TARPON SPRINGS — City commissioners unanimously approved a site plan for a 32-unit townhome community on Mango Street, a project several called the city’s best chance at new affordable housing.
And it revived decades-old talk of extending Disston Avenue.
The commission also voted unanimously to vacate 37,035 square feet of unimproved right of way in the Lake Butler Heights Subdivision, clearing the way for the project. The vacated land includes portions of Stachelberg Avenue, Burke Street and an unnamed alley.
H.P. Capital Group plans 32 single-family attached townhomes in five buildings on the south side of Mango Street, about 96 feet east of Disston Avenue. The development will include a half-acre park.
Interim Planning Director Alexandra Keen said the vacation request was submitted alongside the site plan.
“The area to be vacated is completely undeveloped and unimproved and consists of wooded vacant land,” Keen told commissioners. “The purpose of the request is to allow for development and replatting of a proposed 32-unit townhome community.”
Lake Butler Heights was platted in 1911, Keen said. Most of the subdivision’s eastern half was vacated in 1972, presumably for the Tarpon Springs Housing Authority’s Mango Circle apartment complex, and the authority vacated Mango Circle in 2019 to build the Eagle Ridge apartment community.
The vacation retains the north 17.5 feet of the Stachelberg Avenue right of way next to Mango Street to accommodate a possible widening of Mango Street to as much as 80 feet, she said. The applicant paid a $32,220 application fee, covering half the appraised value of the right of way.
Matt Sylverain, a design engineer with Gulf Coast Consulting, said the developer has worked on the project for years.
“It’s really a very difficult site, but we think what we are placing here with the townhomes, with it not being so crowded and having plenty of ample space, we think this could be a banner project, advocating for more development of the missing middle housing,” he said.
“There’s a reason why it’s missing,” Sylverain said. “Because it’s very hard to find sites like this and to be able to make this work. For this site, this absolutely works. This is really a nice, exciting, urban infill project.”
Vice Mayor Michael Eisner, presiding in the absence of Mayor John Koulianos, who was on vacation, told the developer the project fills a need.
“The thing we need most in this town is affordable housing,” Eisner said. “I’m all for what you’re trying to do. I think it’s well needed. It’s not easy to find. We’re about 95% built out.”
Commissioner Lori Weaver pushed back on a resident’s suggestion that new homes should sell for $300,000.
“Building costs are so high right now that it’s probably not practical to expect something to be built for $300,000, as much as I would love to see that happen,” she said. A 1,500-square-foot house at $400 a square foot already runs $600,000, she said. “The days of being able to build something that’s that affordable at a $300,000 price tag are gone for now. I hope they return.”
Her goal, Weaver said, is keeping working people in Tarpon Springs.
“Affordable housing is simply that. It’s housing that’s affordable for average people,” she said. “If this is what it takes, if it has to go into this price range, it might be the only chance we have to be able to keep some of our young people and our working people here in town. I certainly see a project like this as a plus.”
The project also renewed a conversation the city has had for more than 30 years.
Disston Avenue was envisioned as a secondary evacuation route and a connection to Belcher Road, but a roughly quarter-mile gap between its northern and southern segments has never been closed, largely because of resident opposition and a lack of money. When the city proposed an extension in the early 1990s, residents of nearby subdivisions, including Oakleaf Village, fought it over traffic concerns.
The city won a $100,000 grant from Forward Pinellas in 2022 to develop a Disston Avenue Complete Streets Concept Plan. Both a land use and corridor study and the concept plan to close the gap have been completed, according to the Connect Tarpon Springs website, and the extension is now included in regional long-range transportation and land use plans.
The Planning and Zoning Board had asked whether a utility easement along the Disston Avenue right of way could preserve the possibility of a future extension.
Former Commissioner Peter Dalacos urged commissioners to seize the moment, calling the vacation request “an opportunity lost” and suggesting a public-private partnership could serve “as a catalyst” to open the road.
“The value of them having access to Disston, with a second entrance, gives them more viability for not only fire rescue and other services, but ingress and outgress,” Dalacos said.
He said he has been “preaching about Disston since 2004. It’s essential to open this up. We’ve had previous meetings, community seminars, and the majority said we need to have this access open.”
Eisner said the commission could not attach a condition tied to an undecided project. “We cannot make plans right now for what could be or what may not be down the road,” he said.
Commissioners did not discuss the idea further.
Commissioner David Banther said the townhomes stand on their own.
“This will be the most affordable new housing on the market in Tarpon Springs. I’m not aware of anything cheaper that’s new,” he said. “I think it’s a great project. I think it’s a great use of the land. I do think that down the road there’s the potential for added value if and when Disston is opened up.”