Osprey Observer » Department

Public Hearing For Expansion of Valrico Rec Center

Marie Gilmore — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:02:44 +0000

HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY NEWS
FOR IMMEDIATE USE
March 5, 2009
Public Meeting Scheduled to Discuss the Proposed
Phase II of the Development of the Valrico Recreation Center
Hillsborough County will hold a public meeting to discuss Phase II of the Development of the Valrico Recreation Center.
The proposed project includes adding a football field, along with an irrigation system and lights. In addition, parking will be expanded. Phase II is budgeted at $250,000 through CIP (Capital Improvement Program) funds.
The park currently has a recreation building that houses the after-school and summer playground program, walking trail, basketball court, playground, parking and landscaping.
The purpose of the meeting is to discuss the details of the project and receive public input. County staff will be at the meeting to answer any questions residents may have.
Please attend, we welcome your input.
* Date: Tuesday, March 10
* Time: 6:30 p.m.
* Place: Valrico Recreation Center, 707 S. Miller Road, Valrico, FL 33594

All meeting facilities are ADA compliant. For additional assistance, please call us.

For more information, residents should call Steve Valdez, Public Works Department – Quality Assurance Section, at 813-272-5275 (TTY: 813-301-7172)

YMCA Names Miller Dowdy For Campo Award

Jennifer Silverstein — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 19:32:46 +0000

Longtime community advocate and developer Miller Dowdy, of Trinity Advisory Group, recently won the YMCA’s Ray Campo Leadership Award, named after Ray Campo, a developer who donated the land for it and two other YMCA facilities. Campo served on the YMCA’s board of directors and, upon his death, also donated more than $1 million toward the Valrico Y and Camp Cristina, a YMCA facility in Riverview.
Dowdy is a board member at the Campo Family YMCA and led the Family Fun Pool project.
Dowdy said that he feels completely humbled by receiving the award. “Just to know the history behind who the award is named after, Ray Campo, and all the major impacts he accomplished for this community makes this award a genuine honor,” he said.
The Campo family continues to make large impacts on the greater Brandon community with their continued time and monetary donations. Dowdy said, “I am particularly pleased that the recently finished YMCA Campo Family Fun Pool project was a joint project donation of the Campo Family and Hillsborough County.”
It took thousands of volunteer hours to accomplish the Family Fun Pool project over the past two years, and it was led by individuals such as Cindy Sofarelli, Lance Cohn, Tom Nicholson and John Sullivan as well as the leadership of the YMCA Campo Board of Directors.
Mags Oldman, Development Coordinator for the Campo YMCA, said, “We have been incredibly blessed and very proud to have Miller Dowdy as part of volunteer team for the past few years.”
“He sets a very high standard of leadership and advocacy for our organization, and has contributed countless hours of dedicated service to the YMCA. Miller’s affiliation with our organization has been nothing but a bonus to us, and to the thousands of children and families we serve,” she said. “His passion and commitment are truly a gift to us, matched only by his integrity and genuine thoughtfulness as an advocate for our mission, a volunteer leader and friend.”
Dowdy said, “It was also a pleasure to work with Mark Thornton of the Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation Department for his department’s involvement in this project. And, ultimately, the project could not have been completed without the support and guidance of Commissioner Al Higginbotham.”
Currently, the YMCA is in the process of its Annual Giving Campaign for the year, a giving effort of local businesses and the community’s citizens.
“Most people think of the Y as just another gym alternative, and they could not be more incorrect,” Dowdy said. “Your community YMCA supports many local community programs that stretch your charity giving dollars to the maximum. Many of these programs would not be possible for the community to have if it were not for the amount of volunteers it takes to properly run these programs. This is even truer today in these tough economic times.”
“It is these very programs that need your support more than ever. It takes more than just the regular membership dues to bring these programs to the community,” Dowdy said. “I would ask our community to care for others even less fortunate than them this year and give to your local YMCA or even better…come and be a volunteer!”
Dowdy is the managing partner for a group of commercial real estate professionals that have combined 55-plus years of experience and over $3 billion in closed real estate transactions. Dowdy has also won the YMCA Bullard Family Super Hero Award, the Brandon Chamber Chairman’s LIGHT Award and Hillsborough County Planning Commission Community Design Award of Merit for Institutional Projects (The Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce Building).
Dowdy is also involved in the Hillsborough County Planning Commission, the Hillsborough County Citizens Advisory Committee, the Brandon Community Master Plan Committee and the Lithia-Pinecrest Road Planning Committee.
For more information on the Campo YMCA, call 684-1371 or visit http://tampaymca.com. Campo Family YMCA is located at 3414 Culbreath Rd. in Valrico.

First Big Box Opening In February

Jennifer Silverstein — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:43:26 +0000

The SouthShore area will soon be home to its first department store, Bealls.
According to its Website, the corporation, through its subsidiaries, operates over 560 retail store sites in states across the Sun Belt, from Florida to California, with annual sales over one billion dollars. Since its modest beginnings in 1915, Bealls has grown to be a major employer in the state of Florida as well as a valued asset to all the communities it serves throughout the country.
Director of Public and Government Affairs for Bealls, Bill Webster, said the grand opening for the Riverview Bealls is scheduled for Friday, February 6. “And we are on schedule,” he said.
The first department store in the SouthShore area, the Bealls store will be 80,000 sq. ft. which, Webster said, is one of the larger new prototypes. The store will be equipped with larger aisles and larger shopping carts, as well.
Webster said that the store will have “more depth of product” and will carry a “broader assortment of items pretty much across the board.”
He said that Bealls chose this area because it is a rapidly growing area and that the Apollo Beach and SouthShore areas are under-equipped in retail. “People in this area have to travel through several miles of traffic to get to other locations,” he said. Webster also said he believes this is a good geographical location for the store.
The new store does not yet have an address assigned to it from the post office, however, it is located on the corner of U.S. Hwy. 301 and Big Bend Rd., next to the existing Publix, about one mile from I-75.
For more information, call 1-800-569-9038, Monday-Saturday from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. and Sunday from 10 a.m. – 8 p.m. or visit www.beallsflorida.com.

County Celebrates Groundbreaking of U.S. Hwy. 301 Project

Tamas Mondovics — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 21:39:37 +0000

The northeast corner of U.S. Hwy. 301 and Big Bend Rd. in Riverview marked the site of the beginning of another long-awaited project, soon to alter the flow of traffic in Riverview.
Hillsborough County and Florida Department of Transportation officials, along with staff, local development representatives and community representatives, gathered together in October to celebrate the groundbreaking of the U.S. Hwy. 301 Improvement Project and to be first to put the shovel in the ground.
According to County Division Director of Transportation and Land Development Review Bob Campbell, work on the project itself, which is hoped to improve a six-mile segment of U.S. Hwy. 301 from Gibsonton Dr. to C.R. 672/Balm Rd., began in 2005 when the county approved an agreement with nine developers to provide partial funding for the widening U.S. Hwy. 301 to four lanes from Gibsonton Dr. to S.R. 674 (Sun City Center).
Campbell explained that additional funds were provided by a second group of developers in 2008 which allowed the county and Florida Department of Transportation to expand the design of the project to six lanes with a 22-ft. median. Pedestrian features will include a five-ft. sidewalk on the west side and a 12-ft. multi-use path on the east side.
The cost of the current phase is approximately $110 million, which includes construction, design, studies, acquisition and administrative costs. The state is contributing $47 million to the project. A portion of this amount, $32.9 million, is from a grant that the county received from the state in October of 2007, which is awarded to communities that have congested state roads. Developers are contributing about $42 million to the project, and the county will be contributing about $20 million.
But according to District Secretary Don Skelton, the best part of all of this is what the three parties involved were able to accomplish.
“The partnership between the state, the county and the developers alone is a tremendous accomplishment,” Skelton said.
FDOT spokesperson Marian Scorza agreed when she said “This construction project is simply unique. Due to the efforts of all involved, the project construction has advanced by almost 10 years,” she said.
Of course, this project will require the cooperation of all motorists as well before things will be smooth sailing on U.S. Hwy. 301. The project is to be completed and open to traffic in the summer of 2012.
For more information, residents may call the Florida Department of Transportation at 975-6060.

Lithia Pinecrest Road Widening Public Meeting Draws Crowds

Tamas Mondovics — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 01:17:29 +0000

Hundreds attended a recent public meeting concerning the proposed widening of approximately an 11 mile section of Lithia Pinecrest Rd. from its current two travel lane roadway to a six travel lane roadway, affecting the Brandon, Bloomingdale and Lithia communities from S.R. 60 in Brandon to C.R. 39. Local residents who showed up at the Palmetto Club at FishHawk Ranch to hear more extensively about the project had the opportunity to view maps, elevations, a video presentation of the proposed change, as well as talk to county officials on-hand to address questions and concerns. Hillsborough County, in cooperation with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), has been working on preparing a Project Development and Environment (PDE) Study to consider the proposed widening of Lithia Pinecrest Rd., which according to county officials and many local residents, at this point, is simply not sufficient to handle the traffic. “Portions of this roadway currently operate below the county’s adopted minimum acceptable level-of-service standard,” said Hillsborough County Engineering Division Public Works Center Project Manager William Alford. Alford explained that the meeting was strictly about gathering information and that the improvements are intended to accommodate both existing and future traffic volumes as well as enhance motorist safety and reduce emergency response times. But while area residents in general agree that something needs to be done, just as many were unsatisfied due to the lack of information offered by the county. For starters, county officials were faced with complaints that the video presentation of the project seemed to be short on facts. The hot topic that seemed to concern most included the lack of traffic lights planned for the Valrico portion of the project. “I don’t see how they can talk about safety. It is difficult to turn onto Lithia Pinecrest going north now. How is that going to be better trying to cross three lanes and then merge in to three lanes of traffic without a traffic light,” said Gene Will of Valrico, who has lived on Hummingbird Ln. for the past 40 years and is very concerned about being able to turn northbound onto Lithia Pinecrest once the six lane road project is completed. For many residents the small but problematic as well as infamous, Bell Shoals Road and Lithia Pinecrest intersection just a few yards south of Lumsden was the worry of the day-although not on the agenda for the meeting-the proposed road widening plan will include the turning Bell Shoals Road, into a cul-de-sac, cutting traffic flow from it to merge onto Lithia Pinecrest. That is a big problem for Sue Curd with Curd and Associates who feels that the change would choke or at least alter the volume that her business generates. “I will lose business,” she said. Jim Barfield, also a Valrico resident for the past four decades whose wife Jean became Honorary Mayor of Brandon in1996, was disturbed by the fact that the County took this long to decide on thinking about the roads. “The County has been passing out building permits to developers for years. Now they have a problem on their hands and rightly; nobody is happy,” Barfield said. Good, bad or ugly, the meeting seemed to have accomplished its purpose and as expected could and would not please everyone while provided an opportunity to hear or to be heard. One thing is sure. This project will be done and Lithia Pinecrest Road will be a six lane major artery for commuters even if its success remains to be seen. For ore information about the project or for project updates, public comments and concerns please visit www.lpcstudy.com.

Community Remembers Fallen Officer

Tamas Mondovics — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 17:56:02 +0000

“There is not a day that goes by that we don’t think about Ron,” said Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office spokesperson J.D. Callaway, as he talked about his friend and longtime colleague on the force Ronald “Ron” Harrison, the veteran Hillsborough County sergeant who was killed by a gunman while sitting in his patrol car on his way home from work in Brandon last summer.
That Harrison is greatly missed by many and has never been forgotten was once again evident as the Brandon community came together and made the necessary preparations to hold the Second Annual Memorial Motorcycle Ride for Harrison in early November. The event benefitted MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Driving), an organization that Harrison was deeply involved with while serving on the force.
The event was sponsored by a number of local businesses and organizations in the community such as Harley-Davidson/Buell of Brandon, the Blue Knights of Florida XXVII, Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino, Beef ‘O’Brady’s of Seffner, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, the University of South Florida Police Department and the Plant City Police Department.
Callaway said, as it was true last year, this occasion brought together between 200-300 riders and a great mix of people from the community.
“We are more than happy to help and be a part of supporting this annual event on behalf of Harrison, both with our donation as well as offering our store as a kick off point,” said Harley Davidson/Buell of Brandon Marketing Assistant Britni Buss.
MADD Hillsborough County Victims Advocate Becky Gage, also one of the riders — although only on the back of a bike — was thankful for all the sponsors, businesses and individual riders who took part in the event.
“It is a great honor to take part of such an occasion,” she said.
Gage also said that the event was quite timely as the late Harrison was recently named the Top DUI Law Enforcement Individual for 2007 during the National MADD conference held in Dallas, Texas.
MADD chapters around the state regularly hold fundraisers in support of its programs and services. Anyone interested in learning more about fundraisers such as the Annual Memorial Ride for Harrison, which supports MADD Hillsborough County, can call 273-6233.
Anyone wishing to financially support MADD at the grassroots level may mail donations directly to its local chapter. The office of MADD Hillsborough County is located at 1107 E. Jackson St. in Tampa.
For more information about MADD, please visit www.madd.org.chapter/1200.

Public Meeting To Discuss Lithia Pinecrest Road Project Development & Environmental (PD&E) Study

Marie Gilmore — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:27:51 +0000

Public Meeting To Discuss Lithia Pinecrest Road Project Development & Environmental (PD&E) Study

Hillsborough County, in cooperation with the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT), will hold a public meeting to discuss the Project Development and Environmental Study for Lithia Pinecrest Road in the Brandon area.

The Study evaluates the proposed widening of Lithia Pinecrest Road from SR 60 (Brandon Boulevard) to CR 39. The study length is approximately 10.95 miles.
The meeting is being held to obtain your input regarding the location, conceptual design and environmental effects of the alternatives for the proposed project’s needed improvements.

County Staff and representatives from FDOT will be at the meeting to discuss the details of the project and answer any questions residents may have. Please attend, we welcome your input.

Date: Tuesday, Nov. 18
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Place: Palmetto Club, 17004 Dorman Road
All meeting facilities are ADA compliant. For additional assistance, please call us.
For more information, please call Steve Valdez, Public Works Department, at 272-5275 (TTY: 301-7172).
Visit us on the Web at – www.hillsboroughcounty.org.

County Pledges To Improve On Bus Safety Issues

Tamas Mondovics — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 18:42:31 +0000

It is safe to say that the start of every school year is the most hectic time for parents, students, teachers and school administrators all around the county. But nothing seems to stir the emotions more than student transportation and bus stop issues which were once again a hot topic at the recently held series of 2008-09 town hall meetings led by Hillsborough County’s Superintendent MaryEllen Elia.
After parents fired questions at Elia, which included the problem with not enough bus stops, having unsafe bus stops on busy streets, changes on routes, overloaded busses and a seeming lack of transportation efficiency of drop-off and pick-up times, there was no doubt changes would have to be made.
One of these parents, convinced the system is flawed, was Becky Goodman, whose daughter was mistakenly put on the bus at school and dropped off at a bus stop without a parent to meet her.
According to school officials, as far as the recently raised issues are concerned, such as the overloading as well as the installation of safer bus stops, problems have been resolved, and the department has made the necessary changes.
Elia told parents that the district did investigate more than 200 bus stop complaints and moved about 80 stops already, while most concerns had to be referred to Hillsborough County Schools General Transportation Manager John Franklin, who said, during a phone interview, that the issues parents were concerned with at the start of the year were legitimate and have been addressed.
“Parents can rest assured that the department is working hard to make sure that the kids are safe,” Franklin said.
Franklin explained that safety is the department’s first and foremost goal and focus, while acknowledging that there are situations that do arise every year.
“We have installed additional bus stops and given parents some additional information on the changes that were made,” Franklin said.
The way this is done, according to Franklin, is through the department’s Bus Stop Safety Review Committee, set up not only to fix the problems already on the list, but, also, the ones that might arise in the future.
While not trying to minimize the transportation department’s responsibilities and the errors made at the start of the year, Franklin said that it does take time to work out some of the bugs, especially when parents do not follow the directions given by the school their children attend.
According to Franklin, children are often left at a certain bus stop without notifying the department under the assumption that their children will get to school.
“While we will not leave a child alone at the stop, it does create some overloading problems,” Franklin said.
To work on these and other safety issues on and off the buses, the department sends out field supervisors as well as certified traffic safety inspectors to evaluate each route on a regular basis.
Franklin said that the budget cuts are not affecting the way the department operates.
For more information, changes or questions, please visit www.sdhc.k12.fl.us/transportation or call 272 4602.

New Library On Schedule For 2008

Tamas Mondovics — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 20:02:35 +0000

“I think the new library will prove to be a wonderful edition in the community,” said chief librarian Marilyn Shynett, as she talked about the soon to be completed new Seffner-Mango Branch Public Library located at 410 N. Kingsway Road, in the heart of Seffner.
Local residents are currently visiting the twice-moved existing and much smaller facility now located inside the Seffner Walmart shopping plaza. At a glance,the library has pretty much everything any library should.
But as most Hillsborough County residents are able to discern the recent population growth which has also added to the local student population has increased the need for a larger place to be able to accommodate the need of all visitors.
“That is a big part of what the new library will help with,” said Shynett adding, “I believe that it is a good move not only because it will be a much bigger building but it will be in the vicinity of local schools and new developments being built in this community.”
Shynett, who has been a librarian since 1979, has seen a lot of changes in the last three decades and favors all the changes especially the new technology, such as self checkout, online cataloging and computer access for both young and old to enjoy, that have become a must have in recent years.
“Customers are now so much more empowered to use the facility,” she said.
As far as the layout of the new building is concerned, Hillsborough County Public Library manager Suzy George said that while each library is unique in itself, the county has used some of the most recent designs.
“We build on what works,” George said but added, “It is always based on population growth and community need.”
The new 15,000 sq. ft. library will almost triple the size of the existing library space and will increase the in-house materials from 45,000 to close to 100,000 books, magazines and other reading materials.
The project’s estimated total building cost is $6.5 million which includes the land, building, furniture as well as $1 million dollars worth of new books, movies and other library materials.
The library will also feature a new computer lab with 12 personal computers, along with 25 additional PCs for all to use, science room, a children’s department and a number of meeting rooms to complete the project.
The Friends of the Library organization will also have a separate space for book sales as it will continue to support the local library.
All monies for the project come from the Hillsborough County’s general revenue and it is scheduled to be completed later this year.
For more information please visit www.hcplc.org or call 273-3652.

Sydney Dover Trails to get Water Reservoir

Jennifer Silverstein — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 20:42:11 +0000

According to a press release from Hillsborough County, consultants were hired by the Hillsborough County Water Resource Services Department to conduct a land survey and geotechnical study at Sydney Dover Trails Park.
The work is part of the next phase of the county’s project, studying the feasibility of using the “old mine pit” located within the interior of the Sydney Dover Trails Park as a possible reservoir or recharge basin for highly treated reclaimed water. Gita Iranipour, project manager of the Engineering Services Group for Hillsborough County Water Resource Services said, “The site includes a pre-existing 516 acre clay settling area, which, if excavated, could provide approximately 714 million gallons of storage at a depth of six feet.”
The project, referred to as the County’s Water Infrastructure & Supply Enhancement (WISE) Project, was presented and discussed with the public during two public meetings in 2005. As agreed with the community at that time, the park’s use for equestrian purposes would continue to be of the highest priority and be taken into consideration during this survey and geotechnical work. Suggestions from the public were taken during those meetings to improve upon the project and are still welcome.
“The primary use of the park around the reservoir will be by the equestrian community,” Iranipour said. “This project will not change how the park is used. In fact, part of the scope of this project will enhance the park facility.”
Iranipour said the project allows the county to optimize the use of its reclaimed water to achieve conservation of the potable (drinkable) water supplies and provide additional reclaimed water for irrigation during peak periods by saving surplus reclaimed water during non-peak periods of the year.
“Although water use varies from home to home, typical residential water customers in Hillsborough County use around 2,300 gallons of potable water per irrigation cycle, or roughly 10,000 gallons per month, to maintain their landscape under the current one day per week watering restriction,” she said. “Thus, the county can save about one million gallons per month of potable water supplies for every 100 homes provided reclaimed service.”
The work will be conducted during the week, not on the weekends. The activity will use pick-up trucks, ATV buggies, drilling equipment and canoes/boats and will occur along the horse trails, interior “old mine pit” area, and water bodies at the park. Park visitors are encouraged to use caution when in those areas during the weekdays.
For more information, contact Iranipour of the Hillsborough County Water Resource Services Department at 272-5977.