Dear Observer,
I honestly don’t know where else to turn for help, so I am writing you in the hopes that someone will listen. My name is Betty Bush. My husband, Harry, and I are homebound and cannot drive. We have lived at 117 Myrtle Lane, just off Swindell Road in Plant City, for over 40 years.
My street, Myrtle Lane, has about 20 homes on it, and is being surrounded by a soon-to-be built warehouse complex owned by a company named Blue Steel. Before long, there will be five warehouses built behind my home, two of which will be 7 stories tall, and the others will be 5 stories. (I wonder if the new residents in Varrea and Timber Ridge know this???)
In 2023, when we could still drive, we went to City Hall and expressed our opposition to a very nice Planning staff member. I gave him hand-written paperwork showing how the warehouse project would cause great harm to our lives. Despite hundreds of rural residents showing up in opposition, the Plant City Commission approved this ill-placed project. NOW, to make matters worse, the developers are seeking approval to add a 14-acre, 24/7 truck fueling station on the east side of our neighborhood!
You see, our one-acre home was our nest egg. We have no retirement but Social Security. We purchased our home in 1986, and for 40 years, we have watched it increase in value. The sale of our estate was going to provide the money we needed to get into a retirement center, hopefully Grace Manor, and sustain us for the rest of our lives.
Over the past 3 years, MANY homes have sold on Swindell Road for over $650 thousand! While our house may not be as fancy, the value of our home and land would have provided us plenty of funds to pay off our mortgage and pay for a retirement center. But then, Blue Steel came along and destroyed our future. These projects will forever place our home in an enclave where no one will EVER want to live.
I understand the City wants “progress,” but it is coming at the expense of surrounding residents. We have spoken to realtors, who just shrug their shoulders and say “I’m sorry, your land is worthless now.” We cannot drive, we have no retirement, and now Blue Steel has rendered our home at half the value it was, if we can even sell it at all.
There is still time for the Commissioners to do the right thing and at least deny the 14-acre truck fueling station – the final vote for PB-2024-28 is on June 9. It puts so many people in harm’s way of contamination – from noise, lights, chemicals, contaminated stormwater runoff, air pollution and “unwanted elements” who will frequent this truck stop.
We are begging someone to help Myrtle Lane residents. If Blue Steel paid 7 million dollars for the 14 acres where this truck fueling station will be built, then at the very least, they should be obligated to do the same for those of us who want to escape the awful position they have put us in. These developers (or the City) should purchase the homes of people who want to leave Myrtle Lane for the market price our homes WOULD HAVE BEEN WORTH had they not approved this development to be built in the middle of our rural neighborhood. We have property rights too. We have a lifetime of investment built into our home, but no one seems to care about that when big development comes knocking at Plant City’s door.
Sincerely,
Harry & Betty Bush
