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Residents press county on traffic, road safety and developer impacts; commissioners promise follow-up
Summary
Multiple public commenters urged Pasco County to address cumulative traffic impacts, dangerous road conditions in Shady Hills, construction truck routing through neighborhoods, and property access disputes. Commissioners and staff said they would investigate, meet with residents and coordinate code and enforcement actions.
Several residents used the public-comment period at the April 30 meeting to press the Board of County Commissioners on road safety, traffic studies, construction truck routing and alleged staff errors that have left private property accessible to developers.
Jim Marineri and others said adding developments near Elam Road and Old Pasco Road produce a “cascading effect,” and questioned whether traffic studies capture cumulative growth across many nearby projects. Marineri recommended the county consider aggregate traffic impacts rather than treating each project as an individual snapshot.
Pastor Jen Kerouac described a fatal, multi-car crash on Shady Hills Road on April 1 and urged the county to widen the road, add crosswalks and address pedestrian safety near four nearby schools. She said existing sidewalk improvements are inadequate without safe crossing points.
Several residents — including Daphne Stace and Nancy Hazelwood — said they had raised concerns about developers’ changing plans, private ingress/egress being used improperly and seizures of property access. Stace said staff had met with her but she felt development decisions had left her property “landlocked.” David Allen, assistant county administrator for development services, said staff had offered to meet and that some matters had been referred as private civil issues; he and commissioners encouraged continued staff engagement.
Sarah Gonzales pressed code enforcement to act on repeated noncompliance reports involving vehicles, RVs and alleged harassment. The board directed staff to ensure commissioners receive advance notice of any neighborhood “code sweeps” so commissioners and residents can coordinate. Commissioners also said they would pursue construction-traffic controls where developers are routing heavy trucks onto small neighborhood streets and would work with the sheriff’s office on parking and queuing enforcement.
