ARIPEKA - SunWest Harbourtowne developers said Friday that they have few worries about a recently released state report critical of their plans to turn an active mining site into an upscale resort and housing project.

The Department of Community Affairs, they say, lacked key information about their ongoing negotiations with Pasco officials to address issues ranging from preserving bear habitat to building in the velocity zone.

"There's not one thing they brought up that we haven't had discussions about," said SunWest project manager Bob Carpenter.

The mixed-use project, which would have 2,500 homes, a golf course and a marina, is still moving through the permitting process, and developers estimate they may not have all approvals in hand until mid 2011.

Environmental groups are opposing the project on a number of fronts, saying it's bad for wildlife and environmental resources and a poor fit for the rural waterfront area of Aripeka.

The Department of Community Affairs weighed in on SunWest last week after analyzing Pasco commissioners' proposed land use plan changes that would be necessary for the project to move forward.

The department's most strongly worded objection? Plans would allow greater density on the 562-acre coastal portion of the 1,000-acre site. That includes construction in the so-called "velocity zone," an area known to be more prone to natural disasters.

The state report says the proposed land use change runs counter to state law in two ways: It fails to limit development that could damage coastal environmental resources, and it allows development in an area prone to natural disaster, thus failing to "protect human life and limit public expenditures in areas that are subject to destruction by natural disaster."

Carpenter said that Pasco officials have told him they will limit the number of residential units in that area to 101. The homes would also have to be "hardened" to potential damages and must be located on lots of at least half an acre.

County officials have been pushing to focus development in that area on the resort component, with the idea of limiting the number of permanent residents in the zone.

Those details would be contained in a development order that would come out of the development of regional impact process.

Why insist on building in the velocity zone at all? That area also contains part of a large Caribbean-blue lake that will be one of their top selling points.

"You've got to use that lake," said Carpenter. "We recognize that, and the county recognizes that. But they also recognize public safety."

Overall, Carpenter said, of the 2,500 homes, about half would be nonhomesteaded properties: vacation homes, time shares and condos, for instance. That requirement would be laid out in the development order.

The maximum number of single-family detached homes would be 350.

Pasco County and SunWest are also working together on a channel project that would serve both a new park and SunWest, which has touted the potential deep water access for its future property owners.

The Department of Environmental Protection has yet to grant a permit for that project.

Jodie Tillman can be reached at jtillman@sptimes.com or (727) 869-6247.