Local News

TAMPA – BayCare has acquired a 36-acre office parcel in the Tampa Bay Park, which includes three buildings and two parking garages adjacent to St. Joseph’s, St. Joseph’s Children’s and St. Joseph’s Women’s hospitals.

BayCare announced Feb. 4 that it had acquired a 36-acre office parcel just west of its St. Joseph’s hospitals’ campus in Tampa to provide room for strategic growth. 

The partial acquisition of the Tampa Bay Park includes three buildings and two parking garages and is adjacent to St. Joseph’s, St. Joseph’s Children’s and St. Joseph’s Women’s hospitals.

The acreage increases by more than 75% the health system’s property holdings in the West Tampa neighborhood where St. Joseph’s Hospital has operated for nearly a century.    .

“As West Central Florida grows, so must BayCare to continue our mission to improve our communities’ health,” said Stephanie Conners, BayCare president and CEO. “The opportunity to buy such a large piece of property contiguous to one of our largest medical campuses provides us the opportunity to expand important specialty services for our patients and communities. This expanded campus will serve the entire region as a medical destination for specialty care.”

In the short term, BayCare is working individually with tenants of the facilities to support lease agreements. Relocating or adding BayCare offices and clinics to the property will happen over time.

The partial acquisition of Tampa Bay Park expands the campus into a regional destination for specialty care.

Eventually, the health system envisions directly linking the property via a new, vehicular bridge to its hospitals’ campus and using the facilities to complement the system’s needs but also those of St. Joseph’s hospitals – three centrally located facilities that are poised to expand to meet the region’s needs.

BayCare has announced it will build a new facility for St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital by 2030, and St. Joseph’s Hospital and its trauma center remain an essential resource for acute and specialty care for the region. 

BayCare also has announced it will expand its graduate medical education programs to 650 residents by 2029 to help ensure West Central Florida and BayCare continue to attract the best and brightest physicians. Residencies occur after medical school and provide new physicians with supervised, hands-on training in the specialty or sub-specialty of their choice. By the middle of this year, BayCare is anticipating having up to 283 residents across 18 programs serving in its primary footprint of Hillsborough, Pasco, Pinellas and Polk counties.

“We are excited for the opportunity this provides BayCare, but also our communities,” said Kimberly Guy, chief operating officer for BayCare. “To have this many centrally located medical resources together in a single campus will deepen our region’s access to BayCare’s high-quality, compassionate care. It will also create an environment that attracts the brightest medical professionals to care for our patients.”

PASCO COUNTY – Pasco County Utilities received a Meritorious Award as part of the 2024 Water Conservation Awards for Excellence.  

The honor celebrates innovative and outstanding achievements in water efficiency across Florida.

The Florida Section of the American Water Works Association presented the award to Water Conservation & Efficiency Coordinator Phoenix McKinney, highlighting her work on the “Reactive Focused Assistance Site Visit” program, which offers free, onsite assistance to help customers identify leaks or other issues contributing to high water use.

“Our goal is to help customers pinpoint the cause of their high-water use and then reduce it,” McKinney said.  “Thanks to our program, customers we’ve worked with are saving between 1,000 and 30,000 gallons of water every month.”

During a six-month period in 2024, Pasco County Utilities provided onsite assistance to 41 homeowners, resulting in an overall savings of about 313,500 gallons of water per month.

The program isn’t just for residential customers.  

Any Pasco County Utilities’ account holder – including HOA board members, community management professionals, commercial property owners and model home sales teams – can request a site visit or consultation.

Pasco County Utilities customers with water usage seemingly higher than expected can request on-site assistance by emailing

Find tips for water conservation and efficiency at mypas.co/SeekALeak. Visiting bit.ly/PascoWatering to know your watering day.

On the web: PascoCountyUtilities.com

LAND O’ LAKES – Pasco County Schools Superintendent John Legg told the school board on Feb. 4 he thinks homework should be part of what’s used to determine their grades.

“I want our teachers to have the ability to feel they can assign homework and have grades attached to it in a meaningful way,” Legg said.

If this is approved, it would reverse a decision made by the school board three years ago to not have the results of students’ homework count toward their grades.

Faculty and staff members were also informed of Legg’s intention in a memo and YouTube video.

The idea of homework having an impact on students’ grades has been the subject of debates for more than a decade throughout the United States.

Some people contend that homework takes away from the amount of time students can spend with their families. Others have said homework is an important part of helping students learn in addition to what they have been taught in the classroom.

Students’ grades could be negatively affected if they turned their homework in late under what Legg is proposing.

Work groups are looking at ways to change the homework rules, according to Legg. He hopes new guidelines for homework will be in place by the fourth quarter of this year’s school year.

Legg said the school board will be informed of the proposed changes before they are implemented.

A couple of the goals of the proposed changes to homework rules include being able to reinforce what students have already been taught along with letting it be known whether they are doing well or if they need help, according to Legg.

Leadership changes

School board members approved two important personnel changes during the Feb. 4 meeting.

Lori Romano was appointed as assistant superintendent for support services. She’s responsible for, among other things, overseeing construction, student assistance, maintenance, planning and transportation. 

Betsy Kuhn, who previously did that work, was recently appointed as a deputy superintendent for the school district.

Romano will also continue to serve in her current position as director of career, technical, and adult education. 

Meanwhile, Kelly McPherson, who graduated from River Ridge High School in 2000, was hired as its principal. She replaces former principal Toni Zetzsche, who was recently promoted to become the district’s chief of communication. 

McPherson had served as River Ridge’s interim principal for about a month. She had been that school’s assistant principal prior to Zetzsche taking on her new responsibilities.

Meet Callie, a sweet and wiggly 9-year-old lady who’s ready to bring all the love into your home! She’s a pro on the leash, loves spending time with her humans, and is always happy to show off her sit for a tasty treat. Callie has had positive interactions with children and strangers, making her a gentle companion. While she enjoys the company of people, she may prefer to be the only dog in the home, as she’s still figuring out her canine friendships. If you’re looking for a loyal and affectionate companion, Callie would love to meet you. Come visit her today at Pasco County Animal Services!

If you would like to adopt Callie, be sure to make an appointment at Pasco County Animal Services at 19640 Dogpatch Lane in Land O’ Lakes, by calling 813-929-1212. The adoption center is open Tuesday through Saturday, noon to 6:30 p.m. All adoption fees include spay/neuter, microchip and vaccines. Email for more information.

TAMPA – Following record-setting shows in South Florida since 2022, FuelFest is set to open gates for its inaugural show at the Florida State Fairgrounds.

Now in its seventh year of hosting events globally, FuelFest blends the enthusiast’s passion for the automotive world with appearances by “Fast & Furious” franchise stars Tyrese Gibson and Cody Walker, live action drifting, live music on the festival stage, a huge car show, automotive culture and dozens of custom exhibits.

The show will feature more than 800 top custom, exotic, rare and exclusive cars and trucks, plus drift ride-alongs and “Fast and Furious” screen used movie cars, various interactive fan racing activities and attractions. Judged car show sections and best of show awards and trophies are new for 2025. 

The FuelFest drift pits are open access, allowing fans to get up close to their favorite race cars and see what these amazing machines are all about. 

FuelFest will also feature the Taste of Tokyo, giving fans a Japanese underground car meet vibe with a variety of cars you’re likely to see in the streets of Tokyo.        

For those looking to elevate the experience, FuelFest offers VIP access with premium benefits, early admission access for FuelClub members, limited edition merchandise, free swag and auctions.

A portion of the event’s proceeds benefit Reach Out WorldWide, the nonprofit founded by Paul Walker and continued by his brother, Cody Walker. The organization was created after a massive earthquake devastated Haiti with the inspiration to organize a relief team that responded to the disaster. ROWW’s mission is to fill the gap between the availability of skilled resources in post-disaster situations. As of 2024, ROWW has raised over $580,000 through the partnership with FuelFest to benefit those in need and has deployed resources to several disaster areas, including recently Asheville, N.C. and Englewood, Florida, following hurricanes.

Want to go?

FuelFest will take place from 1 to 8 p.m. March 1 at the Florida State Fairgrounds, 4800 U.S. 301 N. Tickets start at $35. Children 12 and younger get in free. Buy tickets at FuelFest.com. 

NEW PORT RICHEY – Members of the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners discussed issues relating to homelessness during their Jan. 28 meeting.

The topic came up while Amielee Farrell, director of Pasco County’s Office of Management and Budget, was giving a presentation regarding the county’s budget for fiscal year 2026.

That budget will be effective from Oct. 1, 2025, through Sept. 30, 2026.

Farrell had said one of the priorities the county should address over the next five years should include enhancing the quality of life through better public safety and public health.

Reducing homelessness was one of the things Farrell emphasized would need to be done.

“When you mention public health and safety, homelessness kind of fits into bucket one and bucket two,” District 2 Commissioner Seth Weightman said. 

Weightman said he thought the number of homeless people living on the east side of the county “is probably as high as it’s ever been.”

“I really want to understand our options,” Weightman said. “I want to be as disciplined as possible with how much money we throw at it.

“We’re putting it towards people who don’t give two bits about other people’s property or businesses. They don’t care about themselves. They don’t care about this county. They don’t care about what they are doing.

“I want to be very deliberate and aggressive about how we tackle this problem.

“Can we get them to their next of kin? These people who are doing what they’re doing should not be our taxpayers’ problem. This is a family problem and their families should take care of it.

“It’s going to cost some money but I don’t want to invest anything in them because they don’t care. I think we have broadly gone abound this topic but we haven’t narrowed down and defined what we can do as a board. I’m ready to go to level 10 and put our foot down to make some real changes here.”

District 5 Commissioner Mike Mariano also spoke about homelessness.

“I know that we’ve been victimized by people from other places bringing people from other places to here … and they come here,” Mariano said. 

“I don’t want to be the beacon for the homeless to come. Take care of our own, etc., but anyone from a different place – I think it’s a program to go with. We did a panhandling ordinance and that didn’t work.

“I agree it’s a big problem but if you keep giving them a way where they can stay in the woods and do their drugs, they’re going to stay in the woods and do their drugs.”

District 1 Commissioner Ron Oakley also weighed in on the issue.

“Some of the property owners need to trespass people,” Oakley said. “The landowners that own some of this land that they’re trespassing on do not do their part to make sure that they get off that land.”

District 3 Commissioner Kathryn Starkey said she understood Weightman’s frustration and saw it too.

“But I just want to be careful not to paint all of them with the same brush,” Starkey said. 

She talked about a young father whom she had seen at a Home Depot a couple of years ago. He, his wife, and their two children had been evicted from where they had been living because he had been sick for a week and missed one paycheck. That caused him to be behind on the rent, Starkey said.

He told her that he still had a job but didn’t have enough money to rent another place to live. He also told her he was looking for a tent that he and his family could use to live in at Starkey Wilderness Park. 

“There are places where people just need a little bit of a helping hand,” Starkey said. “Then we have the other ones that don’t care. They want to live in the woods. They like living that way. I want to be careful because we have both situations going on.”

District 4 Commissioner Lisa Yeager, pointed to organizations like One Community Now that will help displaced people with a housing payment or stay at a hotel.

Starkey said the family she had referred to were helped to get into another place to live.

She suggested commissioners hold a workshop sometime in the future to discuss solutions to the county’s homelessness issue. Solutions that arise in workshops must be presented in regular meetings before they may be acted upon.

Several Hudson residents told the Pasco County Planning Commission on Jan. 23 that they were against a proposal for a 63-lot subdivision.

They expressed concerns about the possible impact that increased traffic would have along with the possibility of flooding in their area. 

Two neighbors also said they thought wildlife in the area would be negatively impacted and the use of nearby agricultural property would be affected if the rezoning request is approved.

Other residents said they were concerned development of the proposed subdivision would affect the value of their properties.

However, the planning commission recommended approval to the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners. County commissioners are scheduled to hold a public hearing on the DRB Group’s request during their Feb. 25 meeting in New Port Richey.

The 34.24-acre site is located on the northwest corner of Hudson Avenue and Colony Road.

The property is currently zoned A-R Agricultural-Residential District and the DRB Group, based in Rockville, Maryland, seeks to have the zoning changed to Master Planned Unit Development.

If the rezoning request is approved, it would make it possible for the development of the 67 residential lots and associated infrastructure in the area that would be known as the Sakelson Hudson MPUD. 

Barbara Wilhite, an attorney representing the applicant, said the planned entrances to the MPUD would be off of Hudson Avenue and Colony Boulevard with an interconnection to Foxfire Drive.

“We are constructing that portion of our entrance, actually, we’re constructing the Colony Boulevard Vision Road standards,” Wilhite told Planning Commission members. “But our entrance is off of Colony, and we’re constructing that entrance off of Colony.”

She also referred to a section of the Pasco County Land Development Code that requires the interconnection to be made to Foxfire Drive.

Foxfire Drive is the primary roadway that neighbors said they thought would be negatively affected by increased traffic from the proposed subdivision.

Chief Assistant County Attorney David Goldstein said it wasn’t clear on the MPUD plan the applicant had submitted that there was a dedication of right of way to make the connection to Colony Boulevard.

“It looks like it goes through land that you own,” Goldstein said. “And there’s no right of way dedication requirement for that interconnect. So I think there needs to be.”

Wilhite said her team had to do a wildlife assessment at the time of  zoning. She added that the wildlife assessment would be done again at the time a primary development plan is submitted because the one that has already been done is only good for 18 months.

“There’s a lot that goes on with stormwater as well, as our many engineers here on the board know,” Wilhite said. 

And she said she didn’t think the value of adjacent properties would be lowered because the homes in the subdivision would be very expensive. 

In other business on Jan. 23, the planning commission:

Approved a request for a conditional use amendment made by Spanish Lakes Land Company LLC to remove a height limitation previously put on approximately 18.65 acres in west central Pasco County. 

The current height limitation of 35 feet was set in 2005. 

Spanish Lakes hopes to develop a maximum of 360 multiple-family dwelling units on the property located 150 feet north of State Road 52 and east of Deerbrook Boulevard. This is less than the 432 units for which the property was previously approved according to the applicant’s representative, attorney Barbara Wilhite.

The property is located within the Urban Service Area and there’s no limit on the height of structures there according to Spanish Lakes’ application.

Wilhite said she didn’t know the height of the structures that Spanish Lakes was considering constructing on the site.

County commissioners will hold a public hearing regarding this request during its Feb. 25 meeting in New Port Richey.