The Laker/Lutz News

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Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Crystal Springs

Wesley Chapel to get a new fire rescue station

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A new fire station in Wesley Chapel will replace an aging facility that has become inadequate to handle the needs of a growing population.

Pasco County’s Fire Rescue Station No. 13, off Old Pasco Road, is expected to open in January 2019. A groundbreaking was held in mid-March on the same day the Pasco County commissioners approved the construction contract of about $2.6 million.

Funding is partially from the Penny for Pasco program.

Construction is underway on a replacement fire station for Pasco County’s Fire Rescue Station No. 13, in Wesley Chapel. The station is expected to open in January. (Courtesy of Pasco County Fire Rescue)

In addition, Pasco purchased an adjacent property for about $467,000, according to county records.

The additional land was needed to accommodate a new fire station that, at about 9,400 square feet, will more than double the size of the old station at 27329 Dayflower Blvd.

The new station also will have space for a Pasco County Sheriff’s substation, where deputies will be able to write up reports, and conduct interviews.

The new station will have three drive-through bays and will be able to hold six fire vehicles. Currently, five firefighters and a battalion chief work each shift. But, the additional space means that eventually up to nine firefighters and one battalion chief could be accommodated.

Instead of dormitory-style sleeping quarters, individual bunkrooms will be provided.

There will be a larger kitchen, with individual pantries for each shift.

Firefighters will have an on-site fitness area, and a specialized washing system for their gear. Also, there will be customized gear lockers in a climate-controlled room.

For emergency calls at night, a “stumble light” system will automatically turn on lights at the fire station, as firefighters don their gear and board fire vehicles.

The station is modeled after Fire Rescue Station No. 30 at Little Road and Massachusetts Avenue, in western Pasco. In 2015, the station won Firehouse Magazine’s “Notable Architectural Design Award.”

Pasco County Fire Chief Scott Cassin said, “It’s essentially the same footprint and design.”

While the new station is under construction, the old station – built in the 1970s – remains operational, Cassin said. It will be torn down once its replacement is opened, he added.

“It’s really in a good location in the central part of the county,” said Cassin.

The area is also a high growth area for the county, with new residents arriving monthly.

Estimates show Pasco adds about 300 homes each month, Cassin said.

Pasco’s growth in all areas of the county is bringing challenges to county departments that deliver services to residents.

Fire rescue especially is called upon to respond to increasing numbers of emergency calls.

At budget workshops to prepare the 2019 draft budget, fire rescue officials noted that in 2017 firefighters responded to more than 71,000 such calls. Over the next eight years, those calls are expected to increase to 100,000 a year.

Much of that is due to overall population increases, but Cassin said other factors also add to the call volume, including Pasco’s aging population.

Lack of health insurance for some is also a factor, he said.

“A lot of people have dropped their health insurance and don’t get the medical care that they should,” Cassin said. They can wind up seeking medical attention when it becomes an emergency, he added.

“We’re seeing some of that,” he said.

As the county’s growth continues, Cassin said fire rescue is planning to expand its capabilities.

However, that comes at a cost to build new stations, increase personnel and add equipment.

In the general election on Nov. 6, voters will be asked to consider approval of four 30-year general bond referendums for the sheriff’s department, parks, libraries and fire rescue.

Over the life of the bond, if approved, fire rescue estimates collecting more than $70.2 million in revenues. About $2.2 million would cover costs of financing the bond, and leave fire rescue about $68 million for construction projects.

Funds would be used to build nine fire stations, including new ones and expanded or refurbished ones.

Four new stations would be located at Suncoast Parkway and State Road 52; State Road 52 and Majestic Parkway; Meadow Pointe, by State Road 56; and Bexley, off State Road 54.

In addition, five stations would be expanded and upgraded.

They would be at U.S. 41 and Central Boulevard; Seven Springs Boulevard; U.S. 19 and Cross Bayou Boulevard; Shady Hills; and, Crystal Springs.

Published August 8, 2018

HornBlasters owner buys industrial space in Zephyrhills

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A Crystal Springs company known for its manufacture of train horns designed for cars and trucks is expanding its property holdings in the greater Zephyrhills area.

Landon Enterprises LLC, a company associated with HornBlasters Inc. owner Matthew Heller, closed last month on more than 5.5 acres of land located inside Copeland Industrial Park, not far from the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport.

The $900,000 sale included a 22,500-square-foot steel building constructed in 2001 at 3752 and 3748 Copeland Drive. The structure had been owned by Linex Investments Inc. since 2006, according to county property records, when the company picked up the land and building through a $1.7 million receiver’s deed.

It’s not clear what Heller has planned for the property, or if he plans to move HornBlasters into it. That company currently lists a site on Pattie Road in Crystal Springs as its address, a nearly 10-acre piece of property Heller picked up last May for $85,000. Heller did not respond to a request by The Laker/Lutz News a few weeks ago for comment.

Landon’s new property purchase is zoned for light industrial, while HornBlasters’ current site in Crystal Springs is zoned for mobile homes, according to county property records.

Water still the primary gold standard in Zephyrhills

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Long before there was a Zephyrhills, and even before there was a Pasco County, people would journey through the dense, dangerous Florida forests to find a small oasis near the headwaters of the Hillsborough River.

There they could find plenty of fresh, clean water bubbling up from the ground, always at a refreshing 72 degrees.

Kent Koptiuch is one of more than 11 natural resource managers Nestle Waters North America has hired to help maintain good water quality nationwide, while protecting natural resources like Crystal Springs just outside of Zephyrhills. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)
Kent Koptiuch is one of more than 11 natural resource managers Nestle Waters North America has hired to help maintain good water quality nationwide, while protecting natural resources like Crystal Springs just outside of Zephyrhills.
(Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

The waters at Crystal Springs may not have had the healing and restorative powers some believed at the time, but it was certainly quite tasty. And by the time Zephyrhills itself was founded in 1910, the area already had a reputation for some of the best water in the state.

So it’s no wonder a businessman named Don Robinson saw the potential of turning that water into more than just a local commodity in the early 1960s, and Zephyrhills bottled water was born.

Today, hundreds of thousands of gallons of that commodity is shipped throughout the state. The plant, off 20th Street and Alston Avenue in Zephyrhills owned by Nestle Waters North America, employs 250 people making an annual average wage of $46,000. Another 900 more people or so have jobs related to the operation around Florida.

“It’s a great economic driver, but it’s also a great story for Zephyrhills to tell, and one it has told for decades,” said Vonnie Mikkelsen, executive director of the Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce.

This year, Zephyrhills bottled water celebrates its 50th anniversary, continuing to put this small city of nearly 14,000 people it borrowed its name from on the map. Local historian and retired educator Madonna Wise remembers the first time she saw Zephyrhills water after moving to the area in the early 1970s.

“The whole phenomenon of bottled water was developed more in the 1990s, but I do recall a lot of businesses before that having that big bottle and drinking station,” she said. “Even then, you would pull out a small paper cup to get a little bit to drink, and it was fresh water from a place just down the road.”

The spring water operation of Zephyrhills requires an average of about 650,000 gallons of water per day from Crystal Springs, said Kent Koptiuch, a natural resource manager with Zephyrhills parent company Nestle Waters. It’s shipped directly from the spring on a more than three-mile journey in an underground 10-inch diameter stainless steel pipe.

Once it arrives at the plant, it goes through a complex purification and packaging process — but it can be ready to ship in less than 15 minutes.

“I grew up in the country, and we would drink our water out of a hose as kids,” Koptiuch said. “But if you look at history — especially ancient European, Asian and African history — people have been bottling water for thousands of years.”

Of course, those methods would have been in goatskins or sheep stomachs … not exactly the most appetizing way to make water portable.

“They didn’t have plastic bottles, but they still had to travel, and they had to carry water somehow,” Koptiuch said.

The springs naturally push out an average of 35 million gallons of water per day, literally turning a small stream near the site into the Hillsborough River.

While people no longer visited the springs hoping to be cured of ailments, Crystal Springs was a popular local recreational attraction for decades. However, when landowner Robert Thomas closed the springs in 1996, some residents in the 150 homes near the springs were outraged. They fought for years to reopen the springs to the public, and even tried to block Nestle’s ability to extract water from the site.

Today, the only remnant of those recreational days is a set of cement steps leading into part of the pooled water. The rest of the springs have been restored to their natural state and deeded over to an organization known as the Crystal Springs Foundation that created the Crystal Springs Preserve.

More than 50,000 students ranging in age from elementary school to college visit the springs every year. An indoor classroom nearby teaches them all about the environment, and even water ecology. And small wooden bridges give visitors a chance to see where the springs and the Hillsborough River interconnect.

“The most students we get are fourth- and fifth-graders,” Koptiuch said. “Our focus is to educate the youth because they are going to be our future leaders.”

Zephyrhills has been the “City of Pure Water” long before the bottling plant existed, but the business has helped solidify that slogan and made it even easier to market the city as a whole, the chamber’s Mikkelsen said.

“It’s an international brand anchored right here in Zephyrhills,” she said. “It’s clean manufacturing, and very high-tech. It’s exactly the kind of company you want to have, and we’re very fortunate that we already have them.”

Published August 20, 2014

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Local environmental group looking for interns to travel state

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What would it be like to take a tractor-trailer around the state sharing lessons about the environment with schools, special events and festivals?

WaterVentures Florida’s Learning Lab, based at Crystal Springs Preserve just outside of Zephyrhills, is looking for interns who want to “share the wonders” of the state’s water through guided labs and interactive exhibits.

The outreach program was developed in partnership with the Crystal Springs Foundation, a non-profit that turned the former Crystal Springs recreation area into an educational center that attracts some 50,000 students each year.

Interns selected to participate will teach hands-on, directed learning, environmental science activities, represent the organization at community and professional events, and analyze informal education data. It takes place during the spring semester, which runs from January to June next year.

Housing will be provided throughout the internship, as well as both a food and daily allowance stipend.

Crystal Springs Preserve was founded by Nestle Waters North America, which owns the Zephyrhills bottled water company.

To learn more about the position, or to apply, click here.

Zephyrhills’ first public company gets solid start on market

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It’s hard to find a company on the eastern side of Pasco County publicly trading shares on a stock exchange, but the newest public company is off to a fast start.

Those who bought shares in CES Synergies at $1 each have already watched their value more than double since shares hit the open market in late January. Tuesday’s close on the Crystal Springs-based full-service environmental, demolition and mold remediation company, was $2.50, coming off a Tuesday high of $2.71 soon after the company released its first yearly financial results.

With that high, someone who invested the minimum $15,000 in the initial offering last year now has paper worth more than $40,650. But the stock market is a tricky place where prices might be high one day and drop the next.

CES released its 2013 financials on Monday, announcing a loss of $161,000 last year, compared to a profit of $389,000 in 2012. That caused shares to dip from its previous high of $2.50 on Friday to $2.35 by the end of the day Monday. Yet, by Tuesday, values were on the rise once again into record territory — likely fueled by a solid fourth quarter for CES, where revenue soared 91 percent compared to the year before.

Clyde Biston, the chairman and chief executive for CES, told investors that growth will likely continue this year, especially with new contracts with the New Orleans Housing Authority, the Florida Department of Transportation and Eglin Air Force Base on the Florida Panhandle.

CES, which trades over-the-counter as CESX, primarily attracts customers that are typically government bodies or large corporations, helping them with various environmental and demolition projects. Last year, its largest clients were FDOT and Sarasota County Schools, according to its filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The company has 46.5 million shares, which gives CES a paper value of $126.1 million based on Tuesday’s stock close. Yet, right now, CES shares are considered “penny stock,” meaning they are not part of a major stock exchange (like the New York Stock Exchange or Nasdaq), and are valued at less than $5 per share.

Because of that, a penny stock is not as easy to sell as a stock on a major exchange would be. However, CES has planned from the beginning to make its way to a major exchange as quickly as possible.

Jeff Chartier, president of Strategic Capital Markets of North Miami Beach — who also serves on the CES board of directors — said before a presentation in Zephyrhills last November that the company’s initial offering gave potential investors “a chance to own part of the company, and join us as we’re poised to go on the bigger market,” like Nasdaq.

While the company remains based in Crystal Springs, Biston last year announced plans to move into the upper floors of the former Wachovia Bank building on Fifth Avenue in Zephyrhills, a building he purchased in 2009 for $550,000.  Biston at one time offered the building as a potential library site for the city before council members there opted to build a new library near its current site.