The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

B.C. Manion

Pasco expands moratorium area, despite objections

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The Pasco County Commission has expanded its multifamily moratorium area, despite concerns raised about urban sprawl and affordable housing.

The board adopted the new boundary areas, which are within Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore’s District, essentially within Land O’ Lakes and Wesley Chapel.

The proposed expansion area drew pushback from two professional planners and from a chamber leader.

Cynthia Spidell, now with Stearns Weaver, a law firm in Tampa, previously worked in Pasco’s planning and capital budgeting departments.

She reminded the county board that when she worked for Pasco: “We had invited the ULI (Urban Land Institute) to evaluate Pasco County market areas.

“They came up with a proposed market area, which included the South Market and the Urban Service Area, and these areas were adopted.

“These areas include the State Road 54 and (State Road) 56 corridor, and are the intended target for growth.

“The multifamily moratorium is slowly expanding into the Urban Service Area and South Market area.

“This moratorium is counter-intuitive to this growth management strategy.

“Unintended consequences may include promoting multifamily outside the moratorium boundary, such as suburban and rural market areas; as well as unintentionally, or inadvertently, promoting smaller single-family lots, including the 40s (40-foot frontage lots), as the market adapts and seeks to achieve density in other housing products.

“These types of moratoriums perpetuate urban sprawl, do not promote getting people out of their car and lastly, during the recent PEDC (Pasco EDC) economic forecast luncheon, rent was shown to be the largest contributor of inflation.

“Restricting density on the supply side will continue to exacerbate the already high rents,” Spidell said.

Nicole Lynn, from Ardurra Group, in Tampa, also spoke against the expansion.

Ardurra provides land planning, engineering and other services.

“The expansion of the moratorium area obviously seeks to limit the housing opportunities, where the ULI Study previously had identified for concentration to be, so obviously, urban sprawl would occur,” Lynn said.

Hope Kennedy, president and CEO of the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce, also voiced opposition.

“This is absolutely terrible for business. Please do not continue with these moratoriums,” Kennedy said. “We have a workforce problem and the housing crisis is directly correlated with the affordable housing.

“Moratoriums are lazy,” Kennedy added, urging the board to find more creative solutions to the county’s workforce and affordable housing issues.

Moore responded: “The majority of people that live in Pasco County are for this (moratorium), and I represent the citizens of Pasco County.”

Commissioner Jack Mariano said: “I’m comfortable with what we have in place.”

Commission Chairwoman Kathryn Starkey said she agrees with concerns raised by Kennedy about the lack of affordable housing.

“I get calls all of the time. People can’t find a place to live. We’re trying to attract companies here, and where are they going to live? There is no inventory out there for someone to be purchasing a house or renting an apartment,” Starkey said.

“I agree that we want to protect jobs, but I think we can have housing and jobs,” she said.

She pointed to vertical mixed-use developments, which include both housing and jobs.

Commissioner Ron Oakley said the apartments that are being built in the moratorium area are not affordable housing.

“These apartments are renting for $2,000, $2,200 a month,” Oakley said.

“Some of these are not for jobs in our county, but for jobs in other counties nearby,” he said.

Oakley also noted that since the moratorium was imposed, some other areas of the county have been getting some multifamily developments.

The approved expansion of the moratorium area is retroactive to Jan. 6, the date of the Pasco County Planning Commission’s public hearing on the issue.

The moratorium on new applications for multifamily developments is set to expire in April.

Published February 16, 2022

Enjoying a piece of pie and a slice of history

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The Pasco County Commission took a break from its normal routine to pay homage to the history of the humble kumquat and declared kumquat pie as Pasco County’s official pie.

The county board adopted a resolution to make it official, but it also took a few minutes to celebrate the Gude family who has played a prominent role in cultivating the tiny citrus fruit that became the inspiration for the annual Dade City Kumquat Festival.

The resolution, adopted unanimously on Feb. 8, detailed some of that history.

The kumquat fruit first arrived in Pasco in the late 1800s and, over time, the town of St. Joseph became a leader in its production.

The Pasco County Commission had a celebration on Feb. 8, declaring the kumquat pie as the county’s official pie. Besides sharing history about the kumquat and the origin of the pie recipe, everyone at the meeting had a chance to enjoy a slice of pie. (Courtesy of Andy Taylor/Pasco County)

That laid the groundwork for the Dade City Kumquat Festival, which celebrated its 25th anniversary in January.

The festival — the only festival of its type in Florida — routinely attracts more than 40,000 people to enjoy Dade City’s quaint downtown and courthouse square, each year.

Greg Gude and his dad, Frank, came to the county board’s meeting and carried an enlarged photograph of Rosemary Gude (Greg’s mom) who created the recipe for Kumquat Refrigerator Pie.

Both Gude men offered some remarks.

Greg Gude explained how kumquats have contributed to Pasco County’s economy for decades.

“We didn’t have a lot of local sales. All of our sales were always abroad, and in the Northeast, and out of the country, even as far over as California,” he said.

“But that money came to Pasco County. And, so it was spent. It was spent by our workers. It was spent by us,” he said, it would go for such things as food, gas and clothing.

Over the years, the kumquat industry has had its share of challenges, Greg Gude said.

There were freezes and disease.

After several freezes in the 1980s, he said, “we lost our identity, in a sense, because we were originally used with leaves, to put into citrus packages and used for decorations.

“We shipped back then probably 30 (30,000) to 50,000 bushels of kumquats. There were three different people that were doing that, before the ’83 freeze.

“Then came citrus canker, which quarantined us, where we could only do the kumquat by the fruit itself,” Greg Gude said.

Fruit stands went out of business, he said.

“After that, we kind of had to create things. We already had marmalades, jellies, jams — stuff like that, chutney, made out of kumquats.

Pasco County has declared the kumquat pie its official pie. (File)

“But my mother (Rosemary Gude) came up with this kumquat pie recipe.

“After a while, we put that recipe in every little container that we shipped. We still today put that inside the container that we sell to Publix,” he said.

Then, when the Dade City Kumquat Festival came along, the pie was a big hit, he said.

“Everybody came to find out what kumquats were all about, meanwhile, they tasted this pie. This pie is a very simple pie, anybody can make it, whether you’re a baker or not, because it’s just doing ingredients,” Greg Gude said.

“We make the pies at our packing house. We sell them to other places and also to individuals who come by and buy the pie and the marmalades and jellies and all of the kumquats, themselves,” he said.

“We appreciate you all recognizing us. It’s been a long, rough industry,” he said, noting the battle continues against the diseases.

He added: “But we also have a bigger demand than we could ever grow. They use it in beers and wines now, and also some ciders. It can be used for all kinds of things,” he said.

His enthusiasm for the tiny fruit is obvious.

“You could take a kumquat and drop it in a glass of water,” he said, interrupting himself. “And, I could spend the next four hours, talking about kumquats.”

Commissioner Ron Oakley said he did business with the kumquat growers for years, purchasing kumquats to use in his citrus shipments.

“We had seven freezes during the ‘80s, which was tough for him, tough for us. We were all dealing in citrus,” Oakley said.

“I don’t know how Greg and his family has held up, to do this. They’ve had an uphill battle, ever since, but you’ve got to commend them for carrying on and keeping this alive.

“It’s just been a great part of our community here,” Oakley said.

Frank Gude shared some more the kumquat industry’s history.

Five families formed the Kumquat Growers association in 1971, and now just the Gudes and Neuhofers remain, he said.

He said it was important to remember the Neuhofers “because they contributed a whole lot to it (the kumquat industry).”

Besides celebrating the role of the kumquat in Pasco, everyone at the meeting was invited to enjoy a slice — a sweet finish to a special agenda item.

Kumquat Refrigerator Pie
Ingredients

  • One 9-inch pie crust
  • One can condensed milk
  • One 8-ounce container of whipped topping
  • 2/3 cup of kumquat puree
  • ½ cup of lemon juice

Directions
Beat the condensed milk with whipped topping. Add lemon juice and beat until thickened. Add kumquat puree. Pour in pie shell and chill for several hours. Garnish with kumquats and mint leaves.

Source: Kumquatgrowers.com (Original recipe by Rosemary Gude)

If you want to find out where to buy a kumquat pie, call 352-588-0544.

Published February 16, 2022

Efforts continue to reduce perils on Pasco roads

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The number of miles being driven in Pasco County is climbing — and so is the number of transportation-related injuries and deaths.

That’s the essence of a report, “Crash data: The story behind the numbers,” by Tina A. Russo and Johnny Koors, which was delivered to the Pasco County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) board at its Feb. 10 meeting.

Russso is an active transportation planner for the MPO, specializing in pedestrian and bicycle safety, and Koors is a transportation planner for the agency.

Under federal law, the MPO was required to adopt system performance measures for safety by Feb. 27. Local MPOs could adopt their own or use the state’s targets.

The Pasco MPO team developed its targets for calendar year 2022 based on local data provided by the Florida Department of Transportation.

While the aspirational goal is to have zero deaths and serious injuries, the law requires MPOs to establish targets that are data-driven, realistic and achievable, Russo said.

The report must include:

  • The number of fatalities
  • The rate of fatalities per hundred million miles of vehicle travel
  • The number of serious injuries
  • The rate of serious injuries per miles
  • Non-motorized fatalities and serious injuries

The report indicates five-year averages, to provide a more accurate snapshot, Russo said.

“If we picked one year, especially if it was 2020, those numbers are going to be skewed,” she explained. “So, everything we do is that five-year trend, so we can see what’s really happening.”

The number of vehicle miles traveled influences the number of deaths and serious injuries, she noted.

In other words: “If you have more cars — more people driving — you’re going to have a greater number of fatalities and injuries,” Russo said.

“It’s not only about the fatalities. It’s the serious injuries that people incur and live with those injuries for their whole lives,” she said.

Russo showed the MPO board a map containing red dots, to indicate where the fatalities are occurring in the county.

“If you notice something, they’re all over the place. There’s not a specific area — unless you look at (U.S.) 19, that corridor — they’re all over the place.

“If we could find one intersection that was the worst and work on it, we could do that. But it’s a general behavior that’s going on here that’s happening,” Russo said.

She also noted that based on the report’s data, the county is heading in the wrong direction, when it comes to fatalities. In 2020, it had 107 fatalities from vehicle crashes, compared to 99 in 2019 and in 2018.

“We went from 99 to 107. That’s definitely something we don’t want to see,” she said.

There is a bright spot that’s not reflected in the report, she said.

“Our annual fatalities in 2021, the good news, we went down one. And, considering our miles went up, that’s a good sign for us. That we’re trending, at least, in another direction.

“We went from 107 to 106,” she said. But since the report lags behind a year, ending in 2020, that’s not in the report, she said.

Russo also noted: “Our serious injuries in that five-year period, you can see they’re starting to go down a little bit.”

She continued: “From what we’ve learned … our automobiles have become safer to drive. We’ve got airbags. We’re getting a lot of different things that help save us from those injuries.

“Believe it or not, some of those roundabouts will help with this, too. If we’ve got those lower speeds, in roundabouts …

“We all know that intersections can be very deadly. But roundabouts decrease our speed, so there are lower speed impacts,” Russo said.

She also addressed trends involving deaths and serious injuries involving bicyclists and pedestrians.

“There was a definite increase of more pedestrians being killed in 2020,” she said. At the same time, there was a notable increase in people walking during that COVID-19 period.

She also said that cyclists darting across U.S. 19 contributed to the number of deaths in that category.

Steps to reduce crashes, fatalities and injuries include:

  • Prioritizing projects, with safety in mind
  • Making safety improvements when resurfacing work is done
  • Improving lighting, especially at intersections
  • Adding sidewalks and multi-use paths

Efforts must be persistent and ongoing, according to Russo.

“Things don’t change overnight. It takes a long time to get those numbers to turn in a different direction,” she said.

Targets adopted for 2022
Number of fatalities: 99.8
Rate of fatalities per 100 million vehicle miles: 2.002
Number of serious injuries: 1,058.6
Rate of serious injuries per 100 million vehicle miles: 21.337
Number of combined pedestrian and bicycle fatalities and serious injuries: 125.2

Pasco County traffic fatalities:
2020: 107
2019: 99
2018: 99
2017: 108
2016: 86

Vehicle Miles Traveled (100 million miles)
2020: 49.6
2019: 55.0
2018: 50.9
2017: 48.4
2016: 48.4

Pasco’s five-year trends:
Average annual fatalities
2016-2020: 99.8
2015-2019: 92.4
2014-2018: 86.8
2013-2017: 78.0
2012-2016: 71.54

Average annual serious injuries
2016-2020: 1,058.6
2015-2019: 1,119.4
2014-2018: 1,133.2
2013-2017: 1,145.6
2012-2016: 1,032.6

Published February 16, 2022

Pasco asking for state’s help to combat speeding

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The board of the Pasco County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) is sending a letter to the Pasco County legislative delegation and to Gov. Ron DeSantis seeking additional funding for the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP), to support traffic enforcement on the county’s state roads.

The action came at the MPO board’s Feb. 10 meeting, during a discussion of speeding problems within the county.

Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore raised the issue, noting a recent crash involving two students who were racing — that resulted in two fatalities.

“This is more and more common,” said Moore, who serves on the MPO board.

“I hear it where I live. I hear them racing in the middle of the night,” Moore said.

He also noted that he drives to Tampa once or twice a week and always sees troopers from the Florida Highway Patrol on the interstate.

By contrast, Moore said. “I’ve not seen them ever on the state roads in Pasco County, e.g., (State Road) 54, (State Road) 56, (State Road) 52, (U.S.) 41.

“We just had a fatality on (U.S.) 41 last week, as well,” Moore said.

He wants to work with the Florida Department of Transportation and the Florida Highway Patrol to have FHP redirect resources to beef up enforcement on state roads within Pasco.

Moore noted that Pasco residents are concerned, too.

“I’m getting a lot of emails from constituents, around the Wesley Chapel area, because of this,” Moore said.

If FHP beefed up its speeding enforcement on State Roads 52, 54 and 56, as well as U.S. 41, the number of citations it issues would go through the roof, Moore said.

Pasco County Commission Chairman Kathryn Starkey, who also serves on the MPO board, said the speeding problem came up during  a meeting she’d had the prior day with Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco and with County Administrator Dan Biles.

Starkey said she subsequently discussed the problem with David Gwynn, secretary of FDOT’s District Seven, which includes Pasco County.

A meeting on the speeding issue is being organized, Starkey said.

She told her MPO colleagues that during those discussions she learned that the troopers working the interstate are different from the ones who work within Pasco County.

Gina Torres, a transportation planner for the MPO, told the board that she knows that the FHP office working in Pasco is stretched thin.

She said she did a ride-along for an entire day and, essentially, the trooper went from crash to crash to crash.

Starkey urged her MPO board colleagues to support Moore’s motion for additional funding to increase FHP enforcement.

To put it simply, Starkey said: “This would save lives.”

The Pasco County MPO is the lead transportation planning agency in Pasco County that serves the following municipalities in Pasco: Zephyrhills, San Antonio, St. Leo, New Port Richey, Port Richey and Dade City.

Its board is made up of elected leaders from Pasco County, Zephyrhills, Dade City, New Port Richey and Port Richey.

Published February 16, 2022

Proposed RV resort moves a step closer to approval

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The Pasco County Commission is moving through the process necessary to clear the way for the creation of the proposed North Pasco RV Resort.

The county board voted to send the request for a land use change to state agencies for review.

That’s a step that is required before the county board can amend the long-range plan.

Once the state’s review is done, the county board can act on the requested land use change.

That action is required before the board can consider rezoning the site, to allow its development for a RV resort.

Plans for the RV resort call for 550 RV spaces and at least 10,000 square feet of resort lodge and clubhouse facilities. It would be developed on a 132-acre site bordering Interstate 75, east of Lake Iola Road and south of Blanton Road.

The site, now zoned for agricultural uses, is within the county’s Northeast Pasco Rural Protection Overlay Area.

That overlay district is intended to protect the character of the rural landscape, preserve scenic views and vistas, and ensure that on-site development is compatible with the character of the surrounding area, according to the county ordinance that established the district.

Opponents to the proposed RV resort expressed their concerns during the Pasco County Planning Commission’s public hearing, but were unable to sway that board.

They reiterated their objections during the Feb. 8 county board meeting, but failed to persuade commissioners to reject the request.

Attorney Barbara Wilhite represents the applicants, VCARE Consultants LLC.

VCARE also hired Frances Chandler Marino, who wrote the Northeast Pasco Rural Protection Overlay Area plan, to review the proposed plan for compliance with the rural plan. The private professional planner testified at both the planning board’s public hearing and the county board’s public hearing that the proposed plan is consistent with policies within the rural overlay district.

The development will have its own wastewater treatment plant and will be on well water.

Wilhite told the board that her client has been working on the project for a couple of years.

Lisa Moretti, who lives on Iola Woods Trail, spoke against the proposal.

“We already know that growth doesn’t pay for itself,” Moretti said. “The Northeast Rural Area serves a purpose beyond community protection. It is your failsafe by not having to provide services and infrastructure into the rural area; you are balancing your budget.

“I would argue that you are legally obligated not to change the urban transition service area and not to move urban into the Northeast Rural Area,” she said.

“If you were to just follow the long-range plan and preserve the rural area, you are doing exactly the job of protecting the county,” she said.

“This project could be developed with a rural appeal. A barn. Turning half of the spaces into horse-trailer pads. Putting in a pasture, instead of a water feature. You could lower the density to an acceptable level. Maintain the rural character. Create a portal to Pasco County that was inviting and rural, rather than a hillside covered in RVs and concrete,” she said, but the developer did not want to seek out residents’ input.

Other opponents raised concerns about the lack of compatibility to the rural area, potential dangers posed by large RVs traveling down the area’s roads, and impacts on the wildlife habitat for turkeys, bobcats, foxes and other creatures that dwell there.

The county board asked the developer to provide an additional paved area to accommodate bicyclists riding along the edge of the project.

The requests for the land use and zoning changes are expected to come back for a vote by the county board at its April 5 meeting.

Published February 16, 2022

New subdivision approved on Happy Hill

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A new subdivision has been approved at the northwest corner of Happy Hill Road and Sarah Lynn Drive, in Dade City.

The 18.78-acre site, now occupied by hay fields, had been zoned for agricultural and rural density uses. The Pasco County Commission changed the zoning on Feb. 8, allowing up to 75 houses.

Attorney Clarke Hobby, representing the applicant, said the actual development is expected to have 51 or 52 homes.

County planners and the Pasco County Planning Commission had recommended approval of the rezoning.

Alisa Weaver, who lives across from the rezoned site, was the only person voicing opposition.

She urged the county board to reject the request.

“We live a rural lifestyle and not looking for close neighbors,” Weaver said, noting the development pattern in the area consists mostly of homes on 1-acre lots or larger.

“The traffic is a major concern,” Weaver added, noting she’s been run off the road and vehicles have run through her fences.

But Hobby said that a study that was reviewed by the county demonstrates that Happy Hill Road has sufficient capacity.

He also noted that his client’s site is next to an existing apartment complex, plus the City of Dade City has annexed several parcels that will bringing 1,000 to 2,000 residential units to the area.

“I feel what we’re doing is wholly consistent with the area. I’m proud of it. We didn’t ask for super-small lots, and I think it will be a credit to the community,” Hobby told the county board.

Commissioner Ron Oakley called for approval of the request.

“It fits in the property fairly well. They’re not asking for 40-foot lots and things of that nature, which would be very dense and very crowded,” Oakley said.

Oakley also noted that Happy Hill Road has the capacity to handle the traffic the new subdivision will create.

Published February 16, 2022

If you build it, they will come

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For years, the site where Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus is now thriving was the topic of —  well, conversation.

The birth of the event destination dates back to 2001, when a feasibility study identified Pasco County as a possible sports tourism hotspot.

Actual plans for the athletic center didn’t come together until 2015.

The Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County sits on 80 acres of land in Wesley Chapel. Since opening, in 2020, it has attracted a wide array of national and regional tournaments. (Courtesy of Pasco County)

The facility broke ground in June 2018 and it opened in August 2020 — in the midst of a pandemic.

Rather than derailing the success of the sports destination, though, the facility managed to attract tournaments that had intended to go elsewhere but couldn’t because the place they intended to go was closed.

During the pandemic, staff with Florida’s Sports Coast — Pasco County’s tourism arm — also set the stage for future business by developing relationships with event planners.

Late last year, the Florida Sports Foundation named the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus in Wesley Chapel as Florida’s Small Market of the Year for its contributions to the state’s $57.4 billion sports industry.

The recognition didn’t exactly surprise Consuelo Sanchez, sports development and tourism manager of Florida’s Sports Coast.

After all, Sanchez said, efforts to promote the venue at national and international trade shows had been ongoing for years.

“Once it opened, in the middle of a pandemic, it exploded,” she said. “Everyone wanted to come here. All of these event organizers that we had been talking to for years, they wanted to come,” Sanchez said.

She attributes excellent customer service as a key ingredient for the facility’s success.

“Once, they came, they loved the venue, and moving forward, they want to keep hosting these events (here) on an annual basis,” Sanchez said.

The athletics campus is a public-private partnership between the county, which owns the land and facility, and RADD Sports, a private sports management company tasked with handling day-to-day programming, maintenance and operations.

The sports campus also was developed as part of a private-public partnership between the Pasco County Commission, the county’s tourism agency, and the Porter family, who donated the land.

When the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus isn’t booked for special events or tournaments, the court space can be used by local leagues and athletes. (Courtesy of Pasco County)

Designed for flexibility
The field house, which is the centerpiece of the campus, has two 35,500-square-foot multipurpose courts featuring eight drop-down basketball hoops and 16 volleyball nets.

It has a 5,000-square-foot indoor cheer zone.

The campus also has two full-size, outdoor multipurpose fields and will be getting five additional fields to wrap up phase one.

The facility can accommodate up to 17 different sports.

Already, it has attracted amateur events sanctioned by several national governing bodies, such as USA Volleyball, USA Gymnastics, Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) basketball, AAU volleyball, Florida High School Athletic Association (FHSAA), National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS), Florida Senior Games, Special Olympics, and U.S. Club Soccer.

Recently, it finished the Christmas Invitational, which brought in 148 teams from around the country, said Adam Thomas, tourism director for Florida’s Sports Coast.

“These are top-level girls basketball players that are top recruits. We had eight of the top basketball teams from around the country, playing in our tournament at Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County,” Thomas said.

Last June, the facility hosted the first ever Tampa Bay Pro Combine, which brought in Division I and Division II college players, eligible for the pro draft, to showcase their hoop skills.

It will be hosting its second rendition of that event in April, in which 51 or 52 players will compete in the combine.

Local benefits, too
Besides attracting tournaments and tourism dollars to the area, the cutting-edge facility offers significant advantages for local aspiring athletes.

There’s a separate cheer and dance studio at Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus, in Wesley Chapel. (Courtesy of Pasco County)

Local leagues and players can take part in programming at the sports campus, when the facility is not booked for outside tournaments or special events.

“We have kids in Pasco County that participate in travel ball. They participate in travel ball for volleyball or basketball or gymnastics or soccer or whatever sport that we’re hosting at the sports campus,” Thomas said.

“Their level of experience now gets to increase because we’re bringing in better competition, from a national perspective. So, they can compete against top-level athletes,” he added.

Another plus? Local athletes can sleep in their own beds, eat meals at home and forego the expense of travel, he said.

The venue continues to expand its events and programming, and Florida Sport’s Coast staff now are working to secure bookings from 2023 through 2026.

Staff is eyeing one opportunity, in particular, which has great promise, the tourism director said.

“It’s a North American event,” Thomas said, adding he is not yet able to disclose specifics.

“It would be the first time that this event would ever be held in the Southeast Region of the United States,” Thomas said.

And what’s happened so far is just scratching the surface of possibilities for the sports campus.

Once the first phase wraps up, there will be a phase two and phase three.

Six-foot-11-inch Jordy Tshimanga, from Dayton University, goes up for a basket prior to the start of the slam dunk and 3-point shot competition.

How those phases will play out isn’t yet clear, so stay tuned.

Facility features

  • 98,000 square feet of indoor space
  • Two 35,500-square-foot gyms
  • Separate cheer/dance studio
  • Bio-cushioned hardwood floors
  • Multisport electronic scoreboards
  • 37-foot high ceilings
  • Can accommodate 16 volleyball games or eight full-court basketball games at once
  • Floors can be converted for sports such as pickleball (up to 16 courts), futsal (up to eight courts), and large-scale wrestling, mixed martial arts (MMA) or karate tournaments

Coming soon
Sampling of events coming soon to the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus:

  • Feb. 26 – Feb. 27: East Coast Cheer
  • March 5 – March 6: Mark Foster V-Ball
  • April 23 – April 24: RADD Volleyball Battle of the Bay
  • May 7 – May 8: RADD AAU Volleyball
  • June 25 – June 26: RADD Futsal
  • July 23 – July 24: SOH Elite Basketball

Published February 16, 2022

Steve Melton’s Machinery Museum

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Like many collections, this one started small.

Steve Melton — whose family owns about 1,500 acres of farmland in northern Pasco County — began with just a few tractors.

“We were poor, in farming, growing up.

Steve Melton, owner of Melton’s Machinery Museum, uses a piece of antique equipment to shell an ear of corn. (Christine Holtzman)

“Because we were buying land, we couldn’t afford any nice tractors.

“So, we bought all of these different makes of tractors, which were John Deere and Farm-Alls and Fords,” he said.

They ran the old tractors for years, because they couldn’t afford to buy new ones.

Later in life, when the family could afford new tractors, Melton began acquiring old tractors.

“And my Dad said, ‘Son, we have spent all of years trying to get rid of these tractors and you’re buying them back,’” he recalled, with a laugh.

The firetruck came from the Florida Pioneer Village & Museum. It was a Dade City firetruck for the Edwinola. ‘I’m using this for kids to have fun on, now,’ says Steve Melton, who has amassed a giant collection of farm implements and machinery, as well as other assorted items.

Now, he has a tractor shed where he keeps his old tractors.

“I don’t restore them. I keep them in what they say, is their working clothes,” he said.

He has a John Deere corn cultivator, which he uses in his garden patch.

Its top speed, when driving, is 12 mph; when cultivating, he runs it at about 2 mph.

While his collection began with tractors, it didn’t end there.

Not by a long shot.

Next, he began picking up pieces that would reflect “the old way of life” — the kinds of tools his grandfather would have used for farming.

Besides owning the machinery museum, Steve Melton is a cowboy poet. Here his reflection is shown in an old mirror on his property.

Melton became curious: “How did we get from so agrarian, to the place where we are now?”

“I just got enthralled and passionate about collecting farm implements and farm machinery that would have shown that (simpler way of life),” he said.

He officially established Melton’s Machinery Museum on his property in 2002.

Some of the items he bought, some were donated, and others were gifts.

The museum sign, which hangs overhead, explains what he’s after: Investing in the future, by preserving the past.

Steve Melton uses his blacksmith skills to make items, such as the knife he’s holding.

The collection is eclectic — featuring farm tools and equipment, but also household items.

He has a General Electric refrigerator, a double-drum wooden washing machine, butter churns and an antique bathtub.

The collection includes authentic railroad signs and equipment, from Trilby and Dade City.

He has barbed wire, dating back to the 1800s, a gas engine used to run lathes, a mechanical vacuum, and a yoke designed for humans to haul heavy loads.

The Chevron truck is an airport tanker truck from the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport.

His corn-sheller is well over 120 years old.

He has horse-drawn farm implements, such as a hay mower, seed planters and plows, to name  just a few.

He has a sod cutter, dating back to the late 1800s, which would have been used to create little houses, on the prairie.

“Picture yourself in Kansas, Missouri, 1870s,” he said.

“You’ve just moved to the wild prairie to farm. You get out there, and there are no trees.

Steve Melton wears a hand-carved yoke on his shoulders, as he explains how the device would have been used to haul water or handle other tasks. He estimates that the yoke is around 120 years old.

(You think to yourself): ‘What am I going to build my house with?’

There, he points to the sod cutter: “You hitch a horse to this and you cut the sod, for your ‘soddie’ home,” he said. “You could make blocks of sod with this.”

Melton’s long history as a farmer and his fascination with antique implements reveal themselves, as he walks through his museum, weaving stories about Florida history and the agrarian way of life.

For instance, he shared: “People do not realize the turpentine industry 100 years ago was the No. 1 industry in Florida.”

Once the turpentine tapped out, the lumber was harvested, he said.

Then, once the turpentine and trees were gone,  the land could often be bought for a few dollars an acres, at tax sales.

Steve Melton smiles as he wraps up the recounting of his poem, ‘Goose Down.’

Melton enjoys sharing his knowledge, and also likes to get visitors — especially children — involved, so they can see for themselves how the equipment works.

He does demonstrations, too.

“I love to demonstrate things that go from a raw product to a finished product that you can use and utilize,” he said.

“I like to do blacksmithing – take a raw piece of metal, form it into a spoon or to a knife or some kind of thing we can actually use,” he said.

“I grow corn and what I do is let kids see where food comes from. I put it in here.” He said, pointing to a piece of equipment. “I let them shell it off the cob. I take that and let them take the corn kernels over here (to a grist mill) and let them grind it into cornmeal and grits.

This simple sign says it all: Melton’s Machinery Museum was established in 2002.
It represents: ‘Investing in the future, by preserving the past.’

“Then, they sift it into the respective corn meal and grits — grits for breakfast and cornmeal for supper.

“What I’m doing is teaching kids — and anybody else — how does our food come from fields … to kitchen tables,” he said.

He has a theory about people who amass collections.

“People collect things to remind them of their youth, when things were, in their minds, better and simpler and enjoyable.”

That’s true for him.

“It was a harder life, but it was simple,” Melton said. “Generations of families are (represented) in a collection.”

Want to see for yourself?
Steve Melton enjoys giving people personal tours of his collection, which are offered free, only by appointment. If you’re interested, email him at to set up a date and time.
(P.S. He’s a cowboy poet, too, so he may be willing to share one, or two of his poems, if you make a request.)

Published February 09, 2022

Pasco moratorium would affect new and used car lots

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First, it was a moratorium in a portion of Pasco County for new applications for multifamily developments — now, it’s a proposed moratorium affecting applications involving car lots.

The Pasco County Planning Commission has recommended approval of a 180-day moratorium on the opening of any new car, truck or van sales businesses — while the county staff works on modifications to the county’s land development code relating to these types of businesses.

The only exception to this moratorium are vehicle sales businesses that have an approved site plan and are operating in accordance with the approved site plan, and any county-approved amendments to that approved site plan, according to the proposed ordinance that the planning board unanimously recommended to the Pasco County Commission.

The initiative for the new moratorium is based on a directive from the county board to the county attorney’s office to pursue the pause on businesses involving vehicle sales.

Pasco County Commission Chairwoman Kathryn Starkey has been complaining for some time about the way some vehicle sale businesses are operating.

At the county board’s Jan. 11 meeting, she raised the issue again — suggesting a moratorium, which the county board supported.

David Goldstein, chief assistant county attorney, told the planning board: “The primary purpose of this moratorium is, there’s a number of dealerships that are opening up in Pasco County without going through site plan approval at all.”

The proposed moratorium, the attorney said, “would stop somebody from submitting a brand new one (site plan), or somebody from operating who doesn’t have a site plan at all.

Goldstein added: “If you’re already an approved dealership, you can open up and you can seek amendments to your site plan.”

Attorney Barbara Wilhite, who regularly appears at land use and zoning hearings on behalf of clients, said she wasn’t representing any particular client on this issue.

However, she said, she’s glad the language of the moratorium has been evolving, because she’s sure the county doesn’t want to stop approved car dealerships from opening.

“I understand that this has to do with the used car dealerships that aren’t following any rules,” she said.

The businesses are going onto a piece of property and “they just put the cars on there and turn the lights on, and off they go,” Wilhite said.

“We’ve got to balance the fact that the new car dealerships are high-paying jobs and they’re revenue generators, and pay taxes and all of those things,” she said.

Goldstein said: “We can’t just exempt anybody that submits a site plan because we’ll get a flood of junk (site plans) coming in.”

Part of the county’s dilemma is to avoid having those kinds of submittals from “fly-by-night dealerships,” he said.

Denise Hernandez, the county’s zoning administrator, said the moratorium needs to apply to both new and used dealerships, because the problem involves both.

Goldstein added: “You can’t really distinguish between new and used. Even a new (car) dealership sells some used cars.”

The moratorium is not attempting to go after any dealership that has legitimately gone through the county’s site plan approval process, Goldstein said.

“The issue we’re having is the ones that are not,” he said.

The exemption provides protection for legitimate dealerships, he said.

“If it’s a remodel of an existing dealership, it would already have an approved site plan,” he said, and would therefore be exempted from the 180-day moratorium.

If the moratorium is approved by the county board, which appears likely, a study will be conducted to determine what amendments should be made to the county land development code to ensure safe operations of such businesses.

The next hearing on the proposed ordinance will be on Feb. 22, with a final hearing on March 8.

In other action, the planning board continued a proposal for a 180-day moratorium on the submission and acceptance of applications for building permits, site plans, special exception uses, conditional uses, rezonings and comprehensive plan amendments proposing to increase entitlements within the moratorium areas.

The proposed moratorium ordinance collectively refers to three public-use airports located within Pasco County: the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport, Tampa North Aero Park, and Pilot Country; one private-use airport, Hidden Lake Airport; and, a portion of the conical and horizontal surfaces of the Brooksville-Tampa Bay Regional Airport, as identified on that Airport’s FAA Part 77 Surfaces Map.

County planning staff requested a delay on the hearing, which is now scheduled for the March 3 planning board meeting.

Published February 09, 2022

Nationally known expert shares insights on consumer behaviors

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Small businesses have been forced to adapt quickly to find new ways to serve customers — during the midst of a pandemic.

And, many of the changes that they made will likely continue even after the threat of COVID-19 recedes, according to Rieva Lesonsky, a nationally recognized small business expert and best-selling author.

Lesonsky shared her insights about changing consumer behaviors and offered practical advice to help companies thrive — during her talk, “2022’s Hottest Businesses, Markets & Trends.”

The South Florida District Office of the U.S. Small Business Administration presented Lesonsky’s webinar on Jan. 6.

“One of the things that business owners have to be really aware of is that consumer buying behaviors have changed. They changed because of the pandemic and they changed because of generational changes — and it’s likely these changes are going to be embedded in their future behaviors.

“First of all, consumers were made really aware of small businesses during the pandemic because so many of their businesses in their towns were so impacted, and they’re really, really motivated to shop local — to shop from locally owned businesses,” she said.

At the same time, people are taking longer to make decisions about purchases.

“People used to decide something on the spot, or it took a couple of days to make a decision, and now it can take weeks, sometimes even months to make a buying decision.

“And, they’re thinking about things other than this product here or this service.

“They’re thinking about sustainability and value and quality and the timeliness of it.

“Consumers today are really interested in how a business behaves, in their ethical behaviors, in what they think — in how they participate in the neighborhood and in the world, at large,” she said.

Lesonsky shared some statistics about post-pandemic buying behaviors:

  • 48% of consumers were more likely to try new businesses than they were pre-pandemic; they’re more experimental, more exploratory
  • 83% of online shoppers found a technical issue while shopping on a small business website; that’s bad because they’ll just go somewhere else to purchase the item
  • 48% stopped shopping at a store where they shopped before the pandemic because it didn’t have an online option
  • 53% considered using a business but changed their mind because it didn’t have a website

On one hand, that’s good news for local retailers and for new shops — because consumers want to shop local and to try new things.

On the other hand, consumers are taking longer to decide on purchases and they’re demanding an online purchasing option, she said.

“If you are a retailer, you need to have an e-commerce site. It’s not debatable. It’s not a question. It’s a must. You have to have an e-commerce website,” Lesonsky said.

Plus, it’s not enough to simply have a website: It must be monitored to ensure that it’s working — because if it’s not, you’ll lose sales.

It’s also important to be able to handle transactions made through Smartphones or tablets, she added, because those kinds of purchases are becoming more popular with consumers.

It’s important to know what your customer wants and to cater to those desires, she said.

To help close sales, keep in mind these consumer preferences

  • 96% of online shoppers want free shipping
  • 93% of customers want a free return policy
  • 92% expect some kind of discounts
  • 74% say they want some kind of loyalty reward
  • 70% say they want the same- or next-day delivery

Of course, not every business can provide free delivery, because it’s too expensive, she said.

“I think most people understand that from a small business, that’s not going to be available,” Lesonsky said.

She suggested another approach, instead, known as BOPIS. The acronym stands for Buy Online, Pick up in Store. Consumers place their online orders and come to the store, where it is delivered to their car.

Keep in mind that when you use BOPIS, it’s essential to have the ordered item in stock and available when the customer arrives to pick it up, Lesonsky said.

It’s not all about convenience
While convenience is important, there are other factors at play, Lesonsky said.

“Consumers have a different mindset.

“They look at companies like Ben & Jerry’s that stand for something — particularly Millennials and Gen Z. You’re talking about two huge generations. I mean, between the two of them, you’re talking about almost half of all Americans,” she said.

“It’s just huge numbers of people who consider consumerism a channel for change. It’s how they manifest their own activism. They’re looking at what companies do; what companies stand for; and, more than half of Gen Z and Millennials are boycotting at least one company.

“It’s not like, ‘Oh, it doesn’t matter.’ It matters today,” Lesonsky said.

Companies also need to pay attention to how they reach their customers.

“Your marketing has to be inclusive. You don’t want to be gratuitous – you want to be genuine, you want to be authentic,” Lesonsky said.

She advised those listening: “Ask yourself: What does your company stand for? What’s your culture? What are you trying to create?

“You need to know the answers to these questions because customers, employees — they want to know,” she said.

About Rieva Lesonsky
Rieva Lesonsky is CEO and president of GrowBiz Media, a media company that helps entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses. You can follow Lesonsky at Twitter.com/Rieva. Visit SmallBizDaily.com to sign up for her free TrendCast reports.

Published February 09, 2022