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FSU team, Smart Growth America look for west Pasco spark
Lisa Buie, Times Staff Writer
Saturday, August 2, 2014 8:50pm
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Lisa Buie, Times Staff Writer
Saturday, August 2, 2014 8:50pm
NEW PORT RICHEY — Pasco County needs one success story.
If the county can complete just one project to improve its blighted west side, county planners believe, it could serve as the spark that ultimately restores vitality to an area known for rundown homes, vacant stores and unsightly signs cluttering the U.S. 19.
"We plan to show residents we mean what we say when we put these plans in place," said senior planner Melanie Kendrick, one of the architects of a redevelopment plan for the area written a couple of years ago.
The sweeping plan, which last year won an award from the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council, has yet to be put into action. A $200,000 proposal to move that along got cut out of this year's county budget because of flat revenues. To prevent further stalling, county planners hired Florida State University graduate students to gather demographic data. The county also was one of 18 communities to win a federal grant to get help from Smart Growth America, a nonprofit agency that encourages walkable, urban communities.
Last week, the two groups offered presentations to Pasco leaders. Smart Growth representatives talked about what attracts young adults to communities.
Unlike baby boomers, whose moves are driven by job opportunities, millennials tend to choose areas based on lifestyle amenities before looking for work. They also depend less on cars and would rather use public transit or a car service, unlike those who came of age in the mid- to late-20th century.
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