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Tarpon Wal-Mart Meeting Strikes Discordant Note

Mark Schantz/SUNCOAST

Tarpon Springs Planning and Zoning Board Chairman Jeff Larsen declined a request from Wal-Mart not to participate in discussion centering around a modification to a site plan for their proposed Superstore on U.S. 19. Larsen said he could be unbiased even though his wife, Dory, has led a group opposing Wal-Mart.

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By Mark  Schantz | The Suncoast News

Published: September 23, 2008

TARPON SPRINGS - Most of the people who sat through Monday night's four-hour city Planning and Zoning Board meeting on the proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter never got a chance to speak on the controversial issue.

Instead, the board stuck to its self-imposed 11 p.m. adjournment time and told residents who wanted to speak for or against proposed changes to the development plan for the retail complex near the Anclote River they should return for the board's next meeting, Oct. 20.

During the meeting Monday only representatives of Wal-Mart and Concerned Citizens of Tarpon Springs, a private environmental group opposed to building the Supercenter near the river, were allowed to address the planning board.

The planning meeting began with commissioners calling for a 10-minute recess after receiving a memo on potential conflicts of interest from Assistant City Attorney Shauna Morris. Morris said City Attorney James Yacavone had given her the memo earlier in the evening and she decided to share it with board members.

Board members asked for a few minutes to digest the information in Yacavone's memo. Member Leonard Gravitz later said the board should have had the information in hand before the meeting started.

The meeting had barely gotten back under way when an attorney for Wal-Mart, David Theriaque, asked three members of the Planning and Zoning Board – Chairman Jeff Larsen, John Tarapani and William Vinson – not to take part in the board's discussions on the proposed changes to Wal-Mart's plans.

Tarapani and Vinson, complied with the Wal-Mart attorney's request, but Larsen did not.

Tarapani and Vinson, recent appointments to the board, have spoken out against building the Supercenter on the riverfront site. Both men, who are former City Commission members, sat in the audience during the meeting.

Theriaque asked Larsen to recuse himself from hearing the proposed Wal-Mart plan changes because Larsen's wife, Dory, is a leader of Concerned Citizens of Tarpon Springs. In addition, Theriaque said, Jeff Larsen's name is listed on the group's lawsuit opposing Wal-Mart's development plan.

In rejecting Theriaque's request that he not take part in the Wal-Mart discussion, Larsen said he can be unbiased. He had already discussed with the city legal staff whether it would be proper for him to consider the proposed Supercenter development plan changes, Larsen said.

While he loves his wife, Larsen said, he has his own opinions. He does not know why his name is on the Concerned Citizens lawsuits, Larsen added.

Dory Larsen did not attend Monday night's Planning and Zoning Board meeting.

Wal-Mart officials have told the planning board they are only asking the panel to endorse a minor reshaping of the building's footprint and parking lot to prevent any loss of wetlands on the store site.

In a memo contained in the agenda for Monday's meeting Yacavone reminded planning board members a Circuit Court judge has already held Wal-Mart's development plan for the Supercenter comply with the city's state-mandated comprehensive growth management plan.

This means the board should only consider the changes Wal-Mart is requesting, not the overall development plan, the city attorney wrote.

The city planning staff has concluded the plan changes Wal-Mart wants are minor in nature and do not require consideration by the planning board and City Commission. In January, however, the city Board of Adjustment ruled them major changes that required additional planning board and City Commission review.

The plan modifications Wal-Mart wants include reducing the size of the building, from 203,091 square feet to 203,077 square feet, eliminating liquor sales and the "Tire Lube Express" vehicle service area from the design and increasing the shoreline buffer along the Anclote River from 30 to 50 feet.

Monday night the Concerned Citizens of Tarpon Springs representative told planning board members Wal-Mart's proposed plan changes do nothing to address the group's concerns about building the retail center in an environmentally sensitive area.

During the meeting, Rodney Chatman, a city planner, backed Wal-Mart's position that the modified development plan would be in compliance with the comprehensive plan and city zoning guidelines.

After the board adjourned at 11 p.m., Brenda Lawhon, who had sat through the four-hour session, reacted angrily to not being allowed to speak. She has prior commitments and won't be able to attend the Oct. 20 Planning and Zoning Board meeting, she said.

The City Commission is scheduled to review the proposed Wal-Mart plan changes at its Oct. 21 meeting.

Mark Schantz can be reached at 727-815-1075 or mschantz@suncoastnews.com.

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