Pasco County is weighing a site near its Public Infrastructure Administration Building in Land O' Lakes as one of two locations for a consolidated public works campus.

The county is also evaluating a 123-acre property near Nottingham Road and Hudson Avenue in Hudson, first reported by Tampa Bay 28.

The proposed campus would bring together county public works, engineering and fleet operations. Site evaluations are underway, and the county said it expects a final decision later in 2026 or in early 2027.

Environmental group raises wildlife concerns

The Hudson property has drawn opposition from Green Guardians, an environmental group that wants the county to preserve the land as conservation space. The group says the site contains connected forest, wetlands, ponds and upland habitat that could support a range of wildlife.

Residents doing preliminary scouting for the group identified about 50 apparent gopher tortoise burrows on roughly one-quarter of the Hudson property. Green Guardians acknowledged that those observations have not been verified by an official Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission survey.

Under Florida law, gopher tortoises are a state-designated threatened species. Both the animals and their burrows are protected under state code. Property owners must obtain permits from the commission and relocate tortoises before any land clearing can begin.

Green Guardians is calling for comprehensive wildlife, rare plant, wetland and hydrological surveys before the county makes a final decision. The group also wants the county to halt any clearing or grading on the Hudson site while evaluations continue.

Early concepts include offices and fleet facilities

Concepts for the Hudson property have included an office and warehouse building of about 82,000 square feet, a fleet building of nearly 21,000 square feet, fuel and wash facilities, support structures and about 800 parking spaces, according to project information compiled by Green Guardians. Those figures have not been confirmed by official county planning documents.

An environmental resource permit application has also been publicly noticed for about 2,000 feet of access road and drainage improvements covering 14.25 acres on the Hudson property, according to information compiled by the group. The permit applicant has not been identified.

Residents push back as county weighs options

Dan Callaghan, a Green Guardians member based in Hudson, previously spent years fighting to protect wetlands in the Serenova Preserve from the Ridge Road extension.

"What we are seeing now is Pasco County is becoming Pinellas, where, in fact, it's all pavement, concrete and houses, so while we can, we are trying to save what we can," Callaghan told Tampa Bay 28.

Green Guardians member Jasmina Forcan said development has consumed the area. Jan Johnson, who lives on 11 acres nearby, said thousands of homes are already planned for the corridor along Hudson Avenue, where newer subdivisions are going up.

No decision has been made. Pasco County said in a statement that the proposed facility near Nottingham Road remains in the planning and site-evaluation phase. Tampa Bay 28 reported that the county did not respond to additional questions about the project.

Green Guardians members want county officials to investigate already developed or underused sites and to consider turning the Hudson land into a conservation park. The county has not announced a public hearing date or comment period for the site decision.