The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Michael Hinman

Wesley Chapel’s Arlington at Northwood sold, renamed

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A Chicago-based real estate company has bought its second community in the Tampa Bay area, taking over the former Arlington at Northwood, a 312-unit complex in Wesley Chapel.

BES Northwood Fund IX LLC, a company associated with Sherman Residential, finalized its sale of the high-end apartments May 15 for $36.1 million. That is nearly $10 million more than what the community’s previous owner, Protea Northwood Apartments, purchased the complex for in 2006 soon after it was built.

The new owners have brought in a new name for the complex as well, calling it Enclave at Wiregrass, according to the company’s website.

Enclave is considered a Class A apartment complex, meaning that it was built in the last 20 years or so, and comes with a number of luxury-style amenities. Sherman, on its website, says it’s looking to buy apartment communities that have at least 150 units, comprehensive amenity packages, and strong locations, among other things.

Sherman already owns the Enclave at Tranquility Lake in Riverview, as well as 13 other communities in Georgia, Illinois, North Carolina, Tennessee and Texas, according to its website.

BES Northwood purchased the property through a $22.5 million loan. It’s located at 1930 Devonwood Drive, just off State Road 56 not far from The Shops at Wiregrass.

This is Pasco County’s largest property sale since August 2012 when Seneca at Cypress Creek was sold for $62.3 million. Units in that Lutz community sold for $138,100 each, while units at the new Enclave sold for $115,700 each.

 

County may try anonymous code enforcement complaints

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Tired of seeing a neighbor’s car up on concrete blocks? Worried that snakes are finding a paradise in a home’s overgrown yard on your street?

Code violations are not just something that makes a neighborhood ugly, but can make it unsafe as well. Old swimming pools, like this one, create a hazard that could injure people, especially children. (Courtesy of Joaquin Servia)
Code violations are not just something that makes a neighborhood ugly, but can make it unsafe as well. Old swimming pools, like this one, create a hazard that could injure people, especially children.
(Courtesy of Joaquin Servia)

Making a complaint to Pasco County’s Customer Service Department requires a name, address and telephone number. But it might not be that way for long.

Pasco County Commissioners are exploring the idea of allowing the option to report code violations and other problems anonymously. It would help encourage neighbors to keep Pasco looking good without the fear of retaliation. But not everyone on the commission is on board.

“I am very concerned with going anonymous,” Commissioner Henry Wilson said during a workshop last week in Dade City. “I think it would be a huge burden to the (code enforcement) officers, but I will defer to them. If they think it’s the better option to do that, then I would be willing to look into it.”

Joaquin Servia, Pasco’s code enforcement manager, said moving to a system where someone didn’t have to give their name when filing a complaint could require more money and manpower than his department currently has.

“There is a real chance that just accepting pure anonymous complaints is going to increase the number of frivolous complaints we get,” Servia said. “It could just turn into spite, a neighbor-on-neighbor-type of dispute that gets elevated to where now you can use government to club your neighbor over the head.”

However, many people don’t complain about problems they see in their neighborhoods, because the fear of reprisal is just too great, Commissioner Kathryn Starkey said.

“When they call in to complain, their cars get keyed and they get trash thrown in their yards,” she said. “Seems to me that we can do a mixture of these two (named complaints and anonymous), where we could take down the number and information of the person making the complaint, but not give it out.”

Except the county would not be able to do that, Servia said. Even a code enforcement complaint is public record, and government would have to comply with public records laws in releasing that information to anyone who asks for it, even the neighbor that’s being reported.

“Then I would rather do anonymous,” Starkey said. “If we have more work, then it’s because we have a lot of need.”

While official complaints do require names and contact information, there are ways to get around that, Commissioner Jack Mariano said. One of those ways is to reach out directly to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, and many times they will forward complaints without including the name of the person making the complaint.

Doing that, however, would require the person know how to step past the requirements, which many likely would not.

Patrick Phillips, a code enforcement field supervisor, told commissioners that any jump in workload would be difficult for his people to absorb.

“With the resources we have available to us now, we would not be able to do it,” he said. “Complaints that come in through homeowners associations and citizen calls, a good portion of the time, the complaint is not valid. Is that a waste of resource? Yeah.

“So if we were to take anonymous complaints across the board, we are going to take a look at a spike in that,” Phillips added.

Mariano loves the sweeps code enforcement conducts from time to time, because not only will it take care of a problem neighborhood, but it also causes surrounding neighborhoods to shape up because they are concerned they’ll be targeted next.

Yet, sweeps hitting property after property in a specific area require a lot of manpower, which pulls them away from everywhere else.

“We have to draw about 50 percent of our resources to do that,” Phillips said. “That’s 50 percent of our county that is not being covered. So what we gain ground here, we’re losing ground over there.”

Commissioner Pat Mulieri, who wasn’t at the workshop, will likely be the swing vote on any decision with code enforcement. The commission itself was split with Starkey and Mariano leaning toward allowing anonymous complaints, and Wilson and Ted Schrader against it.

The commission did not set a timetable on when it would be addressed again.

Published May 21, 2014

Winners and losers from tough Tallahassee session

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Amphibians like frogs and toads can create thousands of tadpoles each season, but only a few actually survive to become adults just like their parents.

That could be the perfect way to describe how lawmaking works in Tallahassee. Hundreds of bills are introduced during each session of the Florida Legislature, but very few survive.

State Rep. James Grant, R-Tampa, had three of his eight bills pass both chambers this past session, including one that would allow county tax collector offices to accept concealed weapon permit and renewal applications. (Courtesy of Mark Foley)
State Rep. James Grant, R-Tampa, had three of his eight bills pass both chambers this past session, including one that would allow county tax collector offices to accept concealed weapon permit and renewal applications.
(Courtesy of Mark Foley)

And it was especially true with local lawmakers who successfully introduced 30 bills that would eventually, in some form, pass both the House and the Senate. But the bill graveyard this term was more than double.

Yet, House Speaker Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel, was happy with the results he achieved with his Senate counterpart, Don Gaetz, R-Destin.

“Among the priorities that were passed are stronger laws to make Florida the worst place for violent criminals, the Florida G.I. Bill to provide our veterans with the opportunity to receive in-state tuition, and expansion of school choice, significant welfare reform, and measures to improve governance and Florida’s (information technology) infrastructure,” Weatherford said in an email to The Laker/Lutz News.

But what the speaker was not able to push through was pension reform.

“That means we will continue to spend more than $500 million per year to shore up our state’s pension system for the foreseeable future,” Weatherford said.

Six House members and three senators serve the residents in central to east Pasco County, as well as northern Hillsborough County. Those elected officials range from the likes of Weatherford and Land O’ Lakes Republican Richard Corcoran based right here at home, to people like Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, and Rep. Dan Raulerson, R-Plant City.

Combined, they introduced 90 bills, with just a third of them making it past the required votes to either head to Gov. Rick Scott, or be adopted without needing his approval. But no one was immune to watching bills die, and every lawmaker had favorites they were sorry to see go.

“We were hopeful in passing legislation that allowed our local governments a cheaper, easier way to provide better water and wastewater programs,” state Sen. John Legg, R-Lutz, said. “Hopefully next year we can find a way to provide lower-cost utilities for the consumer.”

“The biggest goal we did not achieve was the expansion of Medicaid,” state Rep. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, said. “I still cannot believe that we came home from Tallahassee without even addressing this issue.”

Corcoran, who is expected to become House Speaker in the coming years, also felt health care was a missed opportunity.

“Our attempts to improve the quality of treatment, improve access to care, and lower health care costs simply did not go far enough,” he said. “Consumers must be put in control of their health care dollars, not all these corporations who only care about the bottom line.”

At the same time, there was still success to be celebrated, especially when it came to local collaboration. Like Corcoran and Sen. Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, in passing what Corcoran says is “one of the best pro-consumer water bills in years.”

“This will give customers of private water companies a more equitable seat at the table to address the poor water quality provided to them,” Corcoran said. “Now, customers will have the ability to petition the Public Service Commission and have the opportunity to force the utility to improve the quality of water in their community.”

That’s S.B. 272, also known as the “Consumer Water Protection Act,” that came about because of water problems in a New Port Richey subdivision.

The bill “was filed to help my constituents in Summertree who have water quality issues, but the bill will help all of Florida’s consumers if they have issues or problems (with) water quality or service from the utility servicing their area,” Simpson said.

The session is over, with Scott now contemplating which measures to sign, which to allow to become law without his signature, and which to veto. Lawmakers are set to do it all again after the next cycle, which will include some familiar faces, and some new ones as well.

No matter what, lawmakers provide a common refrain: we must learn how to work together better.

“I will work with my colleagues to build a consensus, and work hard on that legislation (that did not pass) next session,” Simpson said.

“I plan to continue to work with our local governments and partners in the House and Senate on utilities legislation to provide lower-cost utilities for our consumers,” Legg said.

But sometimes, achieving goals also means knowing who your enemies are. And Corcoran has his picked out.

“The key is to never back down to the special interest,” he said, “and fight them wherever and whenever you can.”

The Living …
Some of the bills that made it past the Legislature include:

H.B. 1191/S.B. 450 – Telephone Solicitation
Don’t let the name on this bill mislead you. While it’s designed to make it harder for telemarketers to reach people unsolicited, this bill — which is on its way to the governor — would actually block unsolicited text messages as well for people who add their cell numbers to the “Do Not Call” registry.

The bill was introduced on the House side by state Rep. Janet Cruz, D-Tampa, although it was the identical Senate bill that would get the attention instead.

Of the six bills Cruz introduced during the recent session, this was the only one to make it out of a subcommittee.

H.B. 523 – Licensure to Carry a Concealed Weapon or Firearm
This bill was the creation of state Rep. James Grant, R-Tampa, which would authorize county tax collector offices to accept applications and renewals for concealed weapons and other firearms permits.

But anyone who takes advantage of the change would have to pay additional “convenience” fees, which the tax collector’s office will get to keep.

The bill faced some opposition in the House, where it did pass 94-22. But it was a clean sweep through the Senate, where no one voted against it.

H.B. 203/S.B. 260 – Unaccompanied Homeless Youth
Hospitals and doctors typically cannot treat minors without receiving the consent of a parent or guardian. But that can be difficult to obtain for young people who are homeless and away from their family.

This bill, from state Rep. Dan Raulerson, R-Plant City, would help the nearly 7,000 homeless youth that are believed to be living in Florida seek medical care when they need it. It provides them the right to give consent for the care, with the exception of abortions, which still require parental notification.

The Senate took up the identical S.B. 260 instead, which passed both chambers unanimously.

… The Dead
Some of the bills that didn’t make it past the Legislature include:

H.B. 701 – Daylight Savings Time
Introduced by state Rep. Mark Danish, D-Tampa, this bill was a simple one: make daylight saving time the standard time year-round in Florida.

The Laker/Lutz News first wrote about this bill in January, which sparked some interest not just in the state, but nationally as well.

Where it didn’t spark interest was the Florida House, where it became stuck in a subcommittee in March, and would eventually die there.

S.B. 566 – Florida Bright Futures Scholarship Program
This bill from state Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, would have allowed students in the Florida Bright Futures scholarship program to, among other things, have a wider choice of volunteer service work areas to choose from beyond social areas, including civic or professional interests. It also would’ve prohibited those students from earning money or academic credit for doing the work required to take advantage of the program.

The Senate actually liked Lee’s proposal, and passed it 36-1 on April 24. But the House never took it up, and without its approval, this idea — at least for this session — has gone dark.

S.B. 958 – Fee Waivers for Purple Heart Recipients
They served their country, and were injured in the process. And Florida has rewarded those returning Purple Heart soldiers with various benefits, including free tuition at state colleges and universities, and discounts for other government services.

State Sen. Wilton Simpson, R-Trilby, however, wanted to give Purple Heart recipients and their families free lifetime membership to Florida state parks.

It’s actually not clear how many Purple Heart recipients live among the 1.5 million veterans in Florida, but more than 12,000 Purple Heart license plates are currently in circulation, according to a Senate analysis.

Simpson originally wanted to give Purple Heart soldiers free access to toll roads as well, but that idea was the first to go.

The rest of the bill followed after it stalled in the Transportation Committee in April, and senators never picked it back up.

Published May 21, 2014

Keystone conference to highlight safety, home reinforcement

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As a group, the Keystone community is known for taking control of its own destiny, its civic association a powerful force of more than 4,200 homes just across the Hillsborough County line.

But a town hall gathering this week will ask those same residents to take control of a different kind — one that involves their own home.

The “Get Ready and Take Control” conference is set for May 22 beginning at 6:30 p.m., designed for residents to be ready when bad things happen.

“We cover 32 square miles, and we have an awful lot of wooded area,” said Tom Aderhold, president of the Keystone Civic Association, who is helping to organize the event. “We have a lot of woods, a lot of lakes, and a lot of opportunity for misfortune to befall somebody. We want to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

It’s not that Keystone isn’t safe. It’s just that life in this rural area between the smaller metropolis that is Tampa and the growth of Pasco County faces challenges its neighbors don’t.

For instance, children can get lost in the woods. Boaters and swimmers can have accidents in the lakes. Even encounters with the local wildlife can be troublesome.

And even with Pasco on a fast path to growth, residents there also face some of the same issues, which is why everyone — whether they live within Keystone or not — is invited to come out, Aderhold said.

“Public services are slow to get to us, so sometimes we have to be ready to help ourselves,” he said.

In the past, civic association and community leaders have worked with the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office and other first-responder agencies to make the community more self-sufficient. That included making an inventory of the kind of equipment individual homeowners already have that could be made available in an emergency, and now there is about $400,000 worth at their disposal.

Keystone also created citizen-led patrols led not by a car, but instead horses.

“Keystone has one of the largest horse populations in the state of Florida,” Aderhold said. “We told the county that we don’t want any of your cars, we’ll just do it on horseback. And it’s neat when you get a whole bunch of people together doing these sort of things.”

The meeting Thursday has two parts. The Keystone Citizen Corps & Emergency Operations Plan group is leading the first, designed specifically for homeowners. It doesn’t matter who built a home or when, houses are vulnerable to events like storms. But they don’t have to be.

“We have a woman coming in from Florida Emergency Management Services from Tallahassee to do a workshop showing homeowners how they can walk parts of their home and identify the five components that need the most attention,” Aderhold said. They are water barriers, whole house anchoring, gable ends, window openings and doorways.

“We have building codes in Florida, and builders build right to those codes. But they can decay or deteriorate over time,” Aderhold said. “We’ll have some retrofit specialists available as well to help homeowners.”

The second part of the conference is a town hall-style presentation dealing with a number of issues like crime, burglary, identity theft, hazards and dangers at work and at home, and sudden property damage from natural or man-made events.

This portion will include information from a variety of different groups including Residential Mitigation and Security, Neighborhood Watch, Hillsborough County Citizen Patrol, the Community Emergency Response Team, Medical Reserve Corp, and even the Amateur Radio Emergency Services team.

“They are an essential component of the emergency operations center,” Aderhold said of those radio operators. “When public communications go down, the ham radio operators have a huge network already in place, so they can be there communicating when others can’t.”

The conference will take place at Keystone Park, 17928 Gunn Highway, and the public is invited.

To get more information, call Tom Aderhold at (813) 968-6866.

Published  May 21, 2014

Business Digest 05-21-14

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BIll Heinrich
BIll Heinrich

Heinrich new CFO at Zephyrhills hospital
Bill Heinrich has been named the new chief financial officer of Florida Hospital Zephyrhills, making the short move from Florida Hospital Tampa where he was the assistant vice president of finance since August 2011.

Heinrich has been with the Adventist Health System since 2004, and brings more than 10 years of experience in hospital finance.

During his time at Florida Hospital Tampa, located near the University of South Florida’s main campus, Heinrich oversaw the renovation of Florida Hospital Tampa’s cafeteria, established the Tampa branch of Florida Hospital Home Infusion, and started the Finance Residency Program for the West Florida Region.

Before joining that hospital, Heinrich was the finance manager for Florida Hospital Altamonte, and a financial analyst for Florida Hospital Orlando.

Heinrich has a master’s degree from Webster University, and a bachelor’s degree in business from Union College in Lincoln, Nebraska.

Local Parade of Home winners
Home and community developers from Pasco and northern Hillsborough counties picked up 14 awards recently as the Tampa Bay Builders Association named its 2014 Parade of Homes winners.

The parade itself featured 143 model homes by 33 builders in more than 80 Tampa Bay area communities from Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, Polk and Hernando counties.

Judging was done by a panel of independent homebuilding experts who, according to a release, considered site plan, curb appeal, design, materials, outdoor living spaces, architectural detailing, and workmanship.

Among the local communities, Connerton was the biggest winner with two grand and two merit awards. Terra Bella in Land O’ Lakes earned grand and merit awards, as did Cordoba Estates in Lutz.

Local grand award winners were:
• Ashton Woods Homes, Fairfax at Crenshaw Reserve
• D.R. Horton, The Surrey at Terra Bella
• M/I Homes, Madison C at Trinity Preserve
• Ryland Homes, Frost II at Connerton
• Standard Pacific Homes, the Bellingham at Cordoba Estates
• Standard Pacific Homes, the Castleberry in Crosswinds at Seven Oaks
• Standard Pacific Homes, the Chelsea at Peregrina at Watergrass
• Taylor Morrison, Kentwood III at Connerton

Standard Pacific Homes also earned a Best Floor Plan award for its Castleberry in Crosswinds at Seven Oaks in Wesley Chapel.

Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel sponsors parade
Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel has become the title sponsor for the inaugural Land O’ Lakes Memorial Day Parade hosted by the Knights of Columbus.

The parade, which begins at 9 a.m., on May 26, will start at Dupree Lakes Boulevard off Collier Parkway, and end just past the Baldomero Lopez State Veterans Nursing Home on Parkway Boulevard. The event is free to the community.

The parade also will include marching bands from area schools, as well as Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco as the grand marshal.

For information about the parade, call Bob Barbero at (813) 995-2736, or Ed Aguila at (813) 995-0973.

New models underway at Heron PreserveLennar has started construction of two new model homes at Heron Preserve at K-Bar Ranch in New Tampa.

The community, located on Climbing Aster Drive near Kinnan Street in New Tampa, has plans for 118 homes ranging in size from three to six bedrooms, and priced from $248,000 to around $350,000.

The Eastham model is a three-story, four-bedroom, 2,065-square-foot house, while the two-story Harwich model home will offer five bedrooms and 3,777 square feet of space.

Financial company opens in Dade City
Don Carter, a retired U.S. Air Force officer, has opened an office of The Interface Financial Group in Dade City.

The office is expected to help small businesses in the area access to alternative sources for working capital.

“There are many growing local businesses that are unable to get traditional bank financing,” Carter said, in a release. “I am very excited about the opportunity to provide financial options to local business owners so they can achieve greater success.”

The office will be located at 12701 Grand Traverse Drive in Dade City. It can be reached at (352) 668-4519.

New community could create traffic chaos for Silver Lakes residents

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While a development review committee headed by Pasco County administrator Michele Baker was focused on how fast boats should travel on a private lake, Bobbi Smith had a much bigger concern about a proposed new community near Caliente Resorts in Land O’ Lakes.

More agricultural land in northern Land O’ Lakes could be history if Pasco County approves the rezoning of more than 68 acres just off Fletch Road south of Caliente Boulevard. Southern Crafted Homes wants to build 100 homes there off Curve Lake. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)
More agricultural land in northern Land O’ Lakes could be history if Pasco County approves the rezoning of more than 68 acres just off Fletch Road south of Caliente Boulevard. Southern Crafted Homes wants to build 100 homes there off Curve Lake.
(Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

“The thing is truly the safety issue of getting in and getting out,” said Smith, who lives on a small rural road just off U.S. 41 in the community of Silver Lakes. That street, barely wide enough to hold a single car, could carry traffic from another 100 houses if Southern Crafted Homes is allowed to build on more than 68 acres around Curve Lake.

The land is owned by John and Theresa Edwards, and is filled with old orange groves at the gravel end of Fletch Road. About 40 homes are currently located near the lake on Fletch and Barcellona roads, which all exit to a busy, four-lane Land O’ Lakes Boulevard. And even with the smaller number of homes, there’s no traffic light, so cars typically back up on Barcellona as traffic looks to get out on the busy thoroughfare.

“There’s no way you can have all those homes, and have just one road to get out,” Smith said.

But if Southern Crafted Homes is going to build homes, they’ll also have to build upgraded streets along Fletch and Barcellona that will accommodate higher traffic loads, Baker said during a recent development review meeting. Upgrades would include two distinct lanes of traffic, and even curbs.

The new community also could be required to consider building roads across neighboring properties, known as interconnects, which would link the new Edwards community to Caliente Boulevard to the northwest and Ehren Cutoff to the east. However, those roads won’t happen until neighboring parcels are developed into homes, and Smith and others already living in Silver Lakes say that development there could be decades off, if ever.

That brings the focus back to Fletch Road, which was partially paved in the late 1990s when the Silver Lakes community was built. A traffic analysis says Fletch is in good shape, county officials said, so Southern Crafted wouldn’t have to do anything with the paved portion of the road.

Baker, however, was concerned that a 15-year-old road shouldn’t be ignored in an upgrade, especially if traffic is going to increase significantly on it.

“That is going to be their only access point,” Baker said during the development review meeting.

When the road does require repaving, Silver Lakes residents would have to carry the cost burden and not the new community, she added.

Southern Crafted already would be responsible for upgrading roads at no cost to the existing residents, so they would pay their fair share, assistant county attorney David Goldstein said.

The development is “paying to bring the entire road” up to standards, he said. Silver Lakes residents are “getting a new road basically for free from these people, so why should they have to pay more in the future when they are paying to upgrade it now?”

How that would be resolved will have to wait until the next step in the review process, however. Baker and the rest of her development review committee agreed to pass that issue to the construction plan review committee, which would consider the proposal if the county commission approves rezoning to allow the new community.

Smith, who attended the meeting, said she’ll be back to address her traffic concerns again.

“The community has a right to safety and transportation in and out, otherwise none of this would be a big deal,” Smith said. “Everyone has the right to build, but we also have a right to come and go safely.”

Published May 14, 2014

Plans for elevated toll road collapse, but battle not over

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Jason Amerson was caught flat-footed when he first learned that a private company planned to build an estimated $2.2 billion elevated toll road in front of his Stonegate home.

Carlos Saenz and Michele Sakalian plant signs for a planned Pasco Fiasco rally that was supposed to take place next week at Sunlake High School. The rally, however, was indefinitely postponed after the Florida Department of Transportation killed the private elevated toll road proposal for the State Road 54/56 corridor. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)
Carlos Saenz and Michele Sakalian plant signs for a planned Pasco Fiasco rally that was supposed to take place next week at Sunlake High School. The rally, however, was indefinitely postponed after the Florida Department of Transportation killed the private elevated toll road proposal for the State Road 54/56 corridor.
(Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

He vowed to stop the road before the first surveys could even be done. And over the weekend, Amerson finally had a chance to celebrate when Florida Department of Transportation secretary Ananth Prasad officially killed the project.

But as vocal as Amerson’s group, Pasco Fiasco, had become to protest the project, it was actually International Infrastructure Partners who hastened its own demise when it shifted gears and started to ask FDOT for taxpayer assistance to fund the project. That was just too much for Prasad to hear, especially with public sentiment against the road growing.

“He came to the conclusion that the project does not look very promising,” FDOT spokesman Dick Kane said last week. “The reason, he said, was that when they looked into the financials of the unsolicited proposal, it was not what we were initially led to believe.”

When Kane shared Prasad’s thoughts, the toll road project was not dead, but it was dying. Pasco Fiasco moved forward with a planned rally at Sunlake High School for next Monday. The door had been left open for more negotiations, but all of it came to an abrupt end last Friday.

“The department was unable to reach an agreement with International Infrastructure Partners LLC on a framework of financing and various design concepts for the corridor that would be acceptable to all parties and address the concerns of the local community,” Prasad said in a release Friday. “In absence of this framework, advancing this project would not make any sense.”

That decision forced Pasco Fiasco to make one of its own, indefinitely postponing the planned rally, which was being funded from the pockets of its members. Even if the rally had gone forward, it would’ve been money well spent, Amerson said.

“We all are finding that with every dollar we spend, we’re going to get a return of 10 times that in home value savings,” Amerson said. “I’d rather spend $200 now than $40,000 to $50,000 in home value losses later.”

International Infrastructure Partners, or IIP, first expressed an interest in building what would’ve been Florida’s first private toll road in June 2013. It submitted a proposal to FDOT, which controls the rights of way along the State Road 54/56 corridor between Zephyrhills and New Port Richey, where it would build a 33-mile expressway similar to the Lee Roy Selmon Expressway in Tampa. Using private money, IIP would collect tolls from travelers to help pay for the cost. All they needed was FDOT to give up the rights of way along the corridor to make it happen.

Yet, throughout the process, FDOT made it clear they would not move forward without the blessing of Pasco County, although it didn’t officially need it. County commissioners gave a blessing late last year to study the proposal more, but in February, Commissioner Henry Wilson came out against the project. He was joined in April by commission chair Jack Mariano.

However, this might not be the end for Pasco Fiasco.

“We’re not high-fiving each other or doing our end zone victory dances just yet,” Amerson said.

County administrator Michele Baker said even with the elevated toll road gone, something is going to have to be done with the corridor as more and more cars look to go east and west through southern Pasco.

“Pasco County will continue to engage the public and move forward with its analyses and studies in order to determine how to manage future congestion on the State Road 54/56 corridor,” Baker said in a statement last week.

That means taking a close look at the long-range transportation plan, which is set for adoption in December.

Richard Connors, one of the founders of Pasco Fiasco, says that means there’s more work ahead of them.

“It’s a victory,” he said. “But we still have a long way to go.”

Published May 14, 2014

Business Digest 05-14-14

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Marshalls grand opening set for May 15
Marshalls is set to open its newest store in Land O’ Lakes May 15 at the Village Lakes Shopping Center.

The 24,000-square-foot store will be one of more than 900 in 43 states and Puerto Rico. The first day, which runs from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., will include giveaways and gift card prizes, according to a release.

The regular hours for the store will run Monday through Saturday from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., and Sundays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. It will bring approximately 60 full- and part-time jobs to the area, as well as more than 10,000 new items added to the inventory weekly.

Marshalls also is planning to donate $5,000 to Feeding America Tampa Bay as part of its opening festivities during a ribbon cutting May 15 at 7:30 a.m.

RPE wins software award
Retail Process Engineering, a Land O’ Lakes-based retail consulting firm, has received the Global Alliance Leadership Award from JDA Software for the fourth year in a row.

Companies like RPE who use JDA services are eligible for the award. The company received the award at the annual JDA Focus global conference recently in Las Vegas.

RPE moved to Pasco County last year, bringing 16 jobs with an average annual salary of $105,000 with it. The company is located in the Offices of Devonwood, located just off State Road 54 west of Land O’ Lakes Boulevard.

Saint Leo finds VP of business affairs
Eric Weekes has been appointed vice president of business affairs at Saint Leo University.

Weekes comes from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, where he was senior executive vice president and chief financial officer. At Saint Leo, Weekes will be responsible for all financial and operational areas of the university, human resources, leadership development, construction and auxiliary services, management, legal services, and information technology.

Weekes hold an MBA in finance from New York University, and a bachelor’s degree in business management from New York Institute of Technology.

Hillsborough hires new communications chief
Liana Lopez has been hired as the new chief communications administrator for Hillsborough County.

In her new job, Lopez will integrate communications, community affairs and customer service areas. The hiring requires approval by the Hillsborough County Commission, but once it happens, her salary will be $165,000, according to a release.

Lopez most recently serves as director of communications for Visit Tampa Bay. Before that, she spent eight years as director of public affairs for Tampa mayor Pam Iorio.

Little Greek Restaurant gets microloan
Ervin Dhima became the 12th recipient of Pasco Economic Development Council’s microloan program for his franchise of the Little Greek Restaurant.

Located in Mitchell Ranch Plaza in Trinity, Dhima says his restaurant has been “very busy since we opened.”

The microloan fund was established to help local entrepreneurs who cannot obtain traditional financing to grow their business and create jobs. Borrowers have to show they have the experience and resources to be successful business operators. Proceeds can be used for working capital, inventory, supplies, furniture, fixtures, and machinery and equipment. However, it cannot be used to purchase real estate or pay down existing debt.

Dhima joined Little Greek Restaurant in 2008, and helped the company open franchises in Texas and Florida. His new franchise employs nine people.

For information on the microloan program, visit PascoEDC.com, or call (813) 926-0827.

Families fed, thanks to Fifth Third
Fifth Third Bank recently wrapped up its month-long Feeding Families campaign, collecting more than 242 barrels of food.

A little less than half of them were donated to Metropolitan Ministries, which helps hungry children and families in the four-county Tampa Bay region, and another 125 barrels were donated to the Agape Food Bank in Lakeland.

The items were collected throughout April at all 48 Fifth Third locations in Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas and Polk counties.

More than 50 Fifth Third employees and their families volunteered, sorting food items, preparing meals, serving residents, and cleaning rooms at the new Emergency Care Center at Metropolitan Ministries in downtown Tampa.

Catholic Business Networking seeks members
The Catholic Business Networking group is looking for Catholic business owners, employees and supporters interested in joining it for regular meetings every Tuesday from 7:30 a.m. to 9 a.m., at Our Lady of the Rosary Church, 2348 Collier Parkway, Land O’ Lakes.

The group has annual dues of $50, and there is a minimum attendance requirement of two meetings per month.

For information, call (813) 842-7064, or visit CBNTampa.com.

Business Link available monthly
Business Link, a monthly small business gathering hosted by the San Antonio Citizens Federal Credit Union, meets the second Wednesday of each month beginning at 7:30 a.m.

The meeting is designed to provide a networking and information-sharing platform for the business community.

For locations, details and to reserve a seat, email , or call (352) 588-2732, ext. 1237.

East Pasco Networking Group
The East Pasco Networking Group has scheduled several speakers for the coming months. The group meets every other week at the Village Inn at 5214 Gall Blvd., in Zephyrhills. Networking begins at 8 a.m., with the meeting starting at 8:30 a.m.

Upcoming speakers include:

• Mike Moore, Pasco County Commission candidate, May 27.

CPA students sought for scholarship
The Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation is looking for minority accounting students across the state to apply for the Clay Ford scholarship.

It is awarded each year to minority students looking to become certified public accountants. The program has awarded more than $1 million since it was first implemented in 1999.

A $10 portion from each individual and firm license fee funds the scholarship. Applicants may be eligible for scholarships ranging from $3,000 to $6,000 per semester, and awarded for a maximum of two semesters.

Applications must be postmarked by June 1. For information, visit MyFloridaLicense.com/CPAScholarship.

Political Agenda 05-14-14

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Burgess qualifies for primary, earns endorsement
Republican state House candidate Danny Burgess has officially qualified for the upcoming House District 38 primary after his campaign collected enough signatures through the petition process.

The qualifying came just days before Burgess received an endorsement from the man he’s trying to replace in Tallahassee, state Rep. Will Weatherford, R-Wesley Chapel.

“From serving as the mayor of Zephyrhills to serving in the U.S. Army Reserve, Danny has a distinguished record of public service,” Weatherford said, in a statement. “Danny possesses the courage of his conservative convictions coupled with a temperament that enables him to work and find common ground.”

Burgess faces Minnie Diaz in the Republican primary in August, with the winner set to face Democrat Beverly Ledbetter in November, assuming no one else files to run.

Congressional candidates qualify
U.S. Rep. Dennis Ross, R-Lakeland, is officially defending his Congressional seat against former television reporter Alan Cohn after both wrote checks to qualify for the November election.

Both candidates chose to spend a little more than $10,000 each from their campaign coffers to qualify, instead of collecting signatures like U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, R-Palm Harbor. Bilirakis will return to Congress unopposed after collecting the needed 2,298 signatures to qualify.

Ross has raised $718,000 for his re-election campaign through the end of March, while Cohn has collected $160,000.

Altman seeks third term on school board
The District 1 seat for the Pasco County School Board finally has a candidate … and it’s the incumbent, Allen Altman.

Altman, whose district includes primarily schools in eastern Pasco County — including Zephyrhills, Wesley Chapel and Pasco high schools — made his re-election campaign official Wednesday.

Three school board seats are up for grabs this election cycle, with Cynthia Armstrong the lone candidate for her District 3 seat, and Marc Yacht challenging Steve Luikart for his district on the west side of the county.

Altman ran unopposed four years ago, raising $22,000. He originally won the seat in 2006, beating Cathi Compton and Willie Broner Jr., out-raising both $112,000 to $36,000.

Altman is an agent with Pasco County Farm Bureau Insurance, which maintains a local office at U.S. 301 in Dade City.

Candidates have until June 20 to qualify.

Republican brunch in Trinity
The West Pasco Republican Club will host a candidate brunch May 17 beginning at 10 a.m., at Heritage Springs Country Club, 11345 Robert Trent Jones Parkway in Trinity.

The event will include Republican candidates seeking office in the upcoming election cycle.

Cost is $15.

To RSVP, call Anne Corona at (727) 514-1120.

Townview Apartments in Zephyrhills sold

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Townview Apartments, located in the heart of the Zephyrhills business district, are now under new ownership.

Kraus Townview Apartments LP finalized its purchase of the 46-unit complex at 38124 Townview Ave., in Zephyrhills, earlier this month for $2.1 million, or $45,650 per unit. It was sold by Regal Properties Capital, which had purchased the nearly 30-year-old complex in 2008 for $2.4 million.

Kraus Townview purchased the complex using a $1.5 million mortgage from TD Bank, according to Pasco County property records. The Waterloo, Ontario-based company includes among its managers Michael Weber and Nelson Kraus, according to state corporation records.

The complex is located on nearly 3 acres of land, off Gall Boulevard just south of Pretty Pond Road.

The sale is the largest real estate transaction so far this year in Zephyrhills, topping the $1.5 million sale of the All Craft Marine location on County Road 54 by its tenants last February.