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08/28/2024 Developers Meeting Summary

Despite what you may have heard, no new party has purchased the golf course. There are no plans to turn it into a bird sanctuary, a wildlife preserve, or anything other than a harsh man made wetland environment designed for the purpose of selling wetland mitigation credits. The course is still legally owned by Jan Stephenson's Crossroads and the only buyer they are selling to is Tarpon Woods Properties, LLC. Their work on getting approval from SWFWMD to destroy the golf course and carve it up to sell credits continues. They have not stopped working on getting approval for this project, so we need to not stop fighting as this threat still looms heavy over our neighborhood.

Putting a wetland mitigation bank in the heart of a thriving suburban area has never been done before, and probably for good reason.
This area will not be walkable and anyone who tries to enter will be trespassing. It will be an environment that reptiles will thrive in, and it will be a danger to your children if they make a bad decision and decide to play anywhere beyond their backyard.
Unlike the golf course, the wetlands will be planted with not only more trees but also layers of various types of tall wetland grasses and marsh plants which animals like alligators can hide in to ambush their prey.
It also will be a prime breeding ground for diseases such as West Nile virus, Encephalitis, Malaria, Chikungunya, Dengue, and Zika virus, as there will be no mosquito control applied to the mitigation bank.
Mosquitos, snakes, and alligators also don't understand land boundaries, so we would all need to be more vigilant about watching our children and our pets even on our own property.
This will also negatively affect our property values as we would no longer own golf course community homes.
Removing fire suppression brush areas and eliminating our only flood mitigation plan not only puts our homes at greater risk for destruction.
The increased risk of natural disasters may severely impact our homeowners insurance prices as well.

How we got here-

Since Jan Stephenson's Crossroads was gifted the Tarpon Woods Golf Course in 2017, instead of making their main focus running golf based programs true to their mission statement; catering to wounded veterans, first responders, and the seeing impaired, they focused on ways they could make money off developing the land.
The care and success of the golf course was an afterthought from the start. Rather than bring on experienced golf course personnel such as a superintendent to run and maintain the course, they added a land use attorney to their board, hired a civil and environmental engineer, and revived an abandoned permit for a townhome development called Clear Creek. The residential development was to be built on the land parcel many of us refer to as "The Woods" which is currently the forested water overflow area for Brooker Creek that exists between the Tarpon Woods neighborhood, The Meadows, Tanglewood Patio Homes, and Wescott Square.

After many failures to start construction on the project the permit was finally withdrawn in 2021. From there they began entertaining new developers and new projects and by 2022 they had partnered with a newly formed company, Tarpon Woods Properties LLC, which planned to turn most of the course into a mix of wetland mitigation bank and new residential homes.

This was kept from the public by choosing not to file the sale of the property with Pinellas County, and the housing was left off the application they submitted to SWFWMD but mentioned in the Pinellas County DRC Meeting which we strongly advise you review here. (link to DRC part of what we know page- https://savetarponwoods.com/what-we-know#647627c1-9bc2-41b1-999f-faa691b3f093)
Even though a warranty deed for the sale was drafted, in the state of Florida a property sale is not legal until it has been filed with Pinellas County. At present the sale has still not been filed.

The AAAAA/AAAA shows that there is no deed as this sale has not been filed with the county, and until they have done so the transfer of ownership is not complete. You can check the status on the Pinellas County Property Appraiser's page here. (link to https://www.pcpao.gov/property-details?s=162734000001400000)
In December of 2024 they withdrew their conceptual permit application and filed their individual application which you can review here. (link to SWFWMD part of what we know page, needs Conceptual changed to Individual and permit date changed to 12/06/24 and link to app updated to https://www38.swfwmd.state.fl.us/ERP/ERP/Entry/ERP.aspx?id=907654 )
While they put stronger language in this permit to state they are not seeking to build homes, since they are on the record saying one thing to SWFWMD and another thing to the Pinellas County DRC we really don't know what their final intentions are.

The New Risks We Face-

The only flood mitigation plan Pinellas County currently has in place for our area is pumping water off our most at risk streets into the existing deep water ponds on the golf course. The ponds are connected by a series of underground culverts that divide the water level evenly among all ponds as the water is filled. Their plans fill those ponds eliminating our only method of flood mitigation and failing to provide us with any alternative.

No engineering studies have been performed to demonstrate how removing the deep water ponds and replacing them with shallow littoral shelves will affect water flows for future heavy rain events.

In the current permit application, parties state that they would like to continue to allow Pinellas County to pump water into the wetland mitigation bank, as the county does with the ponds on the course, but that would go against the pristine requirements of maintaining a wetland mitigation bank. SWFWMD has told them to get permission in writing from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection as they too question the compatibility of that practice with mitigation banking rules and standards. That request was made in January 2025, and at present there has been no response filed.

The revised ERP application has TRIPLED the acres of golf course to be excavated to create "marsh", from 25 acres to 76. However, no new excavation numbers were given, nor, evidently, are they required (only excavation/fill of existing wetlands is required). Without new numbers, all we can do is triple the original excavation of 273,000 cubic yards, and, with negligible additional pond fill, subtract the same 31,000 cubic yards, to get a new estimate of 788,000 cubic yards to be moved offsite. This works out to about 39,000 dump truck loads. This would require 77 truckloads per day for EVERY non-holiday weekday for two years. Starting excavation on day 1 is obviously impossible, so the daily load will be even higher, clearly throwing a huge red flag on their work schedule that claims excavation/fill would be completed within two years.

Golf courses used fertilizers and herbicides in the 1970s & 1980s that contained arsenic and arsenic typically can still be found in the soil of these courses to present day. The developers will need to test the soil, SWFWMD requested these tests be done January 2025, if those tests were performed the outcome has yet to be posted. If the golf course soil does test positive for arsenic and / or other heavy metals, as these are known carcinogens, does this developer, an LLC, have the funding to safely remove it without putting us at risk?

While the application states they will focus work in one area at a time instead of broadly across the entire golf course so as to not disturb the imperiled, threatened, endangered, and protected species that live on the course, wildlife experts disagree. Additionally, post hurricanes Helene and Milton wildlife in Tampa Bay has seen a large loss of habitat for our precious wildlife and taking the Tarpon Woods Golf Course away from these animals at this time is ill advised. Also their estimate for construction of this project has grown from one year to two, and as you can see byu the volume of earth they plan to move 2 years seems another gross underestimate as well.

The revised application calls for removal of all current fire suppression zones put in place by golf course designers to protect our homes in the event a brush fire were to start on the course. The application also states that due to the close proximity of residential homes and public roadways fire cannot be used as a method of maintaining new habitats, yet nonetheless it goes on to list fire as the chosen method to maintain 3 different habitats.

The construction project puts much of the imperiled, threatened, endangered, and protected wildlife that traverse the course to move between Brooker Creek Preserve and John Chesnut Park, as well as those that call the course home, at risk. Wildlife experts have warned this is ill advised, especially after the Tampa Bay area suffered such a large loss of habitat between hurricanes Helene and Milton. With a construction period of 2 years, most likely more, its unknown if the displaced wildlife will ever fully return. Additionally the wetlands will be inhospitable to many of the animals we enjoy seeing, it will remove what was a safe, open green space corridor for many land animals moving between Brooker Creek Preserve and John Chesnut Park. This will push these animals, like the deer, into our roadways. This will be both unsafe for the deer themselves, but also unsafe for drivers as a collision with an adult deer can also cause serious damage to a vehicle.

And lastly, we purchased our homes with golf course values and wish to maintain that status. Removal of the course will result in a broadscale decrease in assessed property values. Lower property values won't just hurt us on resale, but it will also result in lower revenue for the county, and less funding to correct existing flooding and drainage issues which we already struggle with.

What We Know

The owners of Tarpon Woods Golf Course, a 168.4 acre property, intend to close the existing golf course.
They plan on filling in ponds and excavating 242,000 cubic yards of dirt from the golf course. That's over 12,000 Dump Truck Loads driving through our neighborhood.
The pond behind your house going to be filled and replaced with a Littoral Shelf.
The plan to eventually build 320 residential units on areas that used to be the golf course. (Could be single family homes, multifamily, or apartments).
They plan to create a Wetland Mitigation Bank on the rest of the golf course property.
THEY ARE REQUIRED BY LAW TO FENCE THE PERIMETER OF THE WETLAND MITIGATION BANK and NO PUBLIC ACCESS IS ALLOWED - (Not going to be a park or a place to go for a walk, etc. Just an overgrown future mosquito infested swamp)
An application has already been submitted to Southwest Florida Water Management District (SWFWMD) on 03/01/2024 - Read and Investigate it HERE
A site plan pre-application was presented on 07/01/2024 to the Development Review Committee (DRC) (WATCH THE MEETING IN THE VIDEO SECTION HERE - This is where you will learn their intentions to build residential properties on the land previously known to us as the golf course)
A Time Extension Request was submitted to SWFMD on 07/08/2024
An Extension was Granted with a deadline of 09/10/2024
Updated information was provided by the developer on 08/14/2024 - See that info HERE
Meetings and Sign Waiving/Protest events have been scheduled by SaveTarponWoods.com - See the Calendar HERE

How Can You Help?

We need volunteers to seek answers to our questions in an organized and civil manner
A Petition and Formal Letter has been created and is available HERE
Volunteers needed to go door to door to notify residents of Tarpon Woods, Ridgemoor, and East Lake Woodlands
ATTEND ALL UPCOMING MEETINGS LISTED IN THE CALENDAR SECTION AND BE HEARD WHILE BEING CIVILIZED AND ORDERLY!! THE NEXT MEETING IS THURSDAY 09/05/2024 at the Pinellas County Board of Commissioners!!
Complete the contact info form and check the box to be updated!! Make sure you respond to the confirmation email and add admin@savetarponwoods.com to your contact list to prevent the update emails from going to our SPAM/junk box.
Go to the GET INVOLVED page to find out more!
Read every page and every document and video available on this website.