A Hillsborough County hearing officer has approved a special use permit for a 1,000-student private school on 24 acres of semirural land along North Dale Mabry Highway in Lutz, and neighbors who packed a public hearing in red shirts are raising money to block it.

The Naidip Foundation, a nonprofit focused on education and youth empowerment, wants to build Apex Academy at the southeast corner of Dale Mabry Highway and Holly Lane. Plans filed under application SU-SCH 26-0430 call for a 135,000-square-foot school building, a freestanding gymnasium, a garden center, play areas, sports fields, a private wastewater treatment plant and a fire tank on the 24.52-acre site.

The hearing officer's decision, reported by the Tampa Bay Times on Saturday, July 19, sends the project into site-plan review and permitting. But a community group called Preserve Rural Lutz has grown to more than 300 members on Facebook, formed its own nonprofit and raised more than $18,000 to hire an attorney to seek reconsideration of the decision or file a formal appeal.

About 30 residents attended the Monday, June 15 land use hearing wearing red shirts that read "Keep Lutz Semi-Rural." No one spoke in favor of the school except Mark Bentley, an attorney representing the foundation, who told the hearing officer the academy would "provide an educational opportunity unique to Hillsborough County."

Among the opponents was Micha Seal, chief executive of Watermelon Swim, which operates a location at 19509 Dale Mabry Highway. The proposed campus would sit between that swim school to the south and Christ Cumberland Presbyterian Church to the north.

Traffic and infrastructure concerns

The Florida Department of Transportation has raised its own objections. The agency said it has concerns about the Holly Lane connection being too close to the Dale Mabry intersection and recommended shifting the access point east to prevent vehicles from stacking onto the state road. FDOT also called the proposed Dale Mabry connection nonconforming because it does not meet minimum spacing requirements, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

According to amended traffic plans filed with the county, Holly Lane would be widened to four lanes, left turns onto Dale Mabry would be restricted and the site would provide about 7,100 feet of stacking space for student pickup and drop-off. Those plans were revised after residents raised concerns about congestion.

Jennifer Miranda, a third-generation Lutz resident, pointed to flooding along Holly Lane after Hurricane Milton and questioned whether the area can handle more development. "It does flood. We are surrounded by lakes and ponds in this area," Miranda told FOX 13 on May 26. "And there's not a lot of room that, from my understanding, to widen roads or improve, make structural improvements, that would help with that flooding."

Compatibility with the Lutz Community Plan

Preserve Rural Lutz argued in its submission to the county that the building is not compatible with the surrounding area, noting it would dwarf anything else nearby. The group's submission also cited more than 30 nearby schools with empty seats and little forecast enrollment growth.

Opponents point to the 2011 Lutz Community Plan, adopted by Hillsborough County, which designates the corridor west of U.S. 41 and east of Dale Mabry as rural with single-family homes on half-acre or larger lots.

No date for a reconsideration hearing or county board review has been announced. Residents can track the application under case number SU-SCH 26-0430 through Hillsborough County's land use records.