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Valrico-area residents will soon have a new place to play soccer and other sports, but after a long wait for funding, the new park's neighbors still have questions about the effect the park will have on their area.
Several Brandon-area residents turned out at a recent meeting held by Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department to voice their opinions regarding the William Owen Sports Complex to built on the west side of Sydney Dover Rd.
"At first, the meeting was very testy and emotional," said John Brill, spokesperson for the Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department. "We had a mixed bag of speakers, some supporting the complex, some looking for comprise and others who wanted nothing to do with it."
The county has been planning to build the $3.8 million complex since 1989, however, funding did not become available until last year. The sports complex will be home to soccer fields, a concession stand, a maintained building, public restrooms, sidewalks, lit sports fields and a parking lot.
Now that the complex is ready to move forward, some residents of the neighborhoods surrounding the complex are not pleased with the location. The 40-acre complex will border the 704-acre Sydney Dover Trails Park, along with miles of trails frequented by local equestrians.
Local horse owners were a vocal part of the approximately 35 residents who attended the meeting. Many spoke of their concerns that the complex would disturb their horses, as well as block access to the popular horse trails in the existing park.
Brill states that the county took the concerns seriously and is actively trying to provide a solution that will provide trail access that is safe for both the horses and the children attending sporting events at the complex.
Other residents also brought along their worries about the location of the sports complex, which will lie just north of the Keith Waller Park. Many residents moved to the area to enjoy the peace and quiet, but now fear a sports complex, along with all the people and traffic to come with it, will disturb the quiet. The county urges residents to view the complex as an area to be enjoyed by local families, not as a hindrance.
"This will have to be a give and take relationship for the residents and the complex," said Brill. "However, we want the complex to be a showcase for the community, something they can be proud of."
Although emotions ran high in the early stages of the meeting, by the end, the county and residents in attendance were mostly on the same page. The county will now take the suggestions provided by residents to the complex designers and work on a new version of the complex that can meet the majority of the needs of the resident. The new plans will presented be to residents at a later date, which has yet to be determined.
"You can't please 100 percent of the people 100 percent of the time, but we are going to take the suggestions given to us, digest them, figure out what works and what doesn't, and reach a compromise," said Brill. "We want to be a good neighbor."
For more information, contact Brill at 975-2160.
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