Carrollwood-Northdale Communities Plan Moves Closer to Formal Adoption
After two-years of community meetings and open houses the Carrollwood-Northdale Communities Plan could soon be adopted as part of the Hillsborough County Comprehensive Plan.
The Greater Carrollwood-Northdale Communities Plan began with a stakeholders meeting in late fall 2007. The Planning team included the Planning Commission staff, with assistance from Office of Neighborhood Relations and Planning Growth & Management Department staff. The study area is located generally south of Van Dyke Rd, west of I-275, north of Linebaugh Avenue/Busch Boulevard, and east of the Veterans Expressway.
Meetings were held on a monthly basis to work with residents, civic leaders and business owners in assessing current characteristics, future aspirations and ways of addressing change. Through their active participation, a community plan which consists of a vision, goals and strategies and boundary and concept maps was developed to reflect the community’s values, provide guidelines for development and address quality of life issues in the foreseeable future of their community.
This area of Hillsborough County is comprised of several distinct and active neighborhoods with rich histories. Each neighborhood desired to maintain their unique identity thus the actual name of the community plan was a formidable topic which had to be addressed more than once through out the plan development. Ultimately “Greater Carrollwood-Northdale Communities Plan” was selected as the best name to represent the area.
This part of Hillsborough County is traversed with a major north-south corridor; North Dale Mabry Highway which is heavily traveled causing considerable congestion. This issue coupled with the anticipated future growth was frequently expressed as a problem throughout the community meetings by the citizens. As a remedy a redevelopment plan for North Dale Mabry Highway became a highlight of their goals and strategies. The overlay reflects the citizens’ vision for an aesthetically pleasing, well designed, transit supported, mixed use corridor which promotes a vibrant and economically sustainable community. They were pleased to learn that the Tampa Bay Regional Transportation Authority plans included complementary projects in their adopted transit plans.
On July 21, 2009 the final open house provided attendees representing a broad selection from the community an opportunity to review the final draft of the community plan and give their feedback. The plan has been filed in the 1st Round 2010 plan amendment cycle with an expected adoption date in fall 2010.
