Pasco Commissioners Approve Two Rivers Expansion, Clear Path for 35-Acre Surf Park in Wesley Chapel

Pasco County commissioners voted 3-0 on Tuesday, Sept. 19, to approve both a comprehensive plan amendment and a rezoning for a major expansion of the Two Rivers master-planned community along State Road 56 in Wesley Chapel, clearing the way for the proposed 35-acre Peak Surf Park. The vote sets the final terms for how much new housing and traffic the SR 56 corridor absorbs, and for the first time puts a real limit on how fast the apartments can be built.

The revised plan caps the added housing tied to this approval at 240 additional garden-style apartments. Those units cannot break ground until the surf park gets its certificate of occupancy, or until three years pass after the plan amendment takes effect, whichever comes first. That single condition is the difference between a developer building apartments first and worrying about the surf park later, and a developer who has to deliver the wave lagoon before cashing in on the rooftops.

What's actually being built

The approval covers 3,405 acres inside the broader Two Rivers community, which stretches along SR 56 between Morris Bridge Road and Gall Boulevard, on Wesley Chapel's eastern edge near U.S. 301. Earlier versions of the package that moved through the Pasco County Planning Commission in July described a mixed-use buildout on that scale that included roughly 4,047 single-family homes, 1,878 apartments, 514 townhomes, 108 villas, 300 assisted-living beds, 480 hotel rooms and about 1.3 million square feet of retail. The amendment also removes a previously approved 1,125-home age-restricted community, shifting part of that land toward apartments and assisted living instead.

The surf park sits at the eastern, Zephyrhills-facing end of the property. Developer Tony Miller, a longtime Tampa-area surfer, has been pursuing the site for roughly two years. Peak Surf Park is designed around Surf Lakes wave technology: a 360-degree lagoon roughly six acres in size with a central wave device that pushes swells outward in four directions at once, so beginners and experienced surfers can be in the water together. The lagoon alone would take about 8 million gallons to fill, pumped in over two to three weeks. Plans call for about a half-mile of sandy beach, restaurants, bars, retail, wellness space and event space, with a target opening in 2027.

Why the vote took months

The project moved slowly for a reason. Between April and July this year, the Southwest Florida Water Management District held Pasco County under a modified Phase III extreme water shortage order, limiting lawn irrigation to one day a week during restricted hours. Residents who spent the spring watering their yards once a week showed up to the July 9 Planning Commission hearing to ask how an 8-million-gallon wave pool fit into that picture.

More than a dozen people spoke at that hearing, most of them opposed. Speakers argued the amendment amounted to a wholesale remaking of eastern Pasco rather than a routine tweak, and pushed the county to fix roads and secure water supply before approving more rooftops. Others raised flooding, lost green space and wildlife habitat. At least one resident spoke in favor and said she was disappointed by how much opposition the project drew. Planning commissioners recommended approval anyway, unanimously, but with conditions, including a demand that the applicant return with tighter, more binding language on the surf park before the item reached the county commission.

That is essentially what happened. The version commissioners approved this week ties the apartments directly to the surf park's completion rather than leaving the amenity as a future promise. A developer connected to the surf park has described it as a major asset for locals, and Florida's Sports Coast and the Pasco Economic Development Council both submitted letters backing the project as a potential tourism draw. An economic study the developer commissioned in 2022 projected more than $1.3 billion in annual business output, roughly 700 jobs a year and close to $150 million in county tax revenue over a decade. Those figures come from the applicant, and the county has not independently endorsed them.

What's next

The comprehensive plan amendment and rezoning now clear the way for the developer to move into site planning and permitting for both the surf park and the residential phases. The county has not set a date for when construction on the surf park itself would begin, and the 2027 opening target floated earlier this year has not been confirmed alongside this final approval. Wesley Chapel families along SR 56 can expect the next visible signs of the project to be site work and permitting activity rather than groundbreaking, since the apartment cap keeps that piece on hold until the surf park is finished or the three-year clock runs out.

Stay with Wesley Chapel Community Website for updates on permitting and construction timelines as this project moves forward. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X, and join the conversation in our Community Forum to share what this growth means for your commute and your neighborhood. For more coverage of decisions shaping the area, visit our government and politics section.