Greetings and Welcome

Greetings and welcome to the first of what we hope will be many bi-weekly electronic newsletters from the Planning and Growth Management Department of Hillsborough County, Florida.  The purpose of this newsletter is to communicate with you, our citizens and customers, on a regular basis to keep you informed of news about the Department’s mission, policies, procedures and events.  If you do not wish to receive this newsletter, please click on the “Unsubscribe” link below and your name and email address will be purged from our newsletter list.  Please also pass this newsletter along to others that would be interested and let them know they can subscribe online.

Until Next Time,
Peter Aluotto
Director, Planning & Growth Management Department

The Walls of Hillsborough County

Hillsborough County has hundreds of residential subdivisions.  Many of these subdivisions are surrounded by six-foot high masonry walls complete with entry signage and landscaping.  Occasionally, an automobile will go out of control, leave the roadway and collide with a subdivision wall creating damage in the thousands of dollars.  The question then arises, who is responsible for the repair of this damage?  The answer is: it depends.

Most often, the walls surrounding a subdivision belong to and are maintained by either a master homeowner’s association or a special dependent tax district as part of the common area. In such cases, the association or the district would file a claim against the driver’s automobile insurance for the repair.  If the driver is uninsured or lacks the proper coverage, the association or the district may file a claim with their own insurance company or file suit against the driver. If there is neither a master homeowner’s association nor a special dependent district, then the individual homeowner on whose property the wall resides should file the claim against the driver’s insurance or his own home insurance, as the circumstances dictate.  In no case is the wall repair the responsibility of Hillsborough County.  These walls are not built in the County right-of-way. Neither does the County accept dedication (ownership) of these walls for future maintenance.

Fast Fact

 For the first time in 10 months, building permit activity went up slightly in April.

FAQ:

Why is PGM authorizing overtime for some employees at a time when other employees are going out the door?

Although they are necessary to balance our budgets, reductions in force can sometimes have an adverse affect upon remaining employees. With fewer employees, the existing work must be borne by others in the organization. Learning to perform new or added responsibilities takes time. Hence, more time may be needed to accomplish the same amount of work. This is a temporary condition. Assuming no increase in actual workload, the time requirements usually return to normal and overtime is no longer needed. For the first seven months of this fiscal year, PGM’s consumption of overtime was less than $11,000 for the entire Department. Annualizing this figure results in too little money to justify the addition of another full-time employee.