Developers want to transform a 16-acre wooded parcel at State Road 60 and Dover Road into a shopping center with a grocery store. ...more

December 15, 2007

Hillsborough County planners are fighting two proposed changes to the county's long-range plan that would amend policies for extending water and sewer lines into rural areas. ...more

December 15, 2007

A proposal to increase the development potential of 58 acres on the north and south sides of Van Dyke Road, west of Gunn Highway, is meeting resistance from county planners. ...more

December 15, 2007

A landowner's wish to carve a chunk of land out of the Keystone-Odessa Community Plan is meeting resistance from county planners. ...more

December 15, 2007

The first building blocks for a community plan to reshape the Carrollwood area has begun. ...more

December 12, 2007

It's a choice between convenience and lifestyle. County planners and consultants warn that unless Lithia-Pinecrest Road is widened to six lanes from County Road 39 to State Road 60, the 10.7-mile drive will consume more than an hour's worth of a driver's time 10 years from now. ...more

December 10, 2007

Anyone who lives in Highlands County will not dispute that U.S. 27 is the main artery through which the county's traffic flows. Traffic goes faster through undeveloped stretches in the north and south parts of the county and slows down as we approach the commercial and office areas. Now, add a school or two along U.S. 27, another mall and a big housing project. Think of the ramifications. Is that what you, as a county resident, want? Will the resultant traffic be unpalatable for you or do you think that more is better? Should new housing be built along U.S. 27 or should it be restricted to commercial? Do schools belong along the county's main road? What about a park or two? These are important questions whose answers will help county planners determine what they think are the best options for undeveloped land along U.S 27. ...more

December 10, 2007

The information reported in your recent articles as well as their tenor leaves one with the impression that local public education is decidedly unremarkable, perhaps below average, and also that the community is rather complacent about it. Both, we are not doing well and we don't care- have long-term dire consequences because the quality of education impacts the community and affects us all. County planners, who are in the visionary business, could likely paint a glowing picture of a Highlands County that had education as a community priority. As the "Education County" we would eventually gain a more diversified economy and an even better life style. As it stands now, we are moving towards a service economy with most jobs in the retail, hospitality and medical fields. Those are typically low-paying jobs requiring minimal education which serve to change our landscape with the "affordable" housing and rental units those workers require. It is the only economy our education supports. ...more

December 9, 2007

Opponents said a cautious goodbye this week to the Brandon Bypass, a conceptual loop around Hillsborough County's population centers that critics maintained would destroy rural communities and preservation tracts and promote urban sprawl in south and east Hillsborough. ...more

December 8, 2007

Opponents said a cautious goodbye this week to the Brandon Bypass, a conceptual loop around Hillsborough County's population centers that critics maintained would destroy rural communities and preservation tracts and promote urban sprawl in south and east Hillsborough. ...more

December 8, 2007