LAND O'LAKES - Despite wider fears of a slumping condominium market, a 60-unit condominium proposal off U.S. 41, just north of Carson Drive, is heading back to the Development Review Committee with a different access point.

The development attracted opposition from Carson Drive residents when it surfaced in December last year.

Residents said the 13-acre development by Mobley Homes of Tampa would choke narrow, dead-end Carson Drive and stress its chronically failing sewage treatment lift station.

For months, the project languished as Mobley sought a compromise by finding an access route that would not use Carson Drive. The access would now run 1,000 feet north and then west directly onto U.S. 41.

"We just resubmitted our plans to the county's staff," Tonja Stewart, Mobley's land development manager, said Tuesday. "We're moving forward with a connection to U.S. 41 and not through Carson Drive."

A date hasn't been set for Mobley's reappearance before the Development Review Committee, but Stewart is hoping for a date within six weeks.

When that happens, it will be Mobley's second shot with the proposal. The Planning Commission in March sent the project back to the county's staff on the strength of residents' objections.

Even with the new access point, residents who oppose the project said they would still press the county to halt Mobley, arguing that drivers would still use Carson Drive as a shortcut to the development.

They also fear the additional load on the Carson Drive sewage station. The station broke down in May, spilling 3,000 gallons of sewage. Residents say it was an example of chronic failures there.

The condominiums' prospects may also now be complicated by plans for a milelong, six-lane overpass that would straddle State Road 54. While state transportation officials say the project is still a decade away, the plan has already influenced past county decisions on developments along U.S. 41.

But Mobley said discussions with the county's staff apparently assuaged their concerns.

"It's not going to impact us," Stewart said. "Most likely, the (state) Department of Transportation will have to accommodate us with transition lanes."

But with single-family home median prices dropping for the first time in five years, buyers may not be looking for condominiums, central Pasco Realtor Christie Zimmer said.

Condominium sales dropped 47 percent in the Tampa Bay area in the year up to June, according to the Florida Association of Realtors

Still, condominiums are a relative rarity in central Pasco and may create a demand, said Marvin Rose, a Tarpon Springs market analyst.

"Historically, condominium development in Pasco has been on the water," he said. "There have been a couple of scattered projects on (S.R.) 54. The market for condominium conversions did well for a couple years, then got saturated. Other than that, there's not been much condominium building in central Pasco. It's a strong, central location."

Chuin-Wei Yap covers growth and development in Pasco County. He can be reached at (813)909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.