The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Local News

Chapel Crossings could bring new rooftops to Wesley Chapel

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Crown Community Development got the go-ahead from the Pasco County Commission to build Chapel Crossings, a mixed-use development that will be located north of State Road 54 and east of Curley Road.

More than 1,000 single-family homes and apartments are planned. There also would be about 175,000 square feet of retail and about 50,000 square feet of office space.

“This is a great project,” said attorney Barbara Wilhite, who represented the developer at the public hearing to rezone the property. “We’ve worked really hard on it. (Pasco County) staff worked really hard on it.”

But the approval didn’t come without a kerfuffle over the construction of roads that will bisect the approximately 300-acre site in Wesley Chapel.

Crown Community Development plans to spend about $6.6 million to build extensions to Curley Road and a portion of the Zephyrhills Bypass Extension. The roads intersect in the center of Chapel Crossings.

The disagreement focused on the types of roads that are required, and whether Crown Community Development needed to build a second north/south road through the property at an additional cost of about $990,000.

It wouldn’t be a road that served Chapel Crossings, said Craig Weber, vice president of Crown Community Development, whose company also developed WaterGrass and Seven Oaks in Wesley Chapel.

Weber claimed that the county was holding him to a standard “that doesn’t exist. I don’t get it. Let’s just not make it up as we go along.”

It also isn’t certain, he said, that the road would ever be needed to connect with potential development to the north.

His project is southwest of the Villages of Pasadena, a planned community with potential for a range of 22,000 to 25,000 homes.

“We don’t believe the code requires a second north/south road, one-third of a mile from Curley Road,” said Wilhite. “My client thinks he has met the standard.”

But Chairman Ted Schrader and Commissioner Kathryn Starkey raised concerns about a road design that didn’t go far enough to give people alternatives to driving on major thoroughfares that already are in gridlock.

Newer subdivisions that direct traffic onto State Road 54 compare unfavorably, Starkey said, to older neighborhoods in west Pasco County that do have neighborhood roads.

“You have got to have interconnectivity between neighborhoods or you’re going to have gridlock everywhere,” said Starkey, who had to leave the hearing prior to the vote. “One of the basic qualities of life is to be able to move around within a community and not have everyone on the same road.”

Other commissioners were more supportive.

“It could end up being a road to nowhere,” said Commissioner Mike Moore. He also suggested that the second road might not be environmentally doable because of wetlands.

That argument, in the end, persuaded Schrader to join with other commissioners in approving the project.

“I think you have to have interconnectivity,” he said. “I think that is better planning. But when I look at the map, I see some real challenges to making that happen.”

Published July 1, 2015

Chamber exec leaves her mark

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Vonnie Mikkelsen is wrapping up her work this week at the Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce to take on a similar role for the chamber of commerce in Springfield, Oregon.

Making the decision to leave her current post was no easy choice, Mikkelsen said.

“This was not just a job to me. It was really a commitment. It’s where my heart was. It’s where I grew at the same time that I saw people around me and the community and the organization, itself, grow,” said Mikkelsen, who lives in Land O’ Lakes.

Vonnie Mikkelsen is leaving her post as the executive director of the Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce this week. She’s excited about moving to Oregon, where she’ll lead the chamber of commerce in Springfield and will live closer to her family. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
Vonnie Mikkelsen is leaving her post as the executive director of the Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce this week. She’s excited about moving to Oregon, where she’ll lead the chamber of commerce in Springfield and will live closer to her family.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)

Mikkelsen took the leadership role at the Zephyrhills chamber on Dec. 14, 2009. She was selected from a field of 44 candidates.

Since accepting that role, she’s been involved in numerous initiatives.

She helped organize the collection of items for the time capsule created to celebrate the city’s 100th anniversary.

She was involved in the push to change the hours for when liquor could be served on Sundays.

She was involved in the effort to persuade the state roads department to use a pair of one-ways running through Zephyrhills, instead of turning Gall Boulevard (US 301) into a three-lane, one-way road.

She led efforts to launch a new annual festival, the Pigz in Z’Hills BBQ & Blues Fest, an event that attracts thousands and raises money for the chamber and community groups.

She drummed up support to create the Zephyrhills Economic Development Coalition.

And, she helped persuade the powers-that-be that finding money to create a four-lane stretch of State Road 56 — from Meadow Pointe Boulevard in Wiregrass Ranch to U.S. 301 — would be an investment in the region, not just a project for Zephyrhills.

While the money has not yet been found for the State Road 56 project, work is under way to see if it’s possible to get a loan from the state’s infrastructure bank to make it happen.

Mikkelsen is proud of what has been accomplished during her tenure, but she’s the first to say these achievements were a result of people working together to make them happen.

“I never would have guessed all of the things that we were able to accomplish – even at my highest expectation. We, together, have exceeded those. That’s incredibly rewarding,” Mikkelsen said.

Shortly after she assumed her role as the executive director of the Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce, Vonnie Mikkelsen had a chance to meet people throughout the community by working on a time capsule project to mark the city’s 100th birthday. (Courtesy of Vonnie Mikkelsen)
Shortly after she assumed her role as the executive director of the Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce, Vonnie Mikkelsen had a chance to meet people throughout the community by working on a time capsule project to mark the city’s 100th birthday.
(Courtesy of Vonnie Mikkelsen)

She’s been amazed by the willingness of individuals and organizations in Zephyrhills to give their time, talent and resources.

Mikkelsen thinks a chamber of commerce is in a unique position to pull people together.

“It’s (the chamber is) your business community, it’s your nonprofit organizations, it’s your faith-based organizations, your community support organizations, your schools, your government agencies. It’s a cross-section and there’s no other organization in the community like that,” Mikkelsen said.

Recognizing how people can help is important, Mikkelsen said.

“If you know the resources that are in an organization like that (the chamber), the possibilities are endless,” she said.

Having a pulse on stakeholders’ interests is essential, Mikkelsen added.

“It’s not my chamber of commerce. It’s not even the board’s chamber of commerce. It’s first and foremost, the members’, and then the community at large,” she said.

Mikkelsen said she hadn’t been at the job long before she had a chance to tap into the broad spectrum of Zephyrhills’ stakeholders.

That happened when she was working with a team to create a time capsule for the city’s 100th birthday, she said.

The capsule contains artifacts of the daily life of groups and organizations that make up the fabric of Zephyrhills.

When Mikkelsen agreed to take a leadership role on that task, she was determined to excel.

That’s her mantra.

“I don’t promise anything I’m not going to deliver on, and usually deliver beyond expectations,” she said.

When Mikkelsen joined the Zephyrhills chamber she was coming out of a period of personal transition, she said.

She’d left a position with The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business, a few years before because it wasn’t the right fit for her.

Then, she went back to school to get a certificate in nonprofit management from the University of South Florida.

At the same time, she was doing volunteer work.

She served as a certified guardian ad litem, acting as an advocate for children under state protection, who had been abused, neglected or abandoned.

She also volunteered hundreds of hours at the Pasco County Animal Shelter.

She said a staff member there described her as “the best used-dog salesperson in the world” because she concentrated on getting dogs socialized and ready for adoption.

Her efforts there earned her a Citizen of the Year award from the Florida Veterinary Medical Association.

When Mikkelsen arrived in Zephyrhills, she didn’t know much about the community beyond the research she’d done to help her land the job.

She got busy trying to understand the community’s strengths and opportunities, as well as its weaknesses and threats.

“You’ve got to know where they are. You’ve got to know where you are and what you need.

“Once you’ve identified your weaknesses and your threats. Once you’ve identified them and are clear about them,” she said, “that’s the starting point.

“Instead of wallowing in your disadvantages, just know them. “Then, you focus everything else on the solution,” Mikkelsen said.

Part of finding those solutions involves building partnerships and considering different points of view, she added.

Building those relationships takes time and follow-through, Mikkelsen added. “It’s not just sending an email.”

It also takes a willingness to do the research to establish credibility, and to create trust, over time through your actions, she added.

It’s important to respect people’s time and to be sure that meetings are meaningful, Mikkelsen said.

“You’re calling on volunteers. Time is money. I appreciate that. I value that. I get it. Ultimately, I don’t want to waste their time. I don’t want to waste my time. More importantly, I want them to keep coming back, and keep engaged and keep moving forward, because we need them,” she said.

Finding common ground and collaborating is an effective way to tackle issues, Mikkelsen said.

“If you’re always looking at others as a competitor and a threat, then you’re definitely not leading. It’s the biggest drag on success,” she said.

She’s fluent in Japanese. She spent 16 years in Japan and worked with Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting in Tokyo to develop programming for Cartoon Network Japan.

Factoids about Vonnie Mikkelsen
She’s fluent in Japanese. She spent 16 years in Japan and worked with Time Warner and Turner Broadcasting in Tokyo to develop programming for Cartoon Network Japan.

The ringtone on her cell is “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.”

She received the Florida Veterinary Medical Association’s Citizen of the Year award in 2009 for her volunteer work with Pasco County Animal Services.

Published July 1, 2015

Scott’s veto pen helps, and hurts

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Gov. Rick Scott’s veto pen stripped away funds from some projects but spared others, as he cut more than $460 million from the state’s 2015-16 budget.

Pasco County lost more than $8 million in anticipated funds for various projects.

But some local projects in the $78.6 billion state budget faired especially well.

Rick Scott
Rick Scott

Pasco-Hernando State College will receive $5.5 million for a performing arts center in Wesley Chapel. A shooting range for the police academy, located on the college’s Dade City campus, will receive $1 million for improvements.

Another winner is the Land O’ Lakes Community Center which will receive $250,000 for a band shell and stage.

“I’m as excited as I can be,” said Sandy Graves, president of Heritage Park Foundation. The nonprofit helps collect donations for improvements to the community center, which dates to the 1960s.

“We’ve been wanting it and wanting it. It’d be in our reach, and then it would go away,” Graves said.

In December, Graves made a presentation to Pasco’s legislative delegation. The initial estimate of $150,000 for construction costs was deemed too low, and the request was boosted to $250,000.

The community center is a long-time gathering place for residents in Land O’ Lakes and Lutz, Graves said.

The band shell and stage will enable the community to expand uses there, to include bigger community events and festivals.

Scott signed the state’s budget on June 22. It becomes effective July 1.

The county’s losses, in budget cuts, included $1.9 million for a storm water project in Dade City; $250,000 for the Senior Elderly Nutrition Kitchen; $1 million for the Metropolitan Ministries’ partially completed transitional housing for the county’s homeless population; and $450,000 for a Zephyrhills’ fire protection water line.

It was a mixed bag for Pasco County Schools.

The good news is the district will receive $750,000 to continue operating the Tampa Bay Regional Aeronautics Academies partnership with Embry Riddle Aeronautical University and Tampa International Airport. Currently, there is an aeronautics academy at Sunlake High School in Land O’ Lakes.

But Scott cut $1.5 million sought for a similar program at Zephyrhills High School that would include a capital project for a separate classroom facility.

Among reasons Scott gave for eliminating line items from the budget was whether the programs would offer statewide benefits.

“I disagree that these programs don’t have a statewide benefit, or return on investment,” Pasco County Superintendent Kurt Browning said in a news release. “We believe this unique program embraces Governor Scott’s platform to provide more jobs for Floridians, attract more businesses to our state, and prepare students to achieve success in college, career and life.”

However, Browning noted that the program would move forward with classroom instruction at Zephyrhills High School.

Published July 1, 2015

BizWalks survey highlights Zephryhills’ market power

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As community leaders talked recently with business owners about their job needs, it became clear that many were looking to hire military veterans. But they didn’t know how to get the word out.

That disconnect became the first challenge identified in the inaugural BizWalks 2014-15 report, a survey sponsored by the Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce and the Pasco Economic Development Council.

No one wanted to wait until the study was finished. So effort started quickly to hold a workshop in March to link those employers with community organizations and the resources to get something done.

“There was a tremendous response,” said Vonnie Mikkelsen, out-going executive director of the chamber of commerce. Mikkelsen’s last day on the job is July 3.

That kind of quick action in support of the business community is one outcome of what Mikkelsen hopes will be an annual BizWalks survey. Long-term, the survey might be done quarterly, she said.

The chamber has done business surveys periodically.

But BizWalks is more targeted and drills deeper into the opinions and issues facing business owners, especially in high-growth sectors of manufacturing, aviation, distribution and startups.

Those are the businesses that drive economic growth, Mikkelsen said.

The idea for BizWalks took off soon after Mikkelsen attended a conference on how to retain and expand businesses. She heard from others who had done similar “BizWalks” surveys in their communities.

Over a six-week period in late 2014, volunteers completed 16 on-site visits and 26 anonymous online surveys.

Participating businesses included Flight Crafters, Turin Aviation Group, Skywatch Signs, Goin’ Postal, Zephyr Aircraft Engines and Skydive City.

The staff members at the Pasco Economic Development Council partnered with Zephyrhills’ chamber and a committee of volunteers to coordinate activities, offer interview training and aid in crunching the data for the final report.

The Zephyrhills Economic Development Coalition will use the data to craft an 18- to 24-month plan of action to tackle issues such as infrastructure, work force development and the bureaucratic world of business regulations. Those were identified as the top priorities among business owners.

“We’re not only out there to gain a better knowledge and pulse of the business community, but also to take action and champion these things,” Mikkelsen said.

Overall, business owners were upbeat about the future.

About 82 percent said they felt Zephyrhills was moving in the right direction in creating a business-friendly atmosphere.

About 38 percent said they planned to hire additional employees in the next six months. And, none were planning layoffs.

Sales volumes are increasing, and the trend is expected to continue during the next 12 months.

Half of business owners said they would expand facilities in the next two years, and 60 percent expected to invest in new equipment.

Growth is not being hindered due to lack of capital or financing, and that trend likely will continue.

The survey also showed the commercial reach of Zephyrhills, which is strategically located near major road systems with access to markets beyond Pasco County and the Tampa Bay region.

That reach may be surprising to some.

Many Zephyrhills companies sell statewide and nationwide. About 45 percent of surveyed companies reported international sales to Europe, Africa, South America, Asia and the Mediterranean.

“There are a lot of gems here,” said Mikkelsen. “It’s truly a remarkable coming of age for Zephyrhills.”

The report establishes a foundation for future spin-off activities and programs that bolster Zephyrhills’ ongoing economic growth. As future reports are done, trends can be spotted and opportunities can emerge, Mikkelsen said.

The implications go beyond this one report, said John Hagen, president of the Pasco Economic Development Council.

“It’s a good thing to do for the community, but it also is a template for other communities,” he said. “What we’re trying to accomplish, other than just working in Zephyrhills, is to work out a methodology that we can then duplicate and use in other communities and with other chambers.”

In the future, Hagen said he anticipates efforts to share the Zephyrhills’ experience as a model of how to conduct a proactive business survey. It was the first locally initiated program of its type in Pasco County.

“That is something for Zephyrhills to be truly proud of,” said Mikkelsen. “We did it because we needed to, but that is an indication that we did it right. It’s really exciting.”

Published July 1, 2015

Local woman’s club named best in state

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The GFWC Lutz-Land O’Lakes Woman’s Club has received the Lois B. Perkins Award, which goes to the GFWC Florida Outstanding Club of the Year.

This is the third year in a row that the club has received the honor – an unprecedented distinction, according to club members.

The GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club members were decked out in a sea of red at a recent general meeting in support of February as Heart Health Month. (Courtesy of Patricia Serio)
The GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club members were decked out in a sea of red at a recent general meeting in support of February as Heart Health Month.
(Photos courtesy of Patricia Serio)

Winning the award allows the club to retain the coveted silver commemorative tea service to use for their club events.

Kay Taylor, who is the club’s president, and Cathy Mathes, who is the first vice president, attribute the club’s success to its community involvement.

“Teamwork – that’s what makes our club such an awesome club,” Taylor said.

Mathes agreed: “We do a lot of hard work. We do it in a lot of different areas.”

The club is involved on several different fronts.

It supports the Old Lutz School. It helps Support Our Troops. It volunteers with bingo games at the Baldomero Lopez State Veterans Nursing Home.

Members pitch in at schools. They put books at coin laundries. They put up a candidate in the annual Lutz Guv’na race. They participate in Relay for Life.

The women prepare foods for breakfast or brunch at the Hope Lodge at the Moffitt Cancer Center.

On one occasion, Mathes found the experience to be particularly poignant.

“A man came up and said, ‘My wife hasn’t eaten anything in two weeks. This is the first time she’s eaten.’

“You just want to sit there and cry,” Mathes said.

The list of activities that the women are involved in goes on and on.

The GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club puts on the annual Lutz Arts & Crafts Festival each year at Lake Park. The event is the club’s biggest fundraiser and usually attracts about 30,000 people.
The GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club puts on the annual Lutz Arts & Crafts Festival each year at Lake Park. The event is the club’s biggest fundraiser and usually attracts about 30,000 people.

Besides helping the community, the club is involved in two major fundraisers each year. It stages the Lutz Arts & Crafts Festival at Lake Park, an event that draws around 30,000 people each year. It also puts on the Woman’s Club Flea Market, another gargantuan task that involves lots of heavy lifting and volunteer hours.

Taylor has been a member for six years, joining the club a year after she moved to Lutz. She was recruited by Auralee Buckingham.

The club has developed a reputation around the community, she said.

“If somebody needs something, they come to us first to see if there’s any way we can help them,” Taylor said.

“We are all about service,” she said. “We are a working club, not a social club.”

Mathes added: “We do a lot of hard work. We do it in a lot of different areas.”

The woman’s club, known around Lutz and Land O’ Lakes as the “green-shirt ladies,” has 95 members.

The club is open to new ideas and picks up quite a few from meetings in Orlando, Mathes said.

“You learn from all of the other clubs in the state – the projects they’re working on. You can come home with some good ideas of some things you can do here,” Mathes said.

Winning the top prize was a surprise and a thrill, Mathes said.

The club placed second in a number of categories, but earned enough points to win first place, she said.

“There are a lot of active clubs all over the state. It’s just really a great honor,” Mathes said.

Published June 24, 2015

Final fundraisers keep Lutz Guv’na hopefuls busy

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The race for Lutz Guv’na is wrapping up, but the candidates aren’t ready to pack it in.

All three hopefuls are prepping for last-minute fundraising, with some big events in the final days of the race. All the money goes to Lutz organizations, and the candidate who raises the most earns the ceremonial title. So they’re pulling out all the stops to grab as much cash as possible.

The cash grab for the Lutz Guv'na race was already in full swing at the debate back in May. Now, the three candidates are ramping up the fundraising as the July Fourth deadline looms. (MIchael Murillo/Staff Photo)
The cash grab for the Lutz Guv’na race was already in full swing at the debate back in May. Now, the three candidates are ramping up the fundraising as the July Fourth deadline looms.
(MIchael Murillo/Staff Photo)

According to two-time former Guv’na Suzin Carr, that’s a good strategy to have in the last days of the race.

“The final push is huge, ” Carr said. “It ain’t over until it’s over.”

That motto came to fruition last year, when the race was decided by less than $20 out of around $9,600 raised. In the end, Dr. Cindy Perkins won the Guv’na sash by the thinnest of margins. And on July 4, she’ll hand it over to whichever of the three candidates pushes themselves over the top.

The bulk of the money is actually due the day before, July 3, at 2 p.m. After that deadline, the candidates can raise up to 10 percent more of their total between then and the Lutz Parade on July 4.

Even that final window gets utilized by the best candidates. Carr recalls raising money at the parade itself, doing whatever she could to add a few dollars to her total. When her races were finishing up, she was selling items at clearance prices and hitting up whoever was nearby for whatever they could spare.

“I was calling all of my constituents in my neighborhood and just begging,” Carr said.

By acting like she had nothing to lose, Carr earned herself a couple of big wins. She raised more than $6,000 in 2009, and more than $8,000 in 2013, making her the only two-time winner in Guv’na history.

Now she’s watching a new group vie for the title, and she’s come away impressed. All three are doing a good job of getting in the public eye and driving home the dollars, she said. In fact, Carr admitted she’d be a bit nervous if she had to face their fundraising skills.

Whoever wins the race, it’s not like the others will be considered losers. They’re all contributing to much-needed funds for local groups, and they’ll all have a say in where the money goes. Win or lose, each candidate gets to direct 10 percent of their total to whatever group they choose. A committee will disperse the remaining funds, and around 20 different organizations usually benefit from the annual event.

Here are the last major fundraisers for each of the three candidates:

On June 24, Cheryl Lynn Ayres will bring her campaign to Elsa’s Mexican Restaurant, 18450 U.S. 41., in Lutz. Starting at 4 p.m., the restaurant will donate 10 percent of the sales from anyone who states they’re supporting her Guv’na campaign. Ayres herself will be there after 5 p.m., with games and prize drawings. She’s also auctioning off prime parade-viewing space (complete with air conditioning and bathroom facilities) for the parade on July 4. Details for the auction can be found on her Facebook page (Cheryl Lynn Schmolke Ayres).

KarenSue Molis and her fellow Lutz Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club members are having an indoor flea market on June 27 at the Lutz Community Center, 101 First Ave., NW, from 8:30 a.m. until 1 p.m. She promises to beat the heat with rock-bottom prices inside the center.

Jennifer Rankin has been auctioning items on her Facebook page (Jennifer Silence Rankin) and will host a “Shootin’ For Guv’na” clay pigeon tournament on June 27 at Tampa Bay Sporting Clays, 10514 Ehren Cutoff in Land O’ Lakes. Both spectators and participants are welcome, with prizes for the winners. The event begins at 9 a.m.

Those fundraisers could mean the difference between winning and losing. But each candidate is hoping for good things, and Carr expects another nail-biter when the winner is announced on July 4.

“I will be surprised if this is not extremely close this year. These three candidates have really put themselves out there,” Carr said.

Published June 24, 2015

Restaurant wings into Wesley Chapel

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Buffalo Wild Wings will open its doors in time for the Fourth of July celebrations.

The ribbon cutting is scheduled for July 3, with the first full week of operation kicking off July 6, said Dana Balch, the restaurant’s general manager.

“We are super excited,” he said. “It’s been a long time in the making.”

Residents have come up to Balch and his staff for weeks when they have been spotted out and about sporting the Buffalo Wild Wings’ logos on their work uniforms.

Construction is nearly complete on the new Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant off State Road 56. A ribbon cutting is scheduled for July 3. (Kathy Steele/Staff Photo)
Construction is nearly complete on the new Buffalo Wild Wings restaurant off State Road 56. A ribbon cutting is scheduled for July 3.
(Kathy Steele/Staff Photo)

“There’s been a lot of excitement in town to see a family friendly sports restaurant,” he said.

The local connection extends to employees. Four out of five members of the management team are Wesley Chapel residents, including Balch. The restaurant is a member of the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce.

The restaurant is off State Road 56, next to the Gate gas station and east of Cypress Ridge Boulevard. The area is a hot spot for new development including the recently opened Mercedes Benz-Wesley Chapel.

Further east, just beyond the Interstate 75 exchange, construction is under way on the Tampa Premium Outlets and the Cypress Creek Town Center.

The new Buffalo Wild Wings is the second location for the Ohio-based chain. Another restaurant is in New Port Richey.

The restaurant was founded in 1982 with the name Buffalo Wild Wings & Weck. It was popularized with the nickname, BW-3. But after the restaurant dropped the weck roll for its sandwiches, a new nickname found favor – B-dubs.

Buffalo Wild Wings is known for its wings and selections of domestic, imported and craft beers. The menu also features

chicken tenders, popcorn shrimp, tacos, salads, hamburgers and sandwiches.

The restaurant will have plenty of televisions, too, for those who enjoy watching sports.

Published June 24, 2015

New restaurants planned for Cypress Creek Town Center

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BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse and the Panda Express are eyeing retail space at the Cypress Creek Town Center.

The proposed mall is located off State Road 56 at the Interstate 75 exchange. Adjacent to the site, the shops at Tampa Premier Outlets are taking form and shape for an anticipated October opening.

Representatives for BJ’s and Panda Express both had scheduled sit-downs with Pasco County planners within the past week to discuss their applications, according to county records.

Conceptual plans also are filed for both restaurants.

The restaurants join a growing list of retailers that have filed plans with Pasco County as part of the town center including Kohl’s, Chick-fil-A, Costco’s, Cheddar’s Casual Café and Culver’s.

BJ’s is planned as a 7,500-square-foot restaurant with a menu that offers the eatery’s signature deep-dish pizza, as well as salads, pastas, steaks, baby back ribs and a kid’s menu.

The California-based restaurant was founded in 1978, and added its own handcrafted line of beers in the mid-1990s, according to its website.

Plans on file with the county show Panda Express as a 2,600-square-foot restaurant, located within Cypress Creek Town Center at Grand Cypress Drive and Sun Vista Drive.

The family-owned restaurant also got its start in California in 1973, first under the name Panda Inn. Nearly a decade later, the Cherng family changed the name to Panda Express and now have more than 1,700 restaurants in the United States and Puerto Rico, according to the restaurant’s website.

Company representatives for Panda Express and BJ’s were not available for comment.

Published June 24, 2015

 

Florida could decide 2016 presidential election

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Predictions as to which Republican candidate will come away with the prize of the national party’s presidential nomination is an impossible task this early in the race. But there is no doubt that Florida will be a pivotal state in a hard-fought 2016 election, according to Susan MacManus, a University of South Florida political scientist.

“There’s not another state in the country that will be this competitive,” she said. “It’s considered a bellwether, a microcosm.”

Susan MacManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida, offered insights into the 2016 presidential race to members of the Conservative Club of East Pasco. (Kathy Steele/Staff Photo)
Susan MacManus, a political scientist at the University of South Florida, offered insights into the 2016 presidential race to members of the Conservative Club of East Pasco.
(Kathy Steele/Staff Photo)

MacManus addressed about 30 people at the Conservative Club of East Pasco on June 15 at the group’s monthly meeting in Zephyrhills.

The Interstate 4 corridor will be key to carrying the state, she said.

Gov. Rick Scott had just a 1 percent edge in votes along I-4 in his re-election victory over former Gov. Charlie Christ in 2014. And, past presidential elections were decided by about that same slim margin.

“Almost half of registered voters are between Pinellas County and Daytona Beach,” MacManus said.

Florida mirrors the nation in demographics such as population age and diversity among registered voters, though not among total population.

It is a myth, MacManus joked, that people in Florida are 95 years or older. Also untrue is the perception that all Hispanics in Florida are Cuban, she said.

Along I-4, for instance, Puerto Ricans are the largest Hispanic demographic.

One of the most intensely fought over groups will be the millennials. The generation from about age 18 to age 24 is going to be as influential as the baby boomers were in their day, she said.

“I see a little bit more movement (of millennials) back to the Republicans,” MacManus said. “A lot of that is over fiscal issues.”

To date, 12 candidates have announced among Republicans including former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and Donald Trump.

MacManus was dismissive of Trump.

And, her first encounter with Gov. Scott Walker, who has not officially announced as a candidate, was not impressive.

“I was rather disappointed,” she said, though she will give him another chance. “I didn’t think he’d had a lot of sleep.”

Bush’s launch of his campaign, however, was masterfully done, she said. He spoke to a crowd that reflected the diversity in Miami and across the country, dispelling the criticism that Republican crowds are mostly white.

MacManus also noted that the Republican field of candidates is more diverse than Democrats running for president.

Bush’s first speech as a candidate struck an anti-Washington tone, MacManus said. She expects he will tout his economic record in Florida and his education reforms, as well.

The question MacManus is asked most often is who will win Florida’s Republican primary, Bush or Sen. Marco Rubio.

She doesn’t have a crystal ball on that one.

“So much is volatile,” she said.

She does predict that the 2016 presidential race will be the most expensive ever, and Tampa Bay will be in the thick of it.

“This is really going to a happening spot,” MacManus said.

However, local and state candidates may face challenges because national races, including Congressional elections, will compete for donations and media attention. They could be “starved out a bit,” MacManus said.

On the Democratic side, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is the front-runner for the party’s nomination. But MacManus said, “It is surprising to see the interest in (Sen.) Bernie Sanders…People find him very interesting.”

She also has been surprised that there are women voters who like Sen. Elizabeth Warren “but wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton.”

Some of Clinton’s support comes from women voters who believe she got a “raw deal” in 2008 when then-candidate Sen. Barack Obama won the nomination.

But there is another reason.

“She would be the first woman president,” MacManus said. “People love people that can break the mold. That’s why Obama got elected. He broke one of the biggest barriers – race.”

Voter turnout will be crucial for both parties.

“The emphasis, and rightly so, will be to get people to vote,” she said. Though extended and early voting is popular, the trend hasn’t boosted overall turnout, she added. “Both parties have felt the sting of bad turnout.”

With the election about 17 months away, residents should be prepared for campaigns that likely will be fought through social media, scare tactics and negative advertisements, MacManus said.

“That’s kind of sad,” she said.

But on the plus side, Florida and Tampa Bay will be the place for politics.

“Thank God, I don’t live in North Dakota,” MacManus said. “How very dull.”

Published June 24, 2015

Developers could buy Hercules Park; donate land

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The city of Zephyrhills lost its bid to purchase Hercules Park, but there is hope still that a large swath of the park and its aquatic center can become city property.

The Pasco County School Board unanimously voted to begin negotiating the park’s sale with developers from Gh&G Florida LLC. Their bid for $2.3 million topped Zephyrhills’ bid of $1.7 million for the 15.5-acre park.

A fence, with a stop sign, blocks vehicles at the former entrance to Hercules Park. A faded sign lists park rules. (Kathy Steele/Staff Photos)
A fence, with a stop sign, blocks vehicles at the former entrance to Hercules Park. A faded sign lists park rules.
(Kathy Steele/Staff Photos)

But Deputy School Superintendent Ray Gadd said any deal brought back to the school board must stipulate that between 10 acres to 11 acres of the park would be donated to the city of Zephyrhills.

The acreage would include a fitness trail, the children’s playground and the aquatic center.

School board member Allen Altman said he agonized over his vote.

He explained: “We just don’t have the ability to turn down additional money right now.”

The school district is recovering from significant budget cuts resulting from the economic crash in 2008. The lack of funding for capital improvement projects is critical, said school board member Cynthia Armstrong.

“It is our constitutional duty to do fiduciarily what is best for our people, our students, who are also the people in Zephyrhills,” she said.

Other board members echoed those sentiments despite impassioned pleas from Zephyrhills’ Mayor Gene Whitfield and others to accept Zephyrhills’ bid.

“I’m disappointed,” Whitfield said. “We want the park. We’ll do everything we can. We’ll wait to see what they offer and proceed from there.”

Prior to the school board’s vote, Whitfield recounted the park’s history. He described a “handshake” agreement nearly 50 years ago between Hercules Powder Co. and the school district that the park would be used for children and for education but not for commercial use.

At one time Hercules Powder Co. was the largest employer in Zephyrhills. The company processed pine stumps into rosin, turpentine and pine oil on about 80 acres. The property later became sites for the park, Zephyrhills High School and Woodland Elementary School.

Some residents had feared that a gas station would be built on a corner lot at U.S 301 and County Road 54, adjacent to the park. But a $1.7 million bid from Del Lago Ventures Inc., affiliated with Race Trac Petroleum Inc., was rejected.

Belleair Development Group, with a $1.6 million bid, also lost out.

“Something needs to be worked out, because we in Zephyrhills need that (park),” said resident Fern Williams. “I’m not even seeing what your vision is with a gas station on that corner.”

A jungle gym, picnic table and swing set go unused at Hercules Park, which was closed by Pasco County four years ago for lack of funding.
A jungle gym, picnic table and swing set go unused at Hercules Park, which was closed by Pasco County four years ago for lack of funding.

In April, school officials announced plans to put the corner parcel on the market for commercial sale. Zephyrhills’ City Council previously agreed to rezone the site with expectations that the school board would consider leasing the remaining acres to Zephyrhills for $1 a year for 100 years.

City and school officials have somewhat different recollections on what happened next.

Gadd said as far back as 2011, the school board raised the possibility of a lease, but city officials rejected the offer.

Following the recent rezoning of the corner lot, he presented the lease option to the school board but never heard back from Zephyrhills for follow-up. City officials said the lease agreement would have precluded them from applying for grants. Buying the property was the best option, they said.

The city planned to use several funding sources including Community Development Block Grants and the Penny for Pasco program. The bid also included the right to sell about 2 acres, south of the corner lot. City officials said, if they needed the funds from the lot’s sale, it would be developed for a purpose compatible with the park.

The future of the park has been under discussion since Pasco County’s decision to close it nearly four years ago. County officials said the county could no longer afford to operate and maintain the park and its aquatic center.

Under a prior agreement, the park had to be used or returned to the school district.

School officials estimate that Zephyrhills could receive about $50,000 annually in property and gas tax revenues if the deal goes through with Gh&G.

Zephyrhills’ officials dispute those numbers, saying the city will receive very little from gas taxes.

They peg property tax revenues at about $6,000 a year.

Gadd said school officials are in agreement with Zephyrhills on the goal to reopen the park and see the pool again hosting swim meets.

During the long closure, he said the pool has been vandalized and homeless people have been found living in the woods.

Law enforcement has been called there on several occasions.

“To me its sad to see the pool has fallen into disrepair,” Gadd said.

Zephyrhills’ City Manager Steve Spina remains hopeful of a good outcome.

“I understand their position,” he said of the school board’s vote. “I think it’s good if they can work it out, and we get the bulk of the land. It’s a win-win.”

Published June 24, 2015