TEMPLE TERRACE — Temple Terrace is getting just a little bit bigger.
The City Council last week approved annexing a 12.29-acre vacant parcel at the southeast corner of U.S. Highway 301 and Harney Road.
The council approved two ordinances at the Oct. 6 meeting. One brings the parcel into city limits, while the other changes its future land-use designation from Hillsborough County Community Mixed Use-12 to the city’s own mixed use-12 category.
As for what will go on that property — homes, commercial or industrial uses, or a little of both — that remains unknown.
According to the staff report, nothing can be built on the property yet, as the rezoning process takes effect 31 days after adoption if no one challenges it.
The land belongs to DCH Citrus LLC, which requested annexation through Ryan Companies US, Inc. No development plan has been proposed, and Ryan Companies is not purchasing this parcel, the applicant’s representative told council.
Mayor Andy Ross said the city welcomed the request, although it did not recruit the owner.
“We didn’t do anything proactively to attract them,” he said. “They came to us. I think it was a good thing, but we didn’t go after it.”
The appeal of annexation, he added, is particularly strong when it brings commercial or industry property into the city. Those businesses can generate substantial property tax revenue while requiring relatively few city services.
“Those are the kind of properties that help take the load off of residential property taxes,” Ross said. “So every time we get a piece of property like this, like Amazon, the VA hospital, this kind of property, warehousing, those are all very advantageous annexations.”
The benefit of this particular parcel will depend on what eventually gets built.
Attorney Kami Corbett, representing the applicant, told the council that interest so far has been commercial or industrial. Although that could change.
“I anticipate that likely there will be another contract purchaser at some point that will come forward with the development.”
The decision to approve annexation doesn’t equal construction. The property still must receive city zoning and site plan review, which the council would still need to approve.
The parcel already lies within Temple Terrace’s utility service area and designation future economic development area, according to the city staff report.
Corbett said she met with city staff early on about utilities, for a proposed industrial complex.
“And for that development, there did appear to be some capacity,” she said. “There was some improvements that we might have to do. But I mean, again, if it was to switch to residential, that would have to be reanalyzed in terms of what the demands are for a residential community.”
Ross and City Manager Carlos Baia have talked a lot of annexation in the past two years as the city seeks to expand its tax base.
Opportunities are limited, and mostly concentrated to the east.
“We’re kind of landlocked,” Ross said, with Tampa along the western border and parts of the northern one. That leaves the east, including the U.S. 301 Industrial Park and Fowler Avenue, where the mayor said the city would “love to square off” a jagged border. But some property owners there don’t want to be annexed, he said, so it’s unclear whether that can happen.
Public safety has also been a consideration. Ross said the city had to slow down its annexation goals “because we were stretching our fire response time to the max.”
Once the new fire station on Harney Road, which will be the third in Temple Terrace, is up and running, the city can serve the new areas. “It’s all fitting together nicely,” Ross said.