WESLEY CHAPEL — A proposal to transform a prominent 32.5-acre parcel near Interstate 75 into a mixed-use “town center” narrowly cleared a key hurdle last week, exposing a divide among Pasco County commissioners between commercial space and how much multifamily housing the fast-growing Wesley Chapel area really needs.
The board voted 3-2 on Jan. 6 to amend the site’s future land use designation from commercial to planned mixed use, potentially paving the way for retail, office, hotel, townhomes and multifamily housing at the northeast corner of Old Pasco Road and Overpass Road.
The project was pitched as a walkable, amenity-rich town center designed to blend jobs, housing and retail around a central park, while Commissioner Jack Mariano argued it would sacrifice valuable commercial land near a major interchange at the expense of further worsening an already saturated apartment market…