Pasco Approves Site For Tennis Stadium

Pasco Approves Site For Tennis Stadium
By JULIA FERRANTE
jferrante@tampatrib.com

Pasco County commissioners on Tuesday chose a 24-acre site next to Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel as home to a $5.7 million tennis stadium.
Commissioners voted 4-1, with Pat Mulieri dissenting, to negotiate with the Porter family, which offered to donate part of the 5,000-acre Wiregrass Ranch for the stadium.

The Porters offered the land in March with the understanding that the stadium's main entrance would be built at a planned north-south road from State Road 56 to the proposed Wesley Chapel Lakes development, an extension of Meadow Pointe.

County Attorney Bob Sumner recommended the Porter site over two others at a commission meeting Tuesday in Dade City. County staff also considered land near a planned regional park at Overpass and Boyette roads and a parcel near the planned State Road 56 extension.

Sumner said the Porter property is close to State Roads 54 and 56, Interstate 75, several planned hotels and a corporate center. It also has sewer and water service and can be accessed through an existing service road on Saddlebrook property.

``It is near other things that could be a complement to the tennis stadium,'' Sumner said.

Mulieri was reluctant to negotiate with the Porters, who have fought with the county and adjacent landowners for years about the path of the S.R. 56 extension. The Porters also have asked for tax credits for the stadium land and estimated the property's value at more than $200,000 per acre.

County Administrator John Gallagher has said the county is close to a deal to buy a right of way from the Porters that is crucial to the road extension.

Sumner also said the Porters do not qualify for tax credits on the stadium land, and the county will have it appraised to determine its value.


Reporter Julia Ferrante can be reached at (813) 948-4220.