The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Local News

Coffee with a Cop offers forum for residents to discuss concerns

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Cindy McCary, a resident of Wesley Chapel, recently organized a “Coffee with a Cop” session to discuss community public safety concerns.

The primary motivation was to seek answers about issues involving traffic enforcement in Wesley Chapel, according to an email McCary sent to The Laker/Lutz News.

Residents share concerns with local law enforcement officers during a recent ‘Coffee with a Cop’ in Wesley Chapel. (Courtesy of Cindy McCary)

Her email includes a synopsis of what happened at the meeting.

Three representatives from the Pasco Sheriff Office’s community engagement department attended the meeting.

They shared information about what their department does and said they would be glad to attend informal meetings on a recurring basis.

They also talked about the Pasco Sheriff’s Office resources relating to Wesley Chapel, which is located in District 2. There are substations at The Grove and at Tampa Premium Outlets.

Those attending the meeting learned that the best place to take their questions depends on the issue. For instance, there are various county departments that deal with specific issues, while elected county board members address a broad range of issues.

The best number to call for an emergency is 911.

The speakers also told the audience that they should make their reports directly to the Sheriff’s Office, rather than on social media posts. The office needs the direct reports in order to include it in their data, which provides a better idea of the community’s need for services.

Those not wanting to make a direct report can use the tip option on the Sheriff’s website, at PascoSheriff.com.

Residents at the meeting expressed a number of concerns in their community, which include speeding, parking, safety, signage and needs for more patrols.

Published February 14, 2024

Pasco names planning and economic growth director

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David Engel is Pasco County’s new planning and economic growth director. The position is a result of a county reorganization, combining economic and planning issues into one department. (Courtesy of Pasco County)

Pasco County has done some reorganization — resulting in the confirmation of David Engel as the county’s planning and economic growth director.

Engel previously was the county’s economic growth director. With his new role he will oversee zoning, the county’s new planning services team and economic growth.

Engel was recommended for the role by Roy Mazur, assistant county administrator.

“I feel great about entrusting the direction of this new group to Mr. David Engel,” Mazur said, in comments to the Pasco County Commission at its Feb. 6 meeting.

The board voted 5-0 to confirm Engel to the post, which has an annual salary of $161,000.

Engel thanked the board for considering his confirmation.

“We’re at a crossroads. I know that everybody has expectations — leadership, executive team, the team that I work with on a daily basis,” he said.

“My mission is to reach those expectations and make the county a better place to live for tomorrow,” he said.

In making the recommendation, Mazur noted Engel’s extensive planning and economic growth expertise.

According to background materials in the agenda packet, Engel has more than 20 years of experience in city and county government, specializing in urban and transportation planning, affordable housing, and economic development and redevelopment.

The background materials also say that Engel holds a Master of City and Regional Planning (MCRP) degree from the Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy at Rutgers University and a bachelor’s degree in Geography and Regional Sciences from George Washington University.

Additionally, Engel has been affiliated with the American Institute of Certified Planners since 1980.

Published February 14, 2024

Community Challenge grant program open

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AARP Florida invites local eligible nonprofit organizations and governments across the country to apply for the 2024 AARP Community Challenge grant program, which funds quick-action projects that help communities become more livable by improving public places, transportation, housing, digital connections, and more, according to the AARP website. Other types of organizations will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

Now in its eighth year, the program is part of AARP’s nationwide Livable Communities initiative that supports the efforts of cities, towns, neighborhoods and rural areas to become great places to live for all residents, especially those age 50 and older.

The Community Challenge accepts applications across these three different grant opportunities:

Capacity-building microgrants: Pair with additional resources, such as one-on-one coaching, webinars, cohort learning opportunities and efforts for improving pedestrian and bicycle accessibility and for implementing safe, accessible home modifications.

Demonstration grants: Focus on improving digital connections to prepare and respond to disasters; reconnecting communities divided by infrastructure; and housing choice design competitions.

Flagship grants: Support projects that improve public places; transportation; housing; diversity; equity and inclusion; civic engagement; community health and economic empowerment; and new this year, community resilience; and digital connections.

Grants range from several hundred dollars for small short-term activities to tens of thousands of dollars for larger projects.

All projects must be consistent with the AARP mission to serve the needs of people age 50 and older along with other eligibility criteria. The application deadline is at 5 p.m., on March 6.

All projects must be completed by Dec. 15.

To submit an application and view past grantees, visit AARP.org/CommunityChallenge.

Published February 14, 2024

Staying safe on the Internet

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The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office (PSO) recently shared some tips to help people stay safe while using the Internet.

(Stock photo)

Like protecting a home, digital security is essential to prevent online hacks and attacks, according to the PSO’s posting.

Here are the PSO’s suggestions:

Ensure firewalls are always turned on for computers.

Install antivirus software to prevent malicious software from attacking and embedding.

Install available updates and anti-spyware technology to ensure private information stays safe.

Be mindful of downloads and links.

Turn off computers when not in use.

Published February 14, 2024

Putting a focus on global opportunities

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The Pasco County Economic Development Council is gearing up to celebrate international trade at its Growing Global event, which will feature experts in international trade and give local business owners insights about available resources to help them if they’d like to go global.

The event is set for Feb. 22 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., at Florida Avenue Brewing Company, 2029 Arrowgrass Drive, in Wesley Chapel.

Santander took over the old Super Target site on State Road 54. It had been vacant for four years. (File)

The lineup includes a panel discussion of international trends, experts and resource partners sharing their knowledge about what’s happening globally and how to expand business opportunities through exporting to other parts of the world.

Those attending will be able to hear from speakers from Canada and Mexico, Bill Cronin, president and CEO of the Pasco Economic Development Council (Pasco EDC) told members of the Pasco County Commission during their Jan. 23 meeting.

“We are looking at a large regional mission going into Canada later this year, So, it’s a good time for a kick-off,” Cronin said.

Commissioner Jack Mariano noted that Canada is Florida’s largest trading partner.

Cronin agreed: “They sure are. Not just trade, but foreign direct investment and home ownership.”

Commissioner Kathryn Starkey encouraged Cronin to put the word out to the county’s business partners to encourage them to attend the Growing Global event.

The 72.5-acre site (colored in red) is where Bauducco Foods plans to have a production facility in Zephyrhills.

Pasco has been ramping up its efforts to expand its international trade in recent years.

It scored a win late last year when Bauducco Foods, a Brazilian-based company, announced it would be investing $200 million in a new facility in Zephyrhills, with the intention of creating 600 new jobs in the coming decade.

The effort to attract the company involved Pasco County’s economic growth department, the Pasco EDC, the City of Zephyrhills, the state of Florida and others.

The facility will produce and distribute its baked items across the United States.

That’s just one example of Pasco attracting foreign investment.

Santander Consumer USA set up shop in a former Super Target store on State Road 54, near the Suncoast Parkway, which had been vacant for about four years.

Over time, it is expected to generate 875 jobs. Santander, which is investing $22 million in Pasco County, is owned by Banco Santander located in Spain.

But these are just two examples of international investment in Pasco. Some local businesses also have waded into the world of exporting their products to other countries.

Plus, Speros — Moffitt Cancer Center’s Pasco campus that’s now under construction — is expected to attract life science and research companies from around the world, as the internationally known cancer research center develops.

Speros is in the heart of an emerging community known as Angeline, which is west of U.S. 41 and south of State Road 52, in Central Pasco.

Those interested in finding out more about Growing Global can visit the Pasco EDC website at PascoEDC.com.

Published February 07, 2024

Pasco County taking another look at incentives offered to hotels

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Pasco County Commissioner Kathryn Starkey once again is suggesting that the county stop giving hotel developers a break, when it comes to mobility fees.

At a budget workshop on Jan. 16, Starkey told her colleagues that when the board previously changed its mobility fee schedule, she had recommended that the fee waiver be dropped for hotel rooms, but that didn’t happen.

With or without the tax break, Starkey said she believes hotels would continue to come to Pasco.

“I think we give a $5,000 discount per room for mobility fees for our hotels. That’s a lot of money to go toward road construction, that could be helping us build those roads,” she said.

Should hotels pay mobility impact fees? Pasco County has waived those fees in the past to encourage hotel development, but the county board now appears willing to take another look at the issue. Shown is Hyatt Place Hotel at the Cypress Creek Town Center, when it was under construction in Wesley Chapel. (File)

Pasco’s fee waiver is so attractive, she said, “People are coming in and building hotels and flipping them after they’re built. They can make a profit and I feel like they’re making a profit off of our mobility fees.”

Commissioner Jack Mariano appeared to be reluctant to eliminate the tax break. He thinks hotels play an important role in the county’s tourism economy.

Providing the mobility fee tax break, he said, “sends a great message: ‘We want you to come.”

But Starkey countered: “We need the roads, too, there’s a balance.”

The discussion arose, as board members considered how they can encourage development in places where they want it to go, but at the same time possibly cut back on incentives they’ve used to encourage growth.

County Administrator Mike Carballa asked the board if there are areas where they are currently providing incentives but may wish to go in a different direction.

“Do we still want to incentivize the larger stuff?

“Maybe we want to reserve the right for certain targets,” he said.

Carballa also noted: “There comes a time when your incentives are no longer needed.”

Both Starkey and Commissioner Seth Weightman said there may be areas in the county where incentives are helpful, but other areas where they are not needed.

Weightman put it this way: “The county is so unique. Is there a way we can keep the incentive in certain places and then we expire it elsewhere?”

Carballa responded: “I mean, you incentivize what you want to incentivize. It just becomes a business decision.

“We’ve got areas that maybe we don’t need to incentivize, maybe there are areas that we still need to continue to incentivize. Let us come back to you with some suggestions on that,” the county administrator said.

Published February 07, 2024

Pasco leaders exasperated by continued spread of cogongrass

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Pasco County Commissioner Kathryn Starkey said Pasco needs to deal with invasive cogongrass before it becomes the kind of problem that the Everglades has with pythons.

“We don’t want our county to get inundated with cogongrass. We don’t,” Starkey said during a recent county board meeting.

“I’ve asked and asked to have a policy about development and cogongrass,” Starkey said, referring to a request she made during an October meeting last year.

“At the very least, we need to be identifying if cogongrass is on a property before they start clearing it,” she said.

She showed her colleagues a photo of cogongrass growing along Starkey Boulevard, in a Longleaf neighborhood.

She also talked about cogongrass popping up in an island on a newly built stretch of State Road 52.

Pasco County wants quicker results in dealing with invasive cogongrass, before it spreads into every neighborhood. (Stock Photo)

“It blew my mind,” she said. “The island is brand new. The grass coming up is cogongrass. So they put the fill in there, and brought the cogongrass in.

“There really needs to be a policy on how we protect ourselves from this,” Starkey said. Then she asked if the county had a policy, if it should be applied to regulations involving mass grading.

County Administrator Mike Carballa told Starkey the county is working on the issue.

Public works has an eradication plan, but that happens after the cogongrass has spread, Carballa said.

“That’s more expensive.,” Starkey said.

“I agree with you on that,” Carballa replied.

Brad Tippin, the county’s manager of development services said the county’s development, public works and natural resources teams are working on the issue.

Tippin noted: “We actually have started putting language in conditions of approval on projects that are going to be going to construction that for those invasive species they’re going to have to use the proper process to get rid of them.”

Starkey: “I’d like to add it now to say: ‘You have to identify if there’s cogongrass on your property and confer with someone on how you are going to properly deal with it’ — before it gets to every neighborhood.”

Commission Chairman Ron Oakley agreed.

“I think it’s something that we really need to take hold of, because if you don’t make it a point to get rid of it, it will never be gotten rid of and it will spread all over the county,” Oakley said.

“Let’s make sure that we get rid of it the right way,” the chairman added.

According to the University of Florida, cogongrass was planted in Florida during the 1930s and 1940s, as a potential forage crop and for stabilization purposes.

However, it was found to have little benefit as forage and was viewed as a potentially serious pest, and was placed on the noxious weed list.

The university reports that cogongrass has been spread by illegal plantings and unintentional transport in forage and in soil during roadway construction.

In a published report, the university says: “Allowing this plant to grow unchecked ensures its continued spread along roadways and into pastures, mining areas, forest land, parks and other recreation areas.”
Anyone having questions concerning the identification of cogongrass is advised to contact their local county Extension office.

Carballa said the county’s team is working on the cogongrass issue.

“Like any process, it takes a little bit of time for you to see it come out of the ground,” Carballa said.

But Carballa’s response didn’t satisfy Commissioner Seth Weightman.

“It’s been a solid year, when Commissioner Starkey and I brought this up, very early in the year,” Weightman said.

Starkey chimed in: “It’s been more than a year.”

Weightman added: “For 12 months to go by on something that’s a real problem – when I think this board, collectively, over a year ago said, ‘Hey, let’s get disciplined and address this problem,’ it’s not acceptable to me —  this timeline.”

Carballa responded: “I think we’ve been very disciplined in moving ahead on a lot of the advances that the board has asked over the last year, as well, to include cogongrass, and to include a number of other things in the development arena.

“We continue to make advances on the development services front, with how we handle and manage development in the county.

“I certainly share the impatience in wanting to push a lot of things forward. The team is not sitting on its hands. We are moving and advancing the board’s directives and it just takes a little time,” Carballa said.

Starkey suggested one way to potentially reduce the problem.

“What I was told is it’s (cogongrass) on the scrapers.

“Maybe we provide a place somewhere they can go and get washed down, if they’ve worked on a piece of land that has cogongrass on it,” Starkey said. “Because that’s one of the ways that it’s getting spread, it’s from the equipment.”

Published February 07, 2024

Kiosk makes vehicle registration renewals more convenient

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Pasco County Tax Collector Mike Fasano has announced Pasco County’s first-ever, self-serve kiosk for processing vehicle registration renewals, according to a news release.

The kiosk, inside the Publix Supermarket at Collier Commons, 2121 Collier Parkway in Land O’ Lakes, is at the entrance near the customer service counter and the pharmacy. It is located there to make transactions safe and secure. It will be available to the public during store hours.

“It is our hope that for those interested in using this service that the kiosk will prove to be an easy and efficient way to complete this necessary task in a quick and convenient manner,” said Fasano in the release.

“It is exciting that this new service may save our customers time, gasoline and potentially the inconvenience of traveling far to one of our full-service locations,” said Fasano.

Vehicle registration renewals are the only transaction the kiosk currently is designed to complete. To renew a vehicle registration at the kiosk, customers must bring the PIN from the registration renewal notice or license plate number and first registrant’s date of birth. Registrations in a business name can only be renewed with the PIN since there is not a date of birth linked to the record.

Pasco Tax Collector Mike Fasano stands beside a new operational kiosk inside Publix on Collier Parkway. (Courtesy of Pasco County Tax Collector’s Office)

These registrations are not eligible to be renewed at the kiosk:

  • Registrations renewals that require an address change
  • Registration renewals that replace a license plate
  • Registration renewals that have insurance, driver license or toll suspensions
  • Vessel (boat) registration renewals
  • Mobile home registration renewals
  • Heavy trucks that require a Florida Certificate of Insurance or IRS Heavy Vehicle Use Tax 2290
  • Personalized plate registrations
  • Parking permit or placard renewals
  • National Guard license plate renewals
  • Autonomous vehicles
  • Government vehicles
  • IRP Registrations

The new registration and decal will be printed at the kiosk. If there is a driver license stop, toll stop or insurance stop, or if the kiosk is unable to process the transaction, the customer will receive a message.

Accepted forms of payment include American Express, Discover, Mastercard and Visa — debit/credit cards only.

The kiosk does charge a 2.3% fee for the use of a credit card and a $3.95 flat fee for the kiosk renewal.

For customer kiosk questions or problems, call 1-833-939-1572.

Published February 07, 2024

Rule changes coming to Pasco County’s coastal high-hazard area

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Pasco County must update its comprehensive land use plan to comply with state regulations relating to  development in the county’s coastal high-hazard area.

In keeping with that requirement, the Pasco County Commission considered proposed changes at its Jan. 18 meeting.

As county planner Amy Tull was outlining proposed changes, Chief Assistant County Attorney David Goldstein asked her: “Is there a reason that you’re not fixing the issue with this policy that deals with whether density increases in the coastal high-hazard area need to be MPUDs (master-planned unit development) or not?”

Goldstein was referring to a current requirement that says that MPUD rezonings are required within that area. But, according to the attorney, based on an interpretation by Nectarios Pittos, director of planning and development, requiring MPUDs was not the intention of language within the comprehensive plan.

So, Goldstein said, the county has an opportunity to fix that, as it is making the current changes.

“If that’s the planning position, I’m not sure why you’re not making that perfectly clear in the policy,” Goldstein said.

Tull responded: “We can do that.”

Planning Commission Chairman Charles Grey asked for clarification: “From a practical point of view, how does that affect people who want to build, develop, whatever? Is it going to create more – another layer of bureaucracy for them?”

Planning Commissioner Jon Moody responded: “It would remove a layer.”

Goldstein agreed with Moody. 

Removing the MPUD requirement would make it easier, not harder.

Pittos told the planning board: “The way the provision had been understood in the past was that the comprehensive plan was not actually calling for a rezoning to MPUD, but for the use of the MPUD requirements of the land development code.”

In other words, Pittos continued: “You could do a Euclidean zoning, but ultimately when the site plans were to come in, they would have to meet the various requirements, as conditions of approval, on the site plan.”

Planning board members indicated they favor the removal of the MPUD requirement and approved a motion to have the county’s legal staff work with the planning staff to take that recommendation to the Pasco County Commission. The county board has final jurisdiction over land use and zoning issues.

Published February 07, 2024

Poker Run set to raise funds for Gulfside Hospice

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Several motorcycle clubs work to raise money for Hittin’ the Road for Hospice. Shown here are some of the participants in the 2023 run. (Courtesy of Gulfside Hospice)

A motorcycle poker run is set for Feb. 10 to raise money for Gulfside Hospice patients and families, in the 12th annual Hittin’ the Road for Hospice.

Bikers will cruise through scenic areas of Pasco and Hernando counties, with the event beginning at 9 a.m., at Harley-Davidson of New Port Richey, on State Road 54 and will end at the Moose Lodge, in Zephyrhills.

Along the way, bikers will stop at designated spots to collect cards for their poker hands. Cash prizes will be awarded to the top three poker hand winners. Additionally, the “Wings and Wheels Award” will be presented to the top fundraising team at the event.

Pre-registration is open now for groups and single riders. Day-of registrations also will be accepted. Event details and registration can be found at HittinTheRoadForHospice.org.

All event proceeds will benefit Gulfside Hospice and provide hospice care and resources for patients and families in Pasco County, regardless of their ability to pay.

Published February 07, 2024