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City of Pure Water

2020 eventful for East Pasco communities

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The COVID-19 pandemic aside, the year 2020 brought myriad new developments and occurrences within the cities of Dade City and Zephyrhills.

Here’s a look at some of the highlights from the past year:

Dade City

Medical marijuana dispensaries allowed
Medical marijuana treatment centers and dispensaries can now set up shop within certain areas of Dade City, following a commission ruling.

Medical marijuana facilities are now allowed in Dade City. (File)

An ordinance approved in January altered Dade City’s land development regulations to make treatment facilities a permitted use in the city’s general commercial zoning district, and an allowed use in commercial and employment center planned development districts.

More specifically, the action ordinance lets medical marijuana facilities be situated along U.S. 301/U.S. 98 south and north of town, and certain pockets of the Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) district, while avoiding much of the city’s historic downtown main street and central business district.

The city previously had a series of concurrent moratoriums on medical marijuana treatment centers within its municipal limits dating back to 2016, to study its possible impacts.

 

Group 4 Commissioner Knute Nathe

New commissioners elected
The 2020 municipal election cycle brought aboard a pair of fresh faces to the five-member Dade City Commission — in Knute Nathe and Normita Woodard.

Normita Woodard

Nathe, an attorney at McClain Alfonso, assumed the Group 4 seat vacated by Nicole Deese Newlon, who chose not to run for reelection. Nathe in his campaign was vocal about controlling development that comes into city limits, to curb “out-of-control” growth seen in Wesley Chapel and San Antonio.

Woodard, a secretary at Lacoochee Elementary School, assumed the Group 5 seat that had been held by Eunice Penix since 1993 (Penix opted not to seek reelection.)

Woodard’s platform focused on building a strong downtown, while also advocating for more accountability and efficiency in municipal services for residents.

Meantime, Group 3 incumbent Jim Shive was elected to serve a third term on the commission.

A $2.5 million construction project was completed to help relieve downtown flooding in Dade City.

Downtown gets stormwater relief
Dade City’s downtown streets and sidewalks have been known to be swallowed in at least 6 inches to 7 inches of standing water for days at a time after heavy summer rains.

This issue was seemingly mostly resolved when construction wrapped up in August on a $2.5 million stormwater capital improvement project.

The project generally took underground concrete piping through multiple downtown streets into an existing conveyance system into a reconfigured Irwin Pond, just past U.S. 98 and the CSX railway.

The new system runs from Seventh Street’s intersections with Church Avenue and Pasco Avenue. Then it heads east on Pasco Avenue to Third Street, before heading north up to Meridian Avenue.

The project was paid for with a combination of state appropriations, and funding from the Florida Department of Transportation and Dade City.

Snow in town?
While slightly outside the city limits, the brand-new Snowcat Ridge Alpine Snow Park has brought an influx of visitors seeking a unique, family friendly thrilling adventure to the Dade City area.

Snowcat Ridge Alpine Snow Park opened in November, at 27839 Saint Joe Road in Dade City.

The theme park hyped as “Florida’s first-ever snow park” opened for business in November,

at 27839 Saint Joe Road in Dade City.

There are three main attractions on the 20-acre site:

  • Snowy Slopes — 60-foot-tall, 400-foot-long snowtubing hill featuring single, tandem and family-style snowtubing.
  • Arctic Igloo  — 10,000-square-foot enclosed circular space that is covered in snow thick enough to build snowmen, and make snow angels and snowballs.
  • Alpine Village — expansive concourse area that exhibits a line of local vendors offering an assortment of food, drinks, beer, wine, craft goods and holiday gift shopping.

The park operates daily, except Christmas, from around November through March. Snowcat Ridge is owned by Point Summit Inc., which also operates TreeHoppers Aerial Adventure Park and Scream-A-Geddon Horror Park.

Zephyrhills

Main Street Zephyrhills garners statewide recognition
Main Street Zephyrhills Inc., annually puts on some of the city’s largest and most popular downtown events, such as the Festival of Lights, the Founder’s Day Parade & Heritage Festival, Music & Motorcycles, and others.

Main Street Zephyrhills in March was designated Florida Main Street Program of the Month. (Courtesy of Main Street Zephyrhills)

The 501c3 nonprofit also works closely with city leadership on other initiatives, such as creating interactive art murals, and installing public Wi-Fi downtown and more public park benches.

The organization’s varied efforts didn’t go unnoticed in 2020.

In March, it was designated Florida Main Street Program of the Month by Secretary of State Laurel M. Lee.

The monthly statewide honor is believed to be a first for Main Street Zephyrhills, which is mostly run by a large contingent of volunteers. The City of Zephyrhills does staff a coordinator to facilitate the group’s events and other programs.

Also, the organization in 2019 achieved national accreditation by the Main Street America program “for generating impressive economic returns, preserving community character, and celebrating local history.”

Attorney Clarke Hobby will serve as co-counsel for the City of Zephyrhills.

Zephyrhills joins water contamination lawsuit
Coincidentally enough, “City of Pure Water” this year joined a massive federal lawsuit regarding contaminated water.

In May, the municipality became a plaintiff in a multi-district litigation case filed against various companies that manufactured firefighting foams, or manmade chemicals found to contaminate groundwater, wastewater and water wells.

The chemicals in question are perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), compounds historically used in carpets, clothing, food packaging and a number of industrial processes.

High levels of PFOA/PFOS were discovered in Water Well No. 1 utilized by the city’s downtown fire station for training purposes, dating as far back as 2014, officials and experts have said.

Armed with this information, the Zephyrhills City Council unanimously voted to enter negotiations for representation with Cossich, Summich, Parsiola and Taylor LLC., a New Orleans-based litigation firm. Local co-counsel includes Tampa-based firms Hobby & Hobby P.A., and Young & Partners LLP.

Zephyrhills joins more than 100 other cities and water treatment facilities across the country in the lawsuit. Other plaintiffs are as far away as California and North Dakota, and within Florida, Pensacola and Lauderhill.

Bidding adieu to local fire department
The Zephyrhills Fire Department — as it had been known for some 100 years — made its last service call in September when the agency officially became part of Pasco County Fire Rescue, through an interlocal agreement.

The Zephyrhills Fire Department consolidated with Pasco Fire Rescue through an interlocal agreement.

With the merger, the locally controlled fire department’s 24 full-time employees, two stations and apparatus were absorbed into the county’s fire and rescue operations.

The fire stations’ computer and audio systems unified within the county’s 911 operations center, too.

Along with the change, the city’s two stations have been renamed from Zephyrhills Fire Department Station 1 and Zephyrhills Fire Department Station 2, to Pasco County Fire Rescue Station 25 and Pasco Country Fire Rescue Station 29, respectively.

The merger had been inevitable for the past several years.

Besides a ballooning annual budget, Zephyrhills Fire Department over the years battled personnel turnover, staffing shortages and outdated equipment. The city also was without a fire chief for over 18 months, instead dividing those duties among three battalion chiefs.

The consolidation saved Zephyrhills from having to implement what would have amounted to a pricey fire assessment fee on residents and business owners to keep the local agency afloat.

World-class tennis center opens
Lace up the tennis shoes and prep those rackets and balls for play — because the state-of-the-art Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center is now game-ready for local use.

The multimillion dollar Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center is open for public use.

What began as drawings and plans on paper some four years ago has become a reality — in the form a $4.9 million athletic complex situated on nearly 10 acres of land, at 6585 Simons Road in Zephyrhills.

The facility’s centerpiece is 11 regulation outdoor tennis courts (nine clay surface, two hard surface), eight pickleball courts and four padel courts.

Attached is a nearly 8,000-square-foot indoor club housing cutting-edge health and wellness amenities that promote training and recovery via cryotherapy, salt therapy, yoga, athletic training and more. The indoor clubhouse also has a full restaurant and cafe operated by Land O’ Lakes-based caterer Mark Vesh.

The complex is named in honor of Sarah Vande Berg, a former Zephyrhills High School district champion and three-time state qualifier who died in an automobile accident in South Carolina at the age of 21, in October 2015.

The tennis center venture is a public-private partnership between the City of Zephyrhills and Pascal Collard, a longtime tennis pro and instructor serving as the facility’s CEO.

Besides public use, the facility is anticipated to be a host to national and international racquet sports tournaments.

A soft opening was held in September and grand opening in October.

Published December 30, 2020

New complex offers much more than tennis

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Dozens and dozens of mask-wearing visitors took a celebratory tour for a preview of the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center, now under development in Zephyrhills.

The center, at 6585 Simons Road, is expected to open in mid to late August.

Todd Vande Berg, third from left, is surrounded by family. From left: Mariah Wagner, of Seffner; Charla Vande Berg and Todd, of Zephyrhills; Tim Ngo, of Seffner; Abigail Ngo, of Seffner; and, Emily Vande Berg, of Zephyrhills. (Fred Bellet)

Numerous cosmetic touches remain on the $4.9 million state-of-the-art facility that’s expected to alter the landscape of The City of Pure Water.

At first glance, the complex’s main attraction, of course, is tennis. It will offer opportunities for beginners to competitive recreational players — and possibly even some elite-level college and professional players.

The complex features 11 regulation outdoor tennis courts — including eight clay surface courts, two hard surface, and a clay surface exhibition court.

It is expected to play host to significant tournaments that come through.

The exhibition court, centrally located among all courts, will offer stadium-tiered seating accommodating up to 1,300 people, and up to 4,000 people if additional bleachers are contracted in for an event.

In addition to tennis, there will be eight pickleball courts and four padel courts — deemed as two of the world’s faster-growing sports.

The padel courts will be the first such courts in Central Florida, said Marcos Del Pilar, a former professional padel player in Spain. He’s heading up padel-related programming at the complex.

With unfinished courts in the background, Andy Sorrentino fields questions from a group who took the preview tour of The Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center.

Played in doubles, padel combines elements of tennis, squash, racquetball and platform tennis into a fast-moving game played within a glass-enclosed court, one-third the size of a tennis court.

Compared to tennis, Del Pilar explained the game of padel is easier to pick up because of smaller, more compact racquets that are perforated and without strings.

“This is something that everyone can get, in 5 minutes,” said Del Pilar, proudly noting his 70-year-old mother plays five days a week.

Del Pilar added the sport lends to being “very social” and “engaging,” because matches are played in such tight quarters with four people at once.

“You are playing and also spending time with your friends because you’re playing very close. That’s a reason it’s so much fun,” he said.

Beyond offering racquet sports, officials believe the tennis complex’s nearly 8,000-square-foot indoor facility takes the project to the next level. They specifically cite the center’s cutting-edge health and wellness amenities that promote training and recovery.

Marcos del Pilar, left, promotions and sales manager of All Racquet Sports USA, and Andy Sorrentino, a major partner and chief operating officer, ham it up during the tour of the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center.

There are rooms dedicated for cryotherapy, salt therapy, bio/neuro feedback therapy, massage and yoga. There’s also a 1,300-square-foot fitness center featuring workout equipment, including recumbent bikes, rowers and ellipticals.

The salt therapy room figures to be one of the more popular usable spaces. The room will be walled with Himalayan sea salt and floored with granulated salt, so much so that it will resemble walking on sand. Visitors will enter and settle in zero gravity lounge chairs, all while iodized salt-infused air is streamed into the room.

This is being promoted as an area that benefits breathing, provides stress-relief and improves skin.

The center also will have a full restaurant and bar, serving breakfast, lunch and dinner on weekdays, and brunch and dinner on weekends. The restaurant, operated by Land O’ Lakes-based caterer Mark Vesh, will be able to seat about 60 patrons inside and at least another 100 outside.

Andy Sorrentino, the facility’s managing partner, characterized the center as being unique.

“There’s a lot of wellness clubs, there’s a lot of tennis clubs, but there are not very many, if any, tennis and wellness clubs,” said Sorrentino, who spent 26 years in sports management at Aronimink Golf Club, a private country club outside Philadelphia. “The ability to train here, eat here, play here, get your wellness here, is, very unique.”

The Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center has been in the works for more than three years.

The Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center, at 6585 Simons Road, is still awaiting its signage and round, logo tennis ball, windows. A tour was held at the center, though, to provide a look at the project’s progress.

It’s a public-private partnership between the City of Zephyrhills and Pascal Collard, a longtime tennis pro and instructor serving as the facility’s CEO.

The complex will be membership-based, but also open to walk-ins for a nominal fee.

Collard coins the facility as “a little bit of a country club,” yet “accessible to everybody.”

Meanwhile, the facility is already attracting some movers and shakers in the tennis sphere.

Collard revealed that Nick Bollettieri, an International Tennis Hall of Famer who’s coached 10 world No. 1 ranked players, will be offering group lessons about once a month, for ladies, juniors and aspiring coaches.

“The guy basically invented tennis,” Collard said. “You can’t go higher than that in the world, and it’s happening in Zephyrhills.”

Patriotically protected, Chad Melms, of Lakeland, was among those touring the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center. He and his son, Braeden Melms, were speaking with Mika Todo, an SVB pro tennis coach.

Additionally, Collard shared the facility’s tennis director will be Rene Moller, who coaches John Isner, America’s top-ranked men’s tennis player.

The complex is named in honor of Sarah Vande Berg, a former Zephyrhills High School district champion and three-time state qualifier who tragically died in an automobile accident in South Carolina at the age of 21, in October 2015.

Her father, Todd Vande Berg, is the longtime planning director for Zephyrhills.

Participating in the tour, the planning director felt “the whole gamut of emotions” walking throughout the soon-to-open facility named in memory of his daughter.

“It’s surreal. It’s a little bit hard to believe, just how beautiful it has come out,” he said.

The planning director is confident the tennis center will “raise the bar for Zephyrhills and the whole region.”

“It’s just going to be an amazing facility that we think’s going to bring a lot of people here, maybe some tournaments, it’s going to be exciting,” he said. “This area is ripe for a facility like this; we’re so fortunate to have this here.”

Published July 08, 2020

Zephyrhills joins water contamination lawsuit

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The City of Zephyrhills — also known as “The City of Pure Water” — is joining a massive federal lawsuit regarding contaminated water.

The municipality is set to become a plaintiff in a multi-district litigation case filed against various companies that manufactured firefighting foams — Aqueous film forming foam (AFFF) — containing a series of man-made chemicals found to contaminate groundwater, wastewater and water wells.

Zephyrhills will join more than 100 other cities and water treatment facilities across the country in a federal lawsuit that is going after various companies that manufactured firefighting foam containing chemicals found to contaminate water wells. (File)

The chemicals in question are perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), compounds historically used in carpets, clothing, food packaging and a number of industrial processes. The chemicals have been linked to human health effects, such as low infant birth weights, immune system suppression, thyroid hormone disruption and cancer, according to health organizations, such as the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Zephyrhills City Council unanimously voted on May 11 to enter negotiations for representation with Cossich, Summich, Parsiola and Taylor LLC., a New Orleans-based litigation firm. Local co-counsel will include Tampa-based firms Hobby & Hobby P.A. and Young & Partners LLP. The action came during a virtual council meeting.

Zephyrhills will join more than 100 other cities and water treatment facilities across the country in the lawsuit. Other plaintiffs are as far away as California and North Dakota, and within Florida, including Pensacola and Lauderhill.

The New Orleans firm is known for its work in securing a $7.8 billion settlement for plaintiffs in the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill case back in 2010. The firm told city leaders it will front the cost of litigation and expert work on a contingency, then would accept a settlement fee.

Officials say high levels of PFOA/PFOS have been discovered in Water Well No. 1 utilized by the city’s downtown fire station for training purposes, dating as far back as 2014.

Samples taken from the well in 2014 showed PFOA/PFOS levels of 160 parts per trillion in water, lower than the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) levels of acceptability of 200 parts per trillion at the time, officials say.

However, in 2016 the EPA established new health advisory levels of PFOA/PFOS at just 70 parts per trillion. Because of that, the well was subsequently taken offline and was no longer in service when follow-up tests measured 120 parts per trillion of PFOA/PFOS, officials say.

Zephyrhills City Manager Billy Poe said that staff is working with environmental engineering group Jones Edmunds on monitoring wells and “to try to delineate contamination plume.”

Poe expects the EPA and Florida Department of Environmental Protection to make requirements for PFOA/PFOS remediation and removal, which he said “will have a very large price tag attached to it.”

Clarke Hobby of Hobby & Hobby P.A., will serve as co-counsel for the City of Zephyrhills, who will be a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit against companies and manufacturers that used a series of man-made chemicals in firefighting foam found to contaminate water wells. (File)

City attorney Matt Maggard concurred with the city manager’s assessment. He emphasized the need to partner with the multiple litigation firms to seek damages from companies that used PFOS/PFAS chemicals in AFFF production.

Maggard put it like this: “Cleanup is coming, and it’s going to be very, very expensive, and I think we should protect the city and seek compensation from these companies. It’s really negligent what they did, in my opinion, as far as knowing the dangers of these chemicals and letting them go out into the public the way they did.”

Attorney Clarke Hobby, a partner in Hobby & Hobby P.A., originally brought the matter to the city’s attention.

A Dade City native who normally deals in real estate and land use matters, Hobby said he felt a calling to be involved and assist the municipality with the developing case.

The attorney said he believes the EPA will even further lower the levels of acceptability for PFOS/PFOA in water sources because “they’re finding that this stuff is not water soluble and it just doesn’t go away and it is a serious threat to water quality.”

Said Hobby, “I just don’t want Zephyrhills to get on the hook for what a multi-, multi-billion company knew about 40 years ago and continued to put it on the market, and leave us holding the bag.”

He added: “The liability for creating this chemical contamination should lie with the manufacturers who knew about this for a long time and allowed the contamination to continue over a longer period of time.”

Upon hearing comments from Hobby, as well as representatives from Cossich, Summich, Parsiola and Taylor LLC, and city administration, the council agreed it was important to move forward in the legal process.

“We definitely have to act on this,” said Council president Ken Burgess.

Councilman Charles Proctor added, “It sounds to me like we are going to deal with this, probably sooner rather than later, so if we’re going to hire a group of attorneys, we would want to hire a (law firm) that’s familiar with this sort of litigation.”

Published May 27, 2020