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Quail Hollow

State budget takes billion-dollar hit from COVID-19

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Florida’s final $92.2 billion budget reflects a billion dollars in projects and programs vetoed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

The governor blamed the economic impacts of COVID-19 for forcing the budget cuts — which included numerous initiatives in Pasco County.

“As the budget was coming due, we started to see the economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic, which has changed the trajectory of the nation’s economy and obviously the economy here in Florida. And has, of course, affected the budget balances,” DeSantis explained in a televised news conference when he signed the budget on June 29.

“As we were looking at the budget, my goal was to try to safeguard the historic achievements that we were able to do, while also realizing historic savings, so that we could put Florida on a more solid fiscal foundation,” the governor said.

The budget “provides significant support for education, the environment, infrastructure, child welfare and more,” he said.

He also noted that, in light of Florida’s population growth, per capita spending has declined, as compared to the previous year’s budget.

“Everyone understands that circumstances have changed,” DeSantis said. Still, he added, “I don’t think we necessarily forecast the economy simply stopping for a time.”

The budget puts a high priority on teacher salaries.

“We wanted to take Florida from the bottom half of the country in average minimum salary to the top five. It was not an easy fight, there were a lot of folks who didn’t want to do that.

“We were able to get $500 million to increase the average minimum salary in the state of Florida for K-12 teachers, as well as including money for salary increases for teachers who are more seasoned, and other eligible personnel.

“We are now in the top five for average minimum salary. I think this is really a historic achievement,” DeSantis said.

Also, “we do have the highest funding ever for K-12 (kindergarten through 12th grade) schools, with an increase of $137 per student,” he said.

The state’s college and universities also received increases, and the state continued its commitment to restoring the Everglades and state waterways, and improving water quality, the governor said.

The budget also fully funds the Florida Department of Transportation’s $9.2 billion work program, which DeSantis said is necessary, as the state continues to grow.

There’s also $8.7 million in new funding to support the Office of Public and Professional Guardianship to help ensure the legal rights of older Floridians are protected, and eliminate abuse, neglect and exploitation of the elderly population, he said.

Plus, the budget also includes more than $138 million in state and federal funding to address the opioid epidemic, and $8 million to continue providing community-based behavioral health services.

Still, the governor vetoed pages and pages of projects and programs.

“These were not easy decisions,” DeSantis said.

“These were difficult circumstances. I want people to know, particularly those in the Legislature, that there were obviously things that I vetoed that I think there could be good policy. There are specific projects in there, that under normal circumstances, I would have supported.”

Locally, initiatives such as a stand-alone senior center in Dade City, a landscaping beautification project along U.S. 41 in Land O’ Lakes and an archive center at Florida Pioneer Museum will have to wait or find another funding source.

But, not all was lost.

Pasco County Commission Chairman Mike Moore said he’s gratified that hard work by Pasco’s legislative delegation resulted in getting many projects into the original budget.

He’s also pleased that some county initiatives gained funding.

“I am thankful the Governor did approve two Pasco projects worth just under $8 million dollars for needed infrastructure improvements,” Moore said, via email.

Those projects are the Lacoochee industrial area right-of-way improvements for approximately $5.5 million, and the U.S. 301/Pretty Pond and Medical Arts Court Intersection Improvements estimated at $2.3 million.

Moore also noted that in comparison with some other areas in the state, Pasco County fared well. The commission chairman also said the lack of state funding won’t kill all of the projects that were vetoed.

“At the moment, Pasco County staff is still reviewing options for the vetoed projects; we do expect some will move forward although they may be delayed from original timelines. As an example, the Quail Hollow stormwater improvement project has already pursued alternative grant funding from FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) we are awaiting final word on,” Moore said.

Veto list
Here are some of the projects or programs within and near The Laker/Lutz News coverage area that were included in Gov. Ron DeSantis’ veto list:

  • Saint Leo University, Robotics Bachelor’s Degree and Micro-credential program: $1.25 million
  • Pepin Academies Foundation, $1.5 million
  • Metropolitan Ministries Miracles for Pasco, $250,000
  • Pasco County Handcart Road Water and Wastewater, $5.75 million
  • CARES One Stop Senior Center in Dade City, $750,0000
  • Pasco County Quail Hollow Boulevard, South, $850,000
  • Land O’ Lakes U.S. 41 landscape rehabilitation, $850,000
  • Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center, Zephyrhills: $1 million
  • FIRST Economic Development Incubator, Land O’ Lakes: $750,000
  • Pioneer Florida Museum Association Inc. Archives Center Pasco: $100,000

State budget highlights
Gov. Ron DeSantis gave a news conference when he unveiled the state’s final $92.2 billion budget. Here is a look at some budget highlights he mentioned:

  • $500 million to increase teacher salaries
  • $137 increase in spending, per student in K-12
  • $25 million increase in mental health programs for schools
  • $22.8 million increase for Florida colleges, bringing total to $1.3 billion in state operating funds
  • $44.4 million increase for Florida’s universities, bringing total to $2.7 billion
  • $322 million for Everglades Restoration; $50 million for springs restoration; $160 million for targeted water quality improvements; $40 million for alternative water supply; $25 million to combat harmful algal blooms and red tide
  • $2.3 million to implement the first statewide threat assessment strategy in the country
  • $17.3 million to begin transitioning correctional officers from a 12-hour shift to an 8.5-hour shift
  • $15 million to fund prevention programs for at-risk youth

Published July 15, 2020

Redevelopment project teed up for a vote

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Residents of Quail Hollow subdivision packed the boardroom at the Historic Pasco County Courthouse seeking to persuade county commissioners not to allow a developer to swap a golf course for houses.

“It betrays the existing residents who have expectations of a golf course remaining. It (houses) would change the character and sense of place of our neighborhood,” said Edward Glime, who lives in Quail Hollow. He and others spoke during public comment at a hearing on April 12 in Dade City.

Land use attorney Barbara Wilhite spoke in support of a proposed project to redevelop the Quail Hollow golf course. She said the private golf course dates back to the 1960s — before nearby residential development.
(Fred Bellet)

The Quail Hollow Neighborhood Citizens Group Inc., presented county commissioners with a petition signed by about 380 people who oppose the closure and residential development of the golf course.

But, the contentious public hearing didn’t end in a final vote as normally happens — that is scheduled for May 9 at 1:30 p.m., in Dade City.

The voting delay will give Pasco County’s planners and legal staff time to review a prior decision to recommend approval of the project to the county commission. Staff members will make a presentation to the commission prior to the vote.

No additional public testimony will be taken.

Kris Hughes, the county’s director of planning and development, described the delay as “prudent,” though he said nothing he heard during the hearing was likely to change the staff’s recommendation.

David Goldstein, the county’s deputy attorney, said the additional review is needed to “cross every T, and dot every i, to make sure it’s bulletproof.”

Property owner Andre Carollo, of Pasco Office Park LLC, wants to build a maximum of 400 single-family houses, 30,000 square feet of office/retail and 10,000 square feet of day care.

In support of the project, land use attorney Barbara Wilhite recounted the history of the golf course, which dates to the late 1960s.

“It’s always been a privately owned golf course open to the public,” she said. “The golf course came first.”

It was nearly a decade later that houses were built around the golf course, which was closed for several years before reopening in 2011. Despite expensive improvements, Wilhite said the golf course is not profitable.

She also noted that the proposed development is less dense than the 800 dwelling units the county’s current comprehensive land use plan would allow.

“It’s always been zoned for residential units,” Wilhite said.

The attorney also pointed out that her client is taking the unusual legal step of making the proposed site plan “binding.”

“I’ve never seen anyone do what we’re doing here,” Wilhite said.

But, residents told county commissioners they worry about flooding, water contamination of Cypress Creek, lower property values and increased traffic on narrow roads with limited access to the site.

Wilhite and a team of consultants rebutted those arguments with information on a planned stormwater drainage system and data on property sales in the area.

Homeowners were skeptical.

The golf course property is “better suited for open space than high-density housing,” said homeowner Jeanne Luczynski. “Who benefits? That’s the big picture question. Why is the applicant more important than everyone here? Where is our protection?” she said.

Published April 26, 2017

Local author is inspired by mysterious phenomenon

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The notion of writing about “things that go bump in the night” is not a new idea for novelists.

Many authors have used the presence of unexplained sounds to help create a sense of suspense for their readers.

But, in the case of Alicia White, an author who lives in Wesley Chapel, it was a sound that she actually heard — similar to a sonic boom — that sparked the the idea for her first novel, “The Roar.”

A.M. White was inspired to write her first novel by a mysterious booming sound she has heard in Wesley Chapel. She called that novel ‘The Roar.’ She has finished a sequel and expects the third book in a three-part series to come out next spring. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
A.M. White was inspired to write her first novel by a mysterious booming sound she has heard in Wesley Chapel. She called that novel ‘The Roar.’ She has finished a sequel and expects the third book in a three-part series to come out next spring.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)

White has lived in the Tampa area since 1991, but she didn’t hear the sound until she moved into Wesley Chapel about a year ago and, since then, she’s heard it about five times.

“It rattles things, kind of like a sonic boom would,” she said.

She quickly learned that she was not alone.

“There have been reports within a 15-mile radius,” said White, who uses the pen name A.M. White.

“People make note on social media to get reassurance that they’re not going crazy,” she notes. So far, there’s no explanation for the phenomenon.

The author said she’s heard the sound, and so has her husband, Mark, and their 8-year-old son, Landon. Their 4-year-old Grayson hasn’t heard it, but White’s dad, Gary Orchard, who lives in Lutz, also heard it once while sitting in White’s living room in Westbrook Estates.

“It’s not just this neighborhood. People have reported hearing it in Lexington Oaks, up near Quail Hollow, over to Meadow Pointe,” White said.

The author, who expects to release her second novel, “Into the Roar,” on Nov. 17, said she’s wanted to be a writer since she was young, but never seriously pursued it until last year.

“Last spring, I kind of had a brush with my own mortality. I had a health scare,” she said.

That motivated her to stop thinking about trying her hand at writing and to start doing it.

The second-grade teacher said she finds windows of time for writing after her boys are in bed. She squeezes in about four hours a night for her writing.

She envisions a third book in the series, which she describes as a dystopian novel, in the vein of books like “The Hunger Games” and “Divergent.” She expects her third book to be released in the spring.

White thinks she has an unusual writing process, which she describes as a “reverse-movie” approach.

“I see it playing out in my head, and it just comes out,” she said.

Since she sees what’s happening to her characters — and it can be violent at times — it can be an emotional experience, said White, who teaches at Turner/Bartels K-8, in New Tampa.

In addition to writing her books, White also designed the covers and does all the marketing, through social media, such as Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

By publishing her own work, she owns the rights, but White would like to find a publisher to pick up her books because she’d love a wider audience.

White said she’s encouraged by the feedback she’s been receiving.

“There’s a lot more to it than the money,” she said, noting “The Roar” has attracted readers as young as 12 and as old as 91, and has appealed to both genders.

And, while she’s never stepped foot out of this continent, her book has been read by people in six of the seven continents and by people in 10 different countries.

Reviews on Amazon.com for “The Roar” characterize the novel as “fantastic” and say it deserves five stars. It is described by one reviewer as a “great read.” Another said, “couldn’t put it down.” Another reader summed it up by saying, “Wow!”

Copies of “The Roar” are available through Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble. The paperback sells for $11.99 and the Kindle version is $2.99.

Published November 9, 2016

Wesley Chapel company expects to expand to new markets

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KeriCure Inc., a Wesley Chapel company, has secured a patent that is expected to open new doors for partnerships with pharmaceutical and medical device companies.

“Our foundation of the company was actually built around this nanoparticle drug delivery technology that I helped to create at the University of South Florida,” said Kerriann Greenhalgh, who operates the company from her Wesley Chapel home.

Kerriann Greenhalgh shows off the products her company has developed which are sold online and in stores. She expects a much broader array of uses for her product, now that she has secured a new patent. (B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)
Kerriann Greenhalgh shows off the products her company has developed which are sold online and in stores. She expects a much broader array of uses for her product, now that she has secured a new patent.
(B.C. Manion/Staff Photo)

The company, which launched in 2011, has been offering consumer products to help promote the healing of cuts and wounds on people and pets, through liquid bandages sprayed on the skin.

The polymer retains its elasticity, protecting the wound and allowing the cut to heal.

The products for people are sold under the names Natural Seal Liquid Bandage, Natural Seal and Natural Seal on the Go, and are available at Publix, Kroger, Price Choppers, Marsh and Meijer, and in natural product stores throughout the United States.

The pet products are known as Tough Seal for Pets and Champion Seal, and are available online and at some feed stores.

The company also has a professional line of liquid bandage products, under the name of KeriCure’s Advanced Seal — Rx for Medical Use. That formulation is used by physicians in various cosmetic, dermatological, burn, wound care and post-surgical applications.

With a patent granted in June, Greenhalgh expects her unique polymer to be used in a much broader array of applications.

The patent “gives us the opportunity to talk to larger pharmaceutical companies — who have products, drugs, bioactives that they want to deliver topically — and tell them we have a great, FDA-cleared system in place now, and that we can incorporate their drug into and provide very sustained release with our product,” Greenhalgh explained.

“One area that we’re looking at is in the anti-cancer area,” she said.

“We would incorporate a very well-known anti-cancer drug into our polymer system,” she said. Or, her product could be used to apply radiation seeds topically.

Patients could benefit from her company’s product, she said.

“The beauty of this is that they wouldn’t have to be getting exposed to massive amounts of radiation. It would be extremely targeted,” she said. “So, you would get rid of a lot of the side effects that happen with radiation.

“That is a very serious opportunity,” she said.

KeriCure is currently talking to various companies that have an interest in its technology, Greenhalgh said, including 3M. “They have a couple of projects that they’re interested in having us collaborate on.”

Greenhalgh said she launched the company as a consumer products company because it was the smoothest way to raise revenue.

“We really want to grow in the biotech space and create products for advanced wound care, like chronic wounds and burn wounds,” Greenhalgh said. “We’re actually in talks with a couple of large wound care companies, as a private label. We do have a very interesting opportunity in front of us right now.”

“We’ve just been asked to go to CVS and present to its private label group of buyers, so they’re interested in bringing the product on as a CVS product,” she said.

“We just got picked up by Cardinal Health. They’re the largest medical product distributor in the U.S.,” she said, adding her company will be attending Cardinal Health’s trade show in Las Vegas this month.

It also is presenting at Winn-Dixie’s local buyer division this week.

Greenhalgh grew up in New Tampa and graduated from Wharton High School before obtaining her bachelor’s degree and doctorate from USF.

The scientist lives with her husband, Daniel Opp, and their son, Nolan Opp, near Quail Hollow.

Published July 15, 2015

Massive Quail Hollow land grab raises eyebrows

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A developer who had originally planned to build a 260-acre corporate park near the Suncoast Parkway before selling the land last year hasn’t quite given up on Pasco County.

Charles Bruck, the owner of Tampa’s SoHo Capital, is among the buyers of more than 1,000 acres of land just west of Quail Hollow in Wesley Chapel. Bruck’s SoHo Dayflower LLC company and some other partners completed the purchase just before Thanksgiving for $4.2 million.

Armenian Acres, a small rural gated community off Mangrove Drive, could be the most affected by any planned development of more than 1,000 acres that surround the community on the western side. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)
Armenian Acres, a small rural gated community off Mangrove Drive, could be the most affected by any planned development of more than 1,000 acres that surround the community on the western side. (Michael Hinman/Staff Photo)

But what does Bruck have in store for the land? He’s not talking quite yet. However, it’s not necessarily far-fetched to believe he’s planning to turn hundreds of acres of agricultural land into a brand new development.

Except that’s not what he’s doing, at least according to one prominent land broker. Bill Eshenbaugh, known in the industry as “The Dirt Dog” and owner of Eshenbaugh Land Co., wasn’t involved in this particular land sale, but has worked in the past for Bruck, as well as his partners in this particular purchase — J. Aprile Properties LLC, D. Aprile Properties LLC and R. Aprile Properties LLC.

The plan? Leave the land just the way it is. At least for now.

“The Apriles are good dairymen, and they can work that land just the way it’s been for the past few decades,” Eshenbaugh said. “They really have nothing to lose on this. It’s one of the lowest prices I’ve seen.”

The purchase was most likely part of what is known in the land industry as a 1031 exchange, Eshenbaugh said. That refers to a portion of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code where a property owner can sell land, and then reinvest those proceeds in a similar property purchase elsewhere to defer the capital gains taxes he would have to pay otherwise.

The Apriles, for example, recently sold one of Hillsborough County’s last dairy farms off Cowley Road in the Riverview area, Eshenbaugh said. The family could reinvest that money in the Pasco land to avoid paying federal taxes on the profit.

Two foreign companies have owned the land Bruck’s group purchased since the 1980s. The largest parcel of more than 600 acres, located west of Mangrove Drive, surrounds a small block of homes on Armenian Lane behind a rural gate known as Armenian Acres.

Gazas N.V. Inc., a company located in the former Netherlands Antilles, bought that land in 1981 for $1.1 million, according to county property records, or what would be $2.9 million today.

The second parcel is located north of it, along Quail Hollow Boulevard, just below Apple Blossom Lane. Lexel Establishment Ltd. of Israel purchased that land in 1980 for $520,000, or $1.5 million when adjusted for inflation.

Just two years ago, the property owners approached Pasco County officials about potentially developing the land to build up to 1,000 homes. However, building officials resisted the idea, according to notes from that meeting, citing the need to vastly improve what are primarily rural roads connecting that land to the major throughways.

Bruck could come back and work with the county on possibly developing that land again in the future, Eshenbaugh said, and would have the necessary experience to get it done. Or, Bruck and the Apriles could flip the land in a few years, and likely make a hefty profit since they likely could make far more than they paid.

Bruck wanted to build what he was calling the Suncoast Employment Village, some 260 acres of land he bought in 2011 for nearly $1.8 million along State Road 54 just east of the Suncoast Parkway. However, Bruck flipped that land just two years later to Newland Communities LLC for $6 million, which would then become a part of that developer’s much larger Bexley Ranch project.

When the land was sold, it was entitled to build 780 townhomes, 1.8 million square feet of office space, and 440,000 square feet of retail, according to published reports.

The Suncoast Employment Village was another example of Bruck buying land cheap — at less than $7,000 an acre. But in this particular case, instead of developing it as he had planned, Bruck instead was able to sell for $23,000 an acre, more than triple what he originally paid.

So far, no one has approached the county again about developing the land into a residential or commercial site, said Michele Crary of the county’s planning and development department. If Bruck and the Apriles do set up a meeting, however, they would still be hampered by the need to vastly upgrade roads like Quail Hollow Boulevard to make such a project feasible.

Bruck did not return requests for comment made through his primary company, SoHo Capital.

Published December 10, 2014

See this story in print: Click Here

In Print: Big land buy in Wesley Chapel, magnet school going up

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What would you do with 1,000 acres of land if you had a chance to buy it?

A small group of owners are experiencing that first-hand in Wesley Chapel right now after a bunch of agricultural land just west of Quail Hollow was gobbled up in a $4.2 million land sale.

If more than 1,000 acres of land purchased last week west of Quail Hollow is ever developed into homes, roads like Mangrove Drive could require some upgrades. (Michael Hinman/Staff photo)
If more than 1,000 acres of land purchased last week west of Quail Hollow is ever developed into homes, roads like Mangrove Drive could require some upgrades. (Michael Hinman/Staff photo)

Will it become homes? A new commercial center? Or will it stay as grazing land. Bill Eshenbaugh, the owner of Tampa’s Eshenbaugh Land Co., wasn’t a part of this deal involving 1,000 acres off Mangrove Drive, but he knows the owners — Charles Bruck through his SoHo Dayflower company, as well as the Aprile family.

“The Apriles are good dairymen, and they can work that land just the way it’s been for the past few decades,” Eshenbaugh told reporter Michael Hinman. “They really have nothing to lose on this. It’s one of the lowest prices I’ve seen.”

However, Bruck is known for his development work, originally planning to build a 260-acre corporate park on State Road 54 near the Suncoast Parkway that is now part of the Bexley Ranch project.

What do these owners have planned? And are there clues in the recent past on what could go there? Find out in this week’s print edition of The Laker, available now on newsstands and driveways throughout the region. Or you also can read the full story online for free through our e-edition, available right here.

Not terribly far from this land purchase, Pasco’s first magnet school continues to come together quickly.

Sanders Memorial STEAM Magnet School — which focuses on science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics — already is being flooded with applications from potential students, and even more are expected before the Jan. 15 deadline.

“As a district, we know we must compete for the students we serve,” Pasco County Schools superintendent Kurt Browning said, as reported by B.C. Manion.

The campus is being built on the site of the old Sanders Memorial Elementary School at 5126 School Road in Land O’ Lakes, and is expected to be open for the upcoming school year next fall.

Want to see and learn more about the new magnet school? Then check out this week’s print edition of The Laker/Lutz News, available for free now. Or read it online in our free e-edition: just click here.

And not every school needs to be new to get attention. The Old Lutz School is back in the news, thanks to its annual celebration of Christmas.

The 18th annual event will have everything: music, cookies, hot chocolate, trains and plenty of Christmas-themed decorations, including nutcrackers and trees.

“We never miss it,” Suzin Carr, a two-time Lutz Guv’na, told reporter Michael Murillo. “We make it part of our holiday.”

How can you make it a part of your holiday? Read this week’s print edition of the Lutz News, available now. Or check out our online e-edition by clicking here. And yes, it’s free.

And finally, photojournalist Fred Bellet has some great pictures to share from the 35th annual Lutz Arts & Craft Fair hosted by the GFWC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club. See it online by clicking here.

All of these stories and more can be found in this week’s The Laker/Lutz News, available in newsstands throughout east and central Pasco County as well as northern Hillsborough County. Find out what has your community talking this week by getting your local news straight from the only source you need.

If The Laker/Lutz News is not coming to your door, call us to see where you can get your copy at (813) 909-2800, or read our free e-edition by clicking here.