Amy Maguire has resigned as head of a regional planning project because of her ties to a group of south Hillsborough landowners planning a large-scale development, said Stuart Rogel, one of the leaders of the planning project.

Rogel said the executive committee of One Bay, a group seeking to create a vision for managing growth in the Tampa Bay region, today accepted Maguire’s resignation.

Rogel is president and CEO of Tampa Bay Partnership, one of five local organizations involved in One Bay.

He said earlier this week he and other leaders of One Bay were unaware that Maguire also was working for a group of 20 agricultural landowners who among them own a substantial percentage of the developable land in south Hillsborough. They are planning a development project that would stretch from I-75 to U.S. 41, and from the Little Manatee River to the Hillsborough-Manatee county line.

Maguire also works for Southern Strategy Group, a powerful Tallahassee lobbying firm.

Rogel said the board will decide soon whether to hire another project manager to replace Maguire, and will “make sure we establish some very clear conflict of interest guidelines. We’re going to make certain this doesn’t get repeated.”

Maguire couldn’t immediately be reached for comment Friday evening.

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