Pasco County Lauded For Creating America's 1st Connected City

WESLEY CHAPEL, FL -- For the third time this year, Pasco County Development Services is being honored for the part it played in creating America's first "Connected City" to Wesley Chapel from the ground up.

Pasco County received the 2018 Best Practices Award from the American Planning Association Florida Chapter.

According to the APA, Pasco County Development Services received this award for creating a unique, forward-thinking development plan that encourages companies with higher paying jobs to call Pasco County home.

A Connected City is a futuristic community designed around a super-fast communications system with 1 gigabit of WiFi speed. It is intended to provide an ultra-fast communications network that will attract industries with high-paying jobs and entrepreneurs with new technologies.

In addition, the Connected City embodies the best elements of modern urban design including multi-modal transportation networks, a range of housing types, conservation elements and cutting-edge amenities. It will save energy by connecting the communities to intelligent transit systems that regulate traffic flow in real time as well as utility systems, sprinkler systems and reclaimed water lines.

When completed, the Connected City will integrate solar energy and other renewable resources as well as create amenities including 1,625 acres of active and passive parks, extensive bike paths and trail systems, and the country’s first “crystal lagoon.”

“This is America’s first Smart Community that will have roads ready for driver-less vehicles, multi-modal transportation options, and credits for incorporating new gigabit technologies and solar power into the community,” said Pasco County long-range planning manager Ernest Monaco.

Metro Development Group in Tampa, which designs master-planned communities throughout central Florida, is overseeing the creation of Pasco’s Connected City. It will encompass five approved major planned developments in the Wesley Chapel area: Epperson Ranch South, EPCO Ranch North, Promenade Town Center West, Ashley Groves and Mirada (the former Cannon Ranch). Totaling 7,841 acres, these developments are bordered by State Road 52 to the north, Interstate 75 to the west, Curley Road to the east and Overpass Road and its extension to the south.

The first two communities in the Connected City -- Epperson and Mirada -- are under construction.

The 900-acre Epperson Ranch community will include more than 1,600 single-family homes, 125 age-restricted single-family houses, 550 apartments, more than 290,000 square feet of retail space, more than 577,000 square feet of office/medical/hospital/university and about 200 hotel rooms.

Mirada, with 1,800 acres, will have more than 4,000 single-family homes, 1,500 age-restricted single-family homes, 900 apartments, 421,000 square feet of retail space, nearly 288,000 square feet of office/medical/hospital/university and about 200 hotel rooms.

In addition to the APA Florida Chapter award, Pasco County's Connected City has received:

* The One Bay/McIntosh Award from the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council

* 2018 Award of Excellence from the APA Florida Chapter Sun Coast

For more information about the Connected City, click here.

Image via Pasco County

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