TARPON SPRINGS, Fla. — Neighbors in the East Lake community are working to stop the City of Tarpon Springs from annexing 43 acres of land for new homes.
Pioneer Homes is hoping to build in the area west of East Lake Drive near Cypress Run Golf Course.
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Neighbors claim annexation would allow Pioneer Homes to double the number of homes it could build there. Some wrote to city leaders, expressing anger and frustration about the issue.
I live under the East Lake Tarpon Overlay, passed by the state, which requires 2 acre minimum lots per house. Several potential developers have told me they cannot make money here unless they increase housing density. THEN GO ELSEWHERE! You are not welcome here. We have an overload of traffic now…and our schools are crowded!
Pioneer Homes already has several communities across the Tampa Bay Area.
The sign on Marc Washburn’s property may seem harsh.
Telling potential home buyers they are not welcome.
But he says it get the point across.
“If someone wants to buy a home in a gated community that’s absolutely perfectly fine with us but there are still some of us that prefer to live the country lifestyle," said Washburn.
The community along East Lake Drive is made up of homes large and small with acres of land that give people room to have livestock or even a business like Marc’s selling sponges and conch shells.
People here have mobilized, along with the signs they have a website, saveeastlake.org that features pictures of the wildlife they say will be effected.
“We’ve got a tight neighborhood. As rural as it is, we rarely see each other, when something like this happens we all get together and do our thing," said Washburn.
