Home/Service Area
Where we work.
Terah Development is based in Apollo Beach and works throughout west central Florida. We know these jurisdictions, their staff, their review cycles and their stormwater expectations. That familiarity is worth months on a schedule.
| County | Active in | Land use approval path | Water management |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hillsborough | Apollo Beach, Ruskin, Riverview, Gibsonton, Wimauma, Sun City Center, Plant City | Zoning Hearing Master / LUHO → Board of County Commissioners | SWFWMD (EPC coordination) |
| Manatee | Palmetto, Parrish, Ellenton, Bradenton | Planning Commission → Board of County Commissioners land use meeting | SWFWMD |
| Pasco | Land O' Lakes, Wesley Chapel, Zephyrhills, Dade City | Development Review Committee → Planning Commission → BCC | SWFWMD |
| Polk | Lakeland, Bartow, Auburndale, Winter Haven | Planning Commission → Board of County Commissioners | SWFWMD |
We also hold land outside the core four. Current holdings include parcels in Putnam County (Interlachen) and Highlands County (Lake Placid) — see land holdings. Development work stays concentrated in the counties above, where the review cycles are ones we run continuously.
01County by countyNotes from the work
Four counties, four different clocks.
The code language rhymes across west central Florida. The review culture does not. These are the practical differences we schedule around.
HC
Hillsborough County
Our home ground. Site and subdivision work runs through Development Services on an intake and sufficiency model, so an incomplete submittal costs a full cycle rather than a phone call. Standard rezonings and planned developments are heard by the Zoning Hearing Master, whose recommendation then goes to the Board of County Commissioners for the final decision. Resubmittal reviews commonly run up to ten business days each, which is why the number of resubmittals, not the length of any one review, is what actually sets the schedule.
MC
Manatee County
The fastest-growing county in the region on a percentage basis, and the Parrish corridor is where most of the residential entitlement activity sits. Manatee publishes a Development Review Manual and a weekly development project list, which makes it one of the more predictable jurisdictions to plan against if you actually read them. Land use items move through the Planning Commission before reaching the Board of County Commissioners.
PA
Pasco County
Pasco has spent the last decade converting from a bedroom community to a jobs-and-rooftops county, and the infrastructure standards have moved with it. Expect close attention to transportation concurrency and to how a project connects to the county utility system. Development Review Committee sign-off precedes the hearing track.
PO
Polk County
Polk is the volume market in the corridor, absorbing overflow demand from both Tampa and Orlando along the I-4 spine. Land basis is lower and parcels are larger, which changes the arithmetic: yield and infrastructure cost per lot matter more here than land price does. Karst geology and lake drainage patterns deserve real attention at the geotechnical stage.
The constant across all four
Everything here drains through SWFWMD.
All four counties sit inside the Southwest Florida Water Management District, which runs the Environmental Resource Permit program covering wetland impacts and stormwater management. Volume I of the ERP Applicant's Handbook governs the wetland criteria; Volume II carries the district-specific stormwater design and performance standards.
The practical consequence for a developer is that SWFWMD's stormwater criteria emphasise peak discharge control, and the pond that satisfies them is usually larger than the one a first-pass yield study assumed. We size that pond during underwriting, not after closing. It is the single most common reason a parcel that pencilled at contract stops pencilling at design.
In Hillsborough County, environmental review is further coordinated with the Environmental Protection Commission under a long-standing memorandum with the district, which adds a reviewer to the table and rewards getting the wetland line flagged and agreed early.
Reference
- District
- Southwest Florida Water Management District
- Coverage
- 16 counties on Florida's central west coast, including all four of ours
- Programme
- Environmental Resource Permit (ERP)
- Handbook Vol. I
- Wetland and surface water criteria
- Handbook Vol. II
- Stormwater design and performance standards
- Emphasis
- Peak discharge control
Public information, published by the district at watermatters.org.
Considering a parcel outside these counties?
Ask anyway. We travel for the right site. Send the address or the folio number and we will give you a straight read.