Planning commission recommends Energy Industrial Park text change; neighbors and environmental reviewers urge caution

The Planning Commission on Feb. 10 recommended that a privately initiated text amendment for the Energy Industrial Park area be found consistent with the unincorporated Hillsborough County Comprehensive Plan, despite extensive public concern about environmental contamination, traffic and infrastructure.

Melissa Linehard, planning commission staff, described HCCPA 24-06 as a text amendment affecting the Energy Industrial Park future land use category (about 3,000 acres south of State Road 60). Linehard said the proposal would rename the category “Energy Innovation Park,” allow consideration of residential uses at up to roughly 3 dwelling units per gross acre on approximately 476 acres south of the railroad tracks (the applicant specified a 1,200-unit maximum for that area), permit rooftop and co-located renewable energy production, and reduce the acreage-based renewable-energy requirement from 40% of gross acreage to 20%. Linehard also noted staff-requested edits that the applicant accepted: lowering a proposed floor-area-ratio cap for security/lodging housing from 0.5 to 0.25,…