation and planned-development rezoning are tied together and "the plan development zoning does not allow actually any industrial lands in this category on this property. It is limited to open storage," and the applicant offered a range of conditions, including increased buffers, a masonry wall, a Type C 30-foot buffer, hours restrictions and reorientation of the car crusher away from homes.

Planning Commission and county staff told commissioners that the site lies within a wellhead resource protection area and that policy 1.3.0.12 of the Water Element restricts industrial future-land-use designations within such areas. Staff said the proposed rezoning included mitigation such as a 100–200-foot buffer on segments of the site, a masonry wall and operation-hour limits but maintained the Planning Commission’s inconsistency finding because vehicle recycling and open storage remain incompatible with surrounding single-family residential patterns.

The Zoning Hearing Master’s recommendation for approval was based on the offered conditions, the presence of existing legal uses on the eastern parcels dating to the 1960s and the applicant’s commitments on buffering, screening and operational limits. The BOCC ultimately approved the comprehensive plan amendment and the rezoning; the vote tally recorded Commissioners Hagan and Myers opposed both actions and the remainder supporting approval.

The approved rezoning includes conditions offered by the applicant and reflected in staff reports: buffering and screening (Type C 30-foot buffer, masonry wall on the north and west boundaries), limitations on hours of operation and the orientation and limits of vehicle crushing activity; Board action makes those conditions enforceable under the planned-development site plan process and triggers required county and state environmental permits for ongoing operations.

County staff said approvals remain subject to outstanding permits and that any ERP (environmental resource permit) or other SWFWMD/DEP requirements must be met as the site transitions to the permitted PD use.