By Kyle LoJacono
The new luster is still on the recently expanded Oscar Cooler Sports Complex in Lutz, but Hillsborough County could soon add another large park a few miles away.
County commissioners recently voted 5-2 to explore buying 40 acres of land in Odessa and Keystone for a future regional park. The land is just north of Van Dyke Road along Gunn Highway, and the action assures the county will have the first opportunity to buy the property.
“This is just the beginning of the process,” said county spokeswoman Kemly Green. She went on to say a series of public meetings would follow to discuss variables and get citizens’ input before the commissioners would officially buy the property.
Green said details are not set, but a new park would likely include soccer fields, a trailhead for the Upper Tampa Trail and the skateboarding facility the county has been working to build in northern Hillsborough for several years.
The land is owned by the Citrus Park Baptist Church and would cost about $3.1 million to buy, which would also include a 22,000-square-foot building. However, the money would only be available if the county uses the $1.6 million allocated for building a Citrus Park community center.
The Citrus Park Civic Association has asked the county to build a community center in their area for years. If the money is reallocated for the regional park, it would likely end any chance of a center in Citrus Park.
“There is no community center out here or a library for the people of Citrus Park,” said Cheryl Pulley, a member of the association. “We’ve wanted something like this for years, but we’re always a second or third thought with the county government.”
Pulley went on to say the people in Odessa and Keystone have historically fought any development.
“We want a center and can’t get one,” Pulley said. “Keystone doesn’t want any building and could get this before we get anything.”
The idea of creating a regional park in Odessa/Keystone is being championed by county Commissioner Ken Hagan. He said the cost of running a community center in Citrus Park makes it impossible to build right now.
“Neighborhood community centers, like what they want in Citrus Park, aren’t sustainable,” Hagan said. “We can build them with what seems like a lot of money, but the real cost comes after, when we have to staff the facilities. We don’t have the continuous operational dollars to keep them open.”
Hagan said a regional park would cost less to maintain and operate because sports leagues using the facility would bring in money from renting out the fields for large athletic tournaments.
“I wish we could go forward with the plan in Citrus Park,” Hagan said. “I pushed for one seven or eight years ago. We couldn’t find the right place then. Now with our budget shrinking each year we need to look at the true cost of those facilities.”
Hillsborough Parks, Recreation and Conservation Director Mark Thornton, who pushed for the Oscar Cooler park expansion, said the new location would be great for the county citizens.
“We could use the building there and staff it by shifting people from the smaller park in Keystone,” Thornton said. “We wouldn’t have to add many if any new workers. We could also rent the building to groups to bring in money for the department.”
The Citrus Park Civic Association was not told the county was considering axing the community center, and the purchase of the land could have already happened without Commissioner Kevin Beckner’s actions.
The land purchase was lumped into a list of several agenda items the commissioners usually vote on all together. Beckner discovered the buy in the list and had it delayed for further discussion.
“We should have had a community forum to let them know what our intentions were,” Beckner said. “Not slip it in without discussion.”
The final vote to buy the land will come at a future county commission meeting.
