The SouthShore Areawide Systems Plan (SSASP) was developed in 2003 and preceded all other community based plans in south county. The Board of County Commissioners approved Community Based Planning work program from 2011 includes the update of the SSASP. The SSASP area is generally located south of Bloomingdale Avenue, east of the Tampa Bay, north of the Manatee County line and west of the Polk County line encompassing approximately 384 square miles.

By establishing an areawide policy framework for the three components, the systems plan assured compatibility during the second phase of planning for specific community planning efforts within the greater areawide study area. Individual community plans have now been adopted for Ruskin, Riverview and Apollo Beach (August 2005), Gibsonton (February 2007), Wimauma (November 2007), Sun City Center and Little Manatee South (November 2010), and Balm (June 2013). 

The SSASP covers three main areas: Transportation, Environmental, and Cultural and Historical.  In the current update, we heard the community wanted to also look at economic prosperity as an overarching theme that relates to all three topics and so have added Economic Development as an area.

To get a sense of the scope of the issues within the SouthShore community to be addressed in the update of the SSASP, staff developed a short questionnaire that summarizes the vision and aspirations of the Plan. The objective was to allow all SouthShore stakeholders including residents, business owners, students, and government and regulatory officials to comment on priorities for the plan update. Staff feels many of the issues can be coordinated with the overall Comprehensive Plan and Long Range Transportation update; we expect there will be some overlap.

With input from a volunteer working committee, staff will continue revising the adopted SSASP over the next few months. The volunteer committee's tasks will be part of the discussion at the March meeting. Proposed changes to the adopted SSASP based on the update process including input from the stakeholders, Imagine 2040, and recommendations from the Hillsborough County Economic Development Department and the Transportation for Economic Development Leadership Policy Group is scheduled to be presented for public review in a series of three public meetings in the late summer/fall of 2014.

The plan was further implemented by adoption of development requirements in the Land Development Code (LDC) which are outlined in detail below:

Land Development Codes:

Part 3.01.00 – Special Public Interest Districts

Sec. 3.01.09 – SPI-SCCSC: Sun City Center Senior Citizen Overlay District

Part 3.17.00 – Ruskin Town Center Development Regulations

(adopted November 2, 2006)

Sec. 3.17.01 – Purpose

Sec. 3.17.02 – Applicability

Sec. 3.17.03 – General Development Standards

Sec. 3.17.04 – Standards for Non-Residential, Mixed-Use, and Multi-Family Development

Sec. 3.17.05 – Sign Standards

Sec. 3.17.06 – Zoning Districts

Sec. 3.17.07 – Ruskin Town Center (RTC-1)

Sec. 3.17.08 – Ruskin Town Center (RTC-2)

Sec. 3.17.09 – Prohibited Uses

Sec. 3.19.00 – Riverview Downtown District – Development Regulations

Sec. 3.19.01 – Purpose

Sec. 3.19.02 – Applicability

Sec. 3.19.03 – General Development Standards

Sec. 3.19.04 – Standards for Development

Sec. 3.19.05 – Sign Standards

Sec. 3.19.06 – Riverview Downtown District – Downtown One (RDD-DT1)

Sec. 3.19.07 - Riverview Downtown District – Downtown Two (RDD-DT2)    

Sec. 3.19.08 - Riverview Downtown District – Riverwalk One (RDD-RW1)

Sec. 3.19.09 - Riverview Downtown District – Riverwalk Two (RDD-RW2)

Sec. 3.19.10 - Riverview Downtown District – Riverwalk Three (RDD-RW3)

Sec. 3.19.11 – Riverview Downtown District – Riverwalk Four (RDD-RW4)

Sec. 3.20.00 – Riverview Downtown – Uptown Overlay District

Sec. 3.20.01 – Purpose

Sec. 3.20.02 – Applicability

Sec. 3.20.03 – Permitted Uses

Sec. 3.20.04 – General Development Standards

Sec. 3.20.05 – Standards for Development

Sec. 3.20.06 – Sign Standards