Sprawl-busters in Florida have filed the following report: “I’m a resident of Holiday, Florida and we’re gearing up to battle WalMart and their plans for a Supercenter next to our neighborhood, the Westwood subdivision. Where they want to build: The 30 acres of land has an extensive gopher tortoise habitat (species of special concern), dozens of old oak trees, a wetland, and Native American artifacts buried in the ground. (There may even be ancient burial sites on the land — we’re having a geologist and native tribespe come survey the land on Thursday. It’s one of the last remaining greenspaces left in Holiday. There’s no major intersection at the site, and we’ve heard they want to use our neighborhood as a delivery entrance for their trucks. They also may be eyeing several houses to buy then demolish to make way for a wider road through our subdivision. There are two Superwalmarts within 10 minutes of Holiday and a battle raging you may know about in Bayonet Pointe, 20 minutes north of Holiday, in the Beacon Woods subdivision. We have three surrounding subdivisions that are opposed, but we have yet to organize as one group. That’s a next step. Feb. 12 is the Pasco County zoning/planning committee meeting to discuss the rezoning of the land from residential (MPUD) to commercial (C-2). We don’t have much time to prepare for this meeting, but we are told the staff will most likely recommend that the planning/zoning committee issue a continuance for April 8, and will take no other action at this Feb. 12 meeting.”
For further information about this new battle in Holiday, contact [email protected]
