Special to The Laker/Lutz News

By B.C. Manion

David West resigned his post as executive director of the Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce on Friday.

West said he left the job because he plans to launch a new church called the Wesley Chapel Church of Christ that will begin meeting on Jan. 23. The congregation will meet at Lil Campers Academy at 30126 SR 56 near Curley Road.
“I had a great experience at the chamber,” West said, noting it increased membership by 200 during his year at the helm.
However, he added, that he and the chamber mutually decided “that it was better if I were going to the church that I probably shouldn’t do the chamber.”
West said he expects the church to begin with about 35 to 40 members and will likely grow quickly to around 50 to 60.
In addition to his role at the chamber, he also was at the Dade City Church of Christ for 15 years before he resigned from that post on Jan. 1, West said.
Laura Miller, president of the Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce said the chamber appreciates the great work that West did. “He’s a great guy. There are no bad feelings.”
The demands of the chamber and launching a new church would be too much for anyone, Miller said. She said she has put a team together to work on selecting a new executive director, but said the chamber is operating smoothly and will take its time in choosing West’s replacement.
Before becoming the chamber’s executive director, West was on the board of directors at the Dade City, Wesley Chapel and Zephyrhills chambers of commerce.
His work in the ministry began when he was quite young. He said he delivered his first sermon when he was 19.
He received his bachelor’s degree in Biblical Studies at Florida College in Temple Terrace. His previous jobs include working for the Pasco News, The Tampa Tribune and as a contract employee for the Pasco County health department.
Those wishing to find out more about the new church should go to Church of Christ at Wesley Chapel on facebook, West said.

By B.C. Manion

The Pasco County School Board is set to take action on school boundary changes aimed at relieving overcrowded conditions at Wiregrass Ranch High and John Long Middle schools.
School board chairwoman Joanne Hurley said she understands that parents care deeply about which schools their children attend, often even choosing where they live based on which schools serve their neighborhood.
However, Hurley said, the school district cannot guarantee that boundaries won’t change because they must be able to respond to an area’s population growth or decline.
Moving boundaries in one direction may please some parents, but may displease others, she said. The board’s final vote will likely leave some parents “intensely satisfied” while leavings others “intensely displeased.”
The proposed boundaries, recommended by a committee of district staff and administrators, school principals and parents, received unanimous first-round approval by the school board on Dec. 21. The school board is set to take its second and final vote at its 6 p.m. meeting on Jan. 18.
Besides relieving overcrowded conditions, the shifts seek to better balance out enrollments, said Chris Williams, director of planning for Pasco County Schools.
In essence, the proposed boundary changes would:
–    Shift students in New River, Ashley Pines and an area near Morris Bridge Road from Wiregrass Ranch High to Wesley Chapel High
–    Reassign students from New River and Ashley Pines from John Long Middle School into Weightman Middle School
–    Shift students living in neighborhoods west of Morris Bridge Road into Stewart Middle School
–    Assign students attending Cox Elementary in Dade City to Pasco Middle and Pasco High schools, instead of Weightman Middle and Wesley Chapel High.
Wiregrass Ranch High, at 2909 Mansfield Blvd., has 2,132 students, representing 127 percent of the school’s permanent capacity. It has 18 portable classrooms.
John Long Middle, at 2025 Mansfield Blvd., has an enrollment of 1,784 students, which represents 134 percent of the school’s permanent capacity. It has 23 portable classrooms.
The proposal to assign Cox Elementary students to Pasco Middle and Pasco High would keep those students much closer to home for their middle and high school years.
The students have been bused out of their community to Wesley Chapel for the past decade to help diversify Weightman Middle and Wesley Chapel High.
The committee said that busing is no longer needed because the demographics in Wesley Chapel have changed.
In proposing the new boundaries, the committee considered such things as impacts to the district’s transportation and special education services, as well as the socioeconomic makeup of the schools, Williams said.
It also attempted to avoid splitting neighborhoods and considered such things as school feeder patterns and future growth, Williams said.
“We try to be as objective as possible,” Williams said. “We don’t want to shift too many kids. We try to disrupt as few as possible.”
The proposed boundary changes do not affect Zephyrhills High or Centennial Middle.
The boundary changes will not affect incoming seniors at Wiregrass Ranch High.
It will, however, affect all school choice students who attend a school affected by a boundary change, Williams said.
All of those students will have to reapply for the choice assignment, Hurley said. Even incoming seniors at Wiregrass will have to reapply for a choice assignment, she said.
The district has less flexibility in choice assignments because of the state’s class size limits, Hurley said.

By Kyle LoJacono

When Pasco County started the widening of SR 54 in Wesley Chapel it was promised to pave the way for a more connected region, but a pair of glitches have arisen near Boyette Road.

Since the traffic pattern changed last December, the 10 or more semi trucks that come by the Wesley Chapel Business Center each week cannot leave without turning across both lanes of traffic and the blocked off portion to the south. Support The Troops Inc., which sends supplies to U.S. troops serving abroad, is located in that complex.
“It’s a big mess,” said Bob Williams, Support The Troops founder. “The trucks just can’t make that turn. If you’ve got a truck worth more than $100,000, you’re not going to risk it getting damaged to drop off donations to us. I’ve already seen problems with donations because of the turning.”
Williams shares the building with two companies owned by his sons.
Pasco chief engineer James Widman said the county has already increased the turning radius out of the center from 35 to 50 feet.
“Trucks should be able to turn in that amount of space,” Widman said.
Williams’ complaint with the project does not end with the turning radius. He also claims the county promised him a wall would be built between SR 54 and the center to protect it if someone hits the building. Currently, only five feet and a small guardrail separate the structure from the thousands of vehicles that drive by every day.
“We’ve just stopped using our corner office near the road because we know it’s just a matter of time before someone crashes into us, especially when the other lanes open and more people drive though,” Williams said. “It’s sad that you reach an agreement in good faith with someone and they back out.”
Williams said it was a verbal agreement. Widman said no promise was ever made. He said he met with Williams, who lives in Lutz, and agreed to present the idea of building a dividing wall to the county lawyer. In the end he says it was decided they would help Williams build the barrier, but would not pay for it.
“We compensated Mr. Williams when we bought the land to do the project,” Widman said. “The amount we gave him was not only for the land, but also to account for anything, such as a wall, that he would need to build.”
The amount Williams received was unavailable from the county, which paid $74.2 million total to acquire right-of-way for the project.
Widman, who emphasized he believes Williams is a good man, said such a dividing wall would cost $40,000 to $60,000.
“They’ll eventually do something, but Pasco County likes to wait until two or three people get killed before they do anything,” Williams said. “Everybody is incensed by this. You can’t even get to the post office without nearly getting into an accident.”
Williams has created a temporary solution to the problem, placing a steel overseas shipping container filled with 100,000 pounds of anything he could find next to his building on his property.
“It will prevent anyone from driving through our building and hopefully will get the county to move a little faster,” Williams said.
The Wesley Chapel Post Office is on Boyette just west of the business center. Problems there began when the intersection of Boyette and SR 54 lost its traffic signal when the lanes shifted.
Megan Hill nearly got into an accident turning onto Boyette to mail a Christmas package. She lives east of the post office and the new configuration of SR 54 made it difficult for her to see when to turn.
“You’re right up against the buildings and then the turn is just past them,” Hill said. “I hit the brakes to turn right and the person behind me had to go into the other lane of traffic to not hit me. I’ve lived here for 10 years, but I almost missed that turn I’ve made about 100 times.”
Widman said he has suggested putting signs up to alert drivers the turn for the post office is near.
“The other problem is we have the wrong street name on the new traffic signal,” Widman said. “That new road that comes through east of Boyette is called Vandine Road. For some reason the Boyette sign was put on top of the new light.”
That new road comes south where Boyette begins its S-curve. It is named after a family that owned the land the county bought to build the street. Widman said it is designed to take traffic off Boyette, which is why it received the signal that Boyette lost.
“We had to remove the light because the distance was too close to have two as part of the access management plan for the road,” Widman said. “It has to meet state requirements. Traffic on Boyette should taper off as people get used to using Vandine Road instead. We understand change is difficult and we aren’t perfect. We’ll do what we can to put the right signage out for drivers.”
Widman added the project to widen SR 54 to six lanes from I-75 to Curley Road is well ahead of schedule and he thinks it should be done before next March as was originally planned.

By B.C. Manion

It’s hard to predict what kinds of cars will show up at the Al and Ida Silver Memorial Classic Car Show.
Car lovers are “liable to see anything there,” said Larry Broga, a car enthusiast with years of experience in the car world, who has been tapped to judge the entries.

“There could be as many as 100 or as few as 20,” Broga said. “It’s what is called an open show,” he said, meaning it could attract everything from antiques to exotics, from hot rods to street rods to customs.
The event will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 15 at the Land O’ Lakes Community Center, 5401 Land O’ Lakes Blvd.
Weather permitting, the “show ‘n shine” classic car competition could be a big draw, Broga said. (A rain date has been set for Jan. 22).
On the one hand, it’s a new event, so it’s hard to guess how much enthusiasm it will generate. On the other hand, there’s no other car show that day so it could pull in lots of enthusiasts who want to show off their beauties.
Broga said he will judge the cars by evaluating how much effort it took to get them into tip-top shape.
The car lover said he thinks classic cars have an appeal because they can stir feelings of nostalgia, reminding people of earlier times in their lives, or prompting them to think about simpler times in the past.
“There’s a lot of money and a lot of time put into these vehicles,” he said. “And a lot of pride. It’s a whole lifestyle. Some of those paint jobs are in the $10,000 range.”
Organizers of the car show wanted to stage an event to raise money for the Heritage Park Foundation, while at the same time honoring the late Al and Ida Silver, who owned A-OK Trophies and were founding members in the foundation and icons of the Land O’ Lakes community.
One of the reasons they wanted a car show is that they knew that Al Silver was a big car buff, said Sandy Graves, president of the Heritage Park Foundation.
The couple was widely known throughout the community, said Lonnie Piper, their daughter, who now runs the trophy shop with her husband, Bobby Buckle.
Al Silver championed the quest to have a light put in at Land O’ Lakes Boulevard and Lake Padgett Road because there were so many accidents, Piper said. He also pushed to have Christmas lights on electric poles, even though the family is Jewish, she added.
The family trophy business began in their Long Island home 49 years ago. It started in the basement, spread to the garage and then spilled into the family room.
“When it got to the dining room, that’s when my mother said, “That’s it!” Piper said. Instead of letting it take over the dining room, Ida Silver demanded that they open up a shop.
They had two locations on Long Island when they decided to move south to Florida.
They operated at different spots in Tampa before settling into a pink house on US 41 in Land O’ Lakes.
The house was knocked down by the widening of US 41, and the highway was renamed Land O’ Lakes Boulevard. The trophy shop — which sells trophies, plaques, pen sets, ribbons and other items — operates at 3724 Land O’ Lakes Blvd., in a building constructed farther back from the road.
Piper is pleased that the benefit that will raise money in her parents’ memory will provide a nice time for event-goers while raising money to help pay for amenities for the community to enjoy.
The fundraiser’s proceeds eventually will be used to help pay for a Heritage Walk around the park and an amphitheater, Graves said.
It costs $15 to register a car for the event, which can be paid on the day of the show.
Cars will be lined up on a multipurpose field, where spectators can check them out and the contestants can be judged.
Registration is from 9 a.m. to noon. Twenty trophies and a best of show will be announced at a 2:30 p.m. ceremony. The first 50 cars to register will get a free goody bag.
The event will also feature a DJ playing music from the 50s, 60s and 70s and will include various vendors. Some will sell fresh produce. Others will offer pizza, hot dogs or barbecue.
Other vendors will sell jewelry, wickless candles, leather work, soaps, boutique clothing, beadwork, blankets and photography. A personal chef and someone from a company that does signs on car windows will be on hand, too.
Vendors are still welcome to participate, said Pam St. Mary, of Land O’ Lakes Saturday Market, who is organizing the event.
Graves said her organization envisions a day when people will be able to attend concerts and outdoors movies at the park, and will be able walk around a trail, stopping periodically to read markers that tell visitors about the community’s history and about area families.
“We’re hoping that people will come out to see the cars and have a good time,” St. Mary said.
For more information go to LOLSaturdaymkt or call Pam St. Mary at (813) 731-5168.

If you go
Al and Ida Silver Memorial Classic Car Show
Land O’ Lakes Community Center, 5401 Land O’ Lakes Blvd.
9 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday, Jan. 15 (Jan. 22 is rain date)
Classic cars, DJ, food booths and various vendors

By B.C. Manion

When buildings go up too quickly, problems can result.
That’s happened quite a bit in recent years, as construction was sped up to save money, said Lou Theberge, a division manager for Southern Independent Testing Agency Inc., in Lutz.

When a project is pushed too quickly in the quest to control expenses, testing of the building’s systems sometimes gets short shrift — and costly problems develop later, Theberge said.
That’s one of the reasons why the Lutz company, which has operated in Florida for 30 years, decided to branch out and add “building commissioning” to its list of services.
Put simply, building commissioning is a systematic approach to verify that a building’s support systems have been installed properly and are performing according to the approved construction documents.
The process also ensures that the building’s installed equipment meets the owner’s intended operational, maintenance and energy efficiency needs.
The effectiveness of commissioning in reducing energy use has been documented by a number of organizations, including the U.S. Green Building Council.
The Lutz company decided to branch out to offer the service because company leaders recognized the growing demand for the service and they wanted to generate more work to ensure they would not need to lay off any employees during this economic downturn, said Brian Kaupp, company vice president.
His dad, Chuck Kaupp, brought the company to Florida from Buffalo, N.Y., in 1980.
The company, which began with Chuck and his father, has a long history of testing, balancing and adjusting heating, air-conditioning and ventilation systems.
It officially launched its commissioning division in October, Brian Kaupp said.
The service can help companies save money through more efficient operations and it can help them maintain a more comfortable atmosphere for their employees and customers, Chuck Kaupp said.
It boils down to making sure the systems work properly, Theberge said. It’s like testing out a dishwasher, he said. You want to make sure each cycle performs the way it is supposed to work.
“Most of the time the new buildings are under warranty for a year,” Chuck Kaupp said. So, it is in everyone’s best interest to try to avoid costly errors in the way systems are installed or operated, he said.
“You try to get in at the design phase,” Theberge said.
The idea is to reduce or eliminate the change orders required in a project, Chuck Kaupp said. “There are a lot of savings that can found with scientific testing,” he said.
Building commissioning is intended to be an objective analysis of systems to make sure they are functioning properly, Chuck Kaupp said.
“Buildings are leaky,” Brian Kaupp said. Conditioned air — whether heated or cooled — can escape through window openings, around doors and even building soffits.
“We can tell the owner the leakage rate and the energy loss,” he said.
Technicians can detect leakage by using a giant fan to suck the air out of a room and then blow smoke into the building from the outside to see where it goes.
“Smoke drifts to wherever the leakage is occurring,” Brian Kaupp explained.
Crews also can use thermal energy cameras to detect temperature differences in a room.
In some cases, both approaches are used, Brian Kaupp said.
An increasing number of building owners are seeing the value of commissioning, Chuck Kaupp said. They recognize that a system that doesn’t work properly costs them money and can reduce comfort, he said. As a result, more owners are calling for commissioning services at an earlier stage to try to prevent potential problems and reduce possible costs.
Southern Independent Testing Agency, Inc., is located at 138 A Whitaker Road in Lutz.
The company’s primary market is the southeast United States, Brian Kaupp said. At present, they are doing commissioning work at some schools in Hillsborough and Osceola counties, at a medical center in Louisiana and at a hospital in Orlando.
Chuck Kaupp mused that a lot of people at the stage he is at in his career would be winding down toward retirement.
Instead, he’s enthused about the possibilities of the family-owned company’s new division.
In this tough economic time, Chuck Kaupp said, “people who have ingenuity and guts are the people who make things happen.”
If you would like more information about the company and its services go to www.sita-tab.com or call (813) 949-1999.