The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Lutz since 1964 and Pasco since 1981.
Proud to be independently owned.

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Stanley Giannet

New opportunities coming to Cypress Creek campus

By

Crews have begun work on Cypress Creek Middle School, being built on the site where Cypress Creek Middle High School now operates.

A new Instructional and Performing Arts Center, which will provide educational opportunities and entertainment, will rise on the same site.

This is what the new Instructional Performing Arts Center, to be built on the campus shared by Cypress Creek High School and the new Cypress Creek Middle School, will look like. The campus is at 8701 Old Pasco Road in Wesley Chapel. (Courtesy of Pasco-Hernando State College)

Both are slated to open in fall of 2020.

Pasco County Schools gave Pasco-Hernando State College the land where the performing arts center, IPAC, will be built. The state college is paying the construction costs for IPAC, and will oversee its use.

But, the new facility will benefit middle school through college students, through the programs it offers.

In a recent interview with The Laker/Lutz News, representatives of the state college and the school district provided details relating to IPAC and the new middle school building.

The middle school project — at roughly 190,000 square feet, will take much longer to build than the 35,000-square foot performing arts center.

At the middle school, “they’re working on the site work. The foundation work is ongoing right now. Everything is on schedule for completion in July of 2020 for an August 2020 opening,” said Mike Gude, the school district’s director of construction services.

Cypress Creek Middle will have a capacity of 1,691 students, making it the largest of the district’s middle schools.

Safety and security will be first and foremost, with a single point of entry, controlled access and a fence around the school, Gude said.

Ray Gadd, deputy superintendent of Pasco County Schools, envisions opportunities for education, entertainment and growth for the local economy through the collaborative project involving the school district and state college.

“We designed our middle school to be very much compatible with the IPAC (performing arts center),” added Ray Gadd, deputy superintendent for Pasco County Schools. “We have a black box theater. A beautiful state-of-the-art black box theater. We also have an orchestra room. Dance. Chorus,” Gadd said.

Dr. Stanley Giannet, vice president of academic affairs and faculty development at PHSC, said the performing arts center will serve an important academic role.

“It’s called the Instructional and Performing Arts Center, the IPAC. The reason we have instructional there first is because in addition to a community-type events space and a performing arts space, the primary responsibility is to provide educational opportunities for our students, both dual enrollment students, students who will pipeline from the school district to PHSC, and community students, who wish to partake in the program,” he explained.

The state college will be using space within the performing arts center to provide courses to support a new Associate of Science degree in digital design and multimedia technology.

That new program was based on a needs analysis, and takes advantage of the fact that some programs are already offered in these areas at Wesley Chapel, Wiregrass and Cypress Creek high schools.

“It’s a natural extension,” Giannet said. Plus, there’s a documented need in the community for employees with these skills.

“This is a high-wage target industry,” Giannet said. The skills learned in this program can be applied to the performing arts, but also transferred to jobs in other industries, he said.

In the fall of 2020, Pasco County Schools is scheduled to open Cypress Creek Middle School. It is being designed for 1,600 students, making it the district’s largest middle school. The middle school will join Cypress Creek High and Pasco Hernando State College’s Instructional and Performing Arts Center. (Courtesy of Pasco County Schools)

Students also will be able to take courses to support an Associate of Arts degree, which they can transfer to a four-year degree, he said.

Students will be able to take dance, theater and music classes as electives toward their associate’s degree, Giannet said. To get the associate’s, students would need 36 hours of general education, but the remaining 24 could be acquired at IPAC, focused on the performing arts.

Campus could draw regional events
The performing arts center is considered to be an extension of the state college’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, which will be under the direction of an administrator who will report to Kevin O’ Farrell, provost of the Porter Campus.

The community also will have access to a new performing arts venue, and the campus could attract national or regional thespian festivals, or other kinds of performing arts events.

The 444-seat performing arts theater, the 150-seat black box theater at the middle school, and the arts classrooms available on campus provide a set of resources that could be attractive for such events, Gadd said. Plus, the site has plenty of parking to support such events, after school hours.

The black box theater might prove particularly popular with local theater groups, Gadd said.

“One of the advantages of the black box in the middle school is that it might be more amenable to some community theater activities, because I think the IPAC center is going to be like an anthill — it’s going to be very busy,” Gadd said.

The combined state college and school district resources on the campus create the potential for increased economic development, additional educational programs, and a new entertainment venue for the community, Gadd said.

Dr. Stanley Giannet, vice president of academic affairs and faculty development at Pasco-Hernando State College, said the new performing arts center on the Cypress Creek campus will offer a broad array of educational opportunities.

Gianett noted that the center will be a source of revenue for the college, too.

“We’ll have professional troupes, professional shows that we can bring in,” he said, and there will be opportunities for groups to rent the facility for events.

The theater also will provide another place for the school district to offer plays and other events.

Working together on this project has helped the district and state college develop a greater level of collaboration, said Gadd, who not only serves as the school district’s deputy superintendent, but also sits on the state college’s board.

The dual role offers a vantage point that allows him to see areas where the district and college can leverage the resources of the individual organizations, through collaboration.

Construction is expected to begin on the performing arts center around June of this year, and the project is expected to be completed by July of 2020, said Tony Rivas, associate vice president facilities management and administrative services for the state college.

O’ Farrell said a request is being made to the Florida Legislature for some additional funding for the project.

“One of the final pushes that we’re making this legislative session is for an additional $2.5 million,” he said.

“We had $15.5 million for the facility,” he explained.

Because of the partnership between the state college and the school district, the site for the arts center has been secured, and it is almost ready for construction, O’ Farrell said.

If additional money can be secured for this project, it would go to enlarge the interior space in the arts center’s foyer to accommodate breakfasts, receptions and community gatherings.

Published February 13, 2019

Pasco looks to become sports tourism destination

By

Pasco County is putting its sports and recreation offerings front and center, in a strategy aimed at boosting tourism.

Visit Pasco — the county’s tourism arm — is rebranding its slogan to “Florida’s Sports Coast.”

The announcement came at the second annual East Pasco Economic Development Summit.

Adam Thomas, who oversees Pasco’s tourism efforts, said the new moniker shows the county is “charging ahead to becoming that premier sports destination in Florida.”

“We’re in the memory-making business. We want to tell our story, especially with our sports assets and really get that message out there to really get that return on investment,” Thomas explained at the Nov. 2 event held at Pasco-Hernando State College’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch.

The second annual East Pasco Economic Development Summit focused on the county’s sports tourism efforts. Speakers pictured here are, from left: Gordie Zimmerman, Florida Hospital Center Ice general manager; Richard Blalock, RADD Sports chief executive officer; Pat Ciaccio, Saddlebrook Resort general manager; Jason Aughey, Tampa Bay Sports Commission senior director; and, Adam Thomas, Pasco County tourism director. (Kevin Weiss)

The brand launch and marketing campaign for “Florida’s Sports Coast” will begin in January, Thomas said.

Previous Pasco tourism promotions featured the slogans “It’s only natural” and “Open spaces, vibrant places” — referring to the county’s ecotourism offerings.

“The logo and name is just a logo and a name, but the strategy behind it is really going to create that sense of place and that sense of destination for Pasco County as the Florida sports coast,” Thomas explained.

The new branding coincides with a number of new multipurpose sports facilities that have opened or will open soon.

Florida Hospital Center Ice in Wesley Chapel, for instance, opened in early 2017 as the largest hockey complex in the southeastern United States.

It drew national attention this past year when it played host to the gold medal-winning 2018 U.S. Olympic Women’s Ice Hockey Team. It’s also the training grounds of other Olympians, such as French pair skaters Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres.

The Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex is next in line become a major draw once it opens in late 2019.

The $44 million, 98,000-square-foot facility will feature eight basketball courts, 16 volleyball courts, a cheer and dance studio, a fitness center, and sports medicine and athletic training offerings.

The complex, which broke ground in June, also will be able to host other sporting events and recreational activities, such as martial arts, wrestling, gymnastics, curling, badminton, indoor soccer, and lacrosse and pickleball.

Other facilities on tap include the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis Center in Zephyrhills and the Christopher N. Chiles Aquatic Center in Land O’ Lakes.

Meanwhile, the Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel has been a world-renowned golf and tennis mainstay since the 1980s.

Beyond those offerings, Pasco’s various outdoor recreational features will also fall under the Florida’s Sports Coast branding, Thomas noted.

The county’s inshore and offshore fishing offerings, as well as its network of hiking, biking and walking trails, create what Thomas labeled as “742 square miles of destination.”

In addition to the branding announcement, the economic summit also featured a series of panel discussions with stakeholders on the economic impact and opportunities that lie within the sports tourism industry.

Jason Aughey, senior director for the Tampa Bay Sports Commission, praised the county’s ongoing sports tourism efforts.

“Pasco County, in and of itself, is growing exponentially and gaining quite a bit of attention throughout the sports tourism industry,” he said. “I think the sky is really the limit.

“I’d be extremely bullish on what’s going on here; things are only going to get better,” Aughey added, while underscoring the economic benefit of sports tourism on the whole — particularly in the youth and amateur arena.

“Sports is very recession-proof in the sense that parents aren’t going to put away their child’s experience and/or potential opportunity for future scholarships. Same thing with discretionary spending as it pertains to adult seniors as far as the overall experience. Regardless of what’s happening in the economy, sports is going to continue to pull through,” he said.

Richard Blalock, chief executive officer of RADD Sports, the company that will manage the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Complex, also is upbeat about the Pasco’s sports tourism initiatives.

“The county’s moving in an awesome direction with their rebranding and the resources that they’ve put in,” Blalock said.

He noted the county’s efforts to serve a broad range of mid-sized indoor and outdoor sporting events year-round will further a stronghold on sports tourism.

The economic impact is year-round, and is not seasonal in nature, Blalock said.

Other speakers at the summit included Gordie Zimmerman, Florida Hospital Center Ice general manager; Pat Ciaccio, Saddlebrook Resort general manager; Carolynn Smith, 7 Marketing PR chief executive officer; Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore; Pasco County Administrator Dan Biles;  Dr. Stanley Giannet, of Pasco-Hernando State College; and, Dr. Keiva Wiley, Pasco County Schools director of Career and Technical Education.

The event was jointly presented by the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce and Pasco-Hernando State College.

Revised November 15, 2018

Zephyrhills economic summit puts focus on education

By

Fostering educational opportunities in Pasco County was the primary focus of the second annual Zephyrhills Economic Summit.

Doing that begins with beefing up the Pasco County school district’s career and technical education programs, said Kurt Browning, superintendent of Pasco County Schools.

“We need to put our career academies on steroids,” said Browning, one of several guest speakers at the Oct. 24 summit, at the new Zephyrhills City Hall, that brought together local education, business and government stakeholders.

Pasco County Schools Superintendent Kurt Browning was one of several guest speakers at the second annual Zephyrhills Economic Summit. The event focused on local educational and career opportunities in Pasco County. (Courtesy of The Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce)

Based on the region’s business profile, Browning said there needs to be greater emphasis on teaching trade skills — such as roofing and carpentry, plumbing, HVAC technicians, electricians and more.

“One of the things that we keep hearing a lot about is the trades. I’m continually amazed of the number of people that stop us and say, ‘I just need young men that can get up there and lay roof,’” Browning said.

To meet those demands, he called for increased state funding and greater collaboration with the Florida Department of Education to create industrial certifications for those fields. The district also needs to ensure opportunities for students, not destined for college, to have a chance to learn trade skills that can translate to high-wage job right out of high school.

Browning put it this way: “What we need to do is have training programs that meet the needs of all of our students, so if you’re going to be a plumber, you be the best plumber you can be.”

Browning also said the school district needs more input from local business leaders on the types of labor needed for the present and future.

“We need to do a better job of communicating, and we need to create a better relationship with our chambers, because the chambers are the ones that are really connecting, letting businesses know what we do and creating dialogues to help build that need,” the superintendent said.

Preparing tomorrow’s workforce
Browning was upbeat about some of the career and technical academies the district presently offers.

Pasco County School’s Career and Technical Education programs were discussed extensively at the second annual Zephyrhills Economic Summit. (Courtesy of Pasco Schools)

He pointed to Zephyrhills High’s aviation academy and Wesley Chapel High’s automotive technology academy, along with academies at other schools ranging from health and finance, to cybersecurity and culinary arts.

“I think we’re on the right path,” Browning said. “We’re working tirelessly trying to make sure our programs are relevant to meet the employment needs of our employers in Pasco County. We’re not perfect, and we’re not where we need to be. We’re still trying to figure out how to address the trades issue.”

Browning also mentioned the district is designing a technical high school in east Pasco that would likely open by 2022.

The district’s only two technical offerings — Marchman Technical College and Wendell Krinn Technical High School (which replaced Ridgewood High this school year) — are located in New Port Richey.

Plans call for the new school to be built on a 125-acre, district-owned tract of land along Fairview Heights and Handcart Road in the Dade City area.

It will help relieve overcrowding at Pasco, Zephyrhills, Wesley Chapel and Wiregrass Ranch high schools, Browning said.

“It’s going to be uniquely situated in the right place, right spot, offering technical career education students are clamoring for,” he said.

The technical school is also something the manufacturing industry is pushing for, according to Tom Mudano, AmSkills executive director, another guest speaker at the summit.

Mudano said a tech school based in east Pasco could help lure more manufacturing business to the region, to follow in the footsteps of companies such as Mettler Toledo and TouchPoint Medical, which he said have already brought a combined 700 jobs to the county.

“We truly believe that we need a facility on this side of Pasco County,” Mudano said. “If you’re looking at bringing jobs here, having a workforce is important.”

Mudano pointed out Tampa Bay has the most number of manufacturers in the state. And, he said that many of those companies have expressed a great need for additional skilled and semi-skilled workers.

“A lot of people don’t even realize that there’s a lot of (manufacturing) opportunities out there,” he said.

Mudano also assured that those types of trade jobs aren’t going anywhere anytime soon.

He cited information from the National Association of Manufacturers that projects there will be about 3.4 million jobs over the next 10 years, yet only 1.1 million of them will get filled.

The summit also featured a lengthy presentation from state Sen. Tom Lee, a Republican from Thonotosassa. Much of his talk centered on the state’s education system and the strides made during the last several years.

He pointed to the advent of charter schools and various opportunity scholarship programs as key reasons for boosting the state’s public education system on the whole.

“Everybody is more on their game today than they were 20 years ago. We have a rising graduation rate, better testing scores,” said Lee, who represents parts of Hillsborough, Pasco, and Polk counties in District 20.

He added: “We have created some competition for the public education system, and the public education system has responded well.”

Meanwhile, Lee suggested that going forward, the state legislature should “back off some of the micromanagement” of county school districts. He said school boards should instead have more control over district budgets and educational programs to “best meet the needs of the individual student populations of the schools.”

Lee also advocated for creating “fair competition” and “leveling the playing field” between public schools and alternative charter schools.

One way to do that, he said, includes loosening up some of strict building requirements of new public schools, called State Requirements for Educational Facilities (SREF), that cost school districts exponentially more than their charter school counterparts. He asked: “Why is it costing public education system 20 percent more to build a public school than it is a charter school?”

Other speakers at the summit included Dr. Keiva Wiley, Pasco County Schools director of Career and Technical Education; Angie Stone, Zephyrhills High School principal; Dr. Stanley Giannet, of Pasco-Hernando State College; Pasco County Commissioner Ron Oakley; Maria Reza, Career Source Pasco/Hernando business services consultant; Seta Ruiz, Florida Hospital Zephyrhills director of clinical services; and, Dr. Randy Stovall, Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce president.

The Zephyrhills Economic Development Coalition presented the summit, in partnership with the City of Zephyrhills and The Greater Zephyrhills Chamber of Commerce.

Published November 7, 2018

Push is on for forensic training center

By

A forensic training center – sometimes indelicately called a “body farm” – is being proposed for a site in Land O’ Lakes.

The Pasco County Sheriff’s Office is partnering with the University of South Florida, the Pasco-Hernando State College and Pasco County, in the quest for the facility.

The “body farm” label has stuck as a colloquial description for this type of facility after crime novelist Patricia Cornwell published “The Body Farm” in 1994.

The author detailed the forensic research done on decomposing bodies.

The proposed outdoor and indoor facility in Pasco would be built on about 5 acres of county land, next to the Land O’ Lakes Detention Center on Central Boulevard, off U.S. 41.

State funds will be sought for the approximately $4.3 million project.

State Sen. Wilton Simpson and State Rep. Danny Burgess are working jointly on a budget request for the 2017 legislative session.

At the behest of Pasco County Commissioner Mike Wells, county commissioners signed a letter of support following their Jan. 10 meeting in Dade City.

“This is a big deal,” Wells said.

If built, the facility would be the first in Florida, and only the seventh in the nation.

The University of Tennessee in Knoxville started the first forensic training and research center in the 1970s.

Other facilities are at Western Carolina University, Sam Houston State University, Texas State University in Carbondale, Southern Illinois University, and Colorado Mesa University.

A 2015 effort by USF to pursue a forensic training center in Hillsborough County’s Lithia Springs met with stiff opposition from residents. University officials subsequently dropped the pursuit.

Chase Daniels, assistant executive director for Pasco’s sheriff’s office, said “we’re taking a very cautious approach. It’s not going to be in a residential area. It’s next to the jail.”

Fencing and other safety-related measures would be part of the facility’s design, Daniels said.

Forensic anthropology applies scientific methods to aid in identifying the human remains of individuals who often are victims of homicide or disfiguring accidents. Anthropologists also can help identify victims of genocide or individuals found in mass graves.

Anthropologists at USF, for instance, led the investigation on the Dozier project to identify missing children buried in unmarked graves at the Arthur G. Dozier School for Boys in Marianna.

The university also hosts an annual conference for law enforcement, anthropologists and medical examiners who share expertise in crime-solving techniques.

In 2016, the conference included artists who helped imagine and create busts or digital images of unidentified victims to aid several law enforcement agencies from around the nation, including in Pasco, with cold cases.

Pasco’s sheriff’s office has a longstanding partnership with USF’s anthropology department, frequently seeking advice and sharing information.

In working alongside researchers at the proposed facility, “investigators will become highly skilled at collecting, processing, and interpreting evidence in their cases,” according to a statement on the USF website.

The new partnership could open even more opportunities for students at PHSC as well, said Stanley Giannet, the college’s vice president of academic affairs and faculty development.

The goal would be to create an associate degree and certification program in crime-scene technology, Giannet said.

The college also could participate in or host conferences related to forensic anthropology, he added.

Other supporters of the project include Florida’s medical examiners and the state NAACP.

Published January 25, 2017

Tampa Premium Outlets beginning to take shape

By

Tampa Premium Outlets is no longer just wishes and speculation.

There are still lots of questions, however, about what tenants will fill the 441,000 square feet of shopping space.

This is a sign letting people know that Tampa Premium Outlets will be opening this fall. (Fred Bellet/Photo)
This is a sign letting people know that Tampa Premium Outlets will be opening this fall.
(Fred Bellet/Photo)

Bulldozers are moving earth, and walls are going vertical on what has been a shopping destination in the making going back more than decade.

Plans have changed through the years, but now an outlet center is on the horizon: Opening day is scheduled for late October, well in advance of the 2015 holiday season.

Shopaholics, of course, are eager to see the center’s anticipated 100-plus retailers open their doors.

Like other large enterprises, the outlet center also is expected to have some ripple effects on the local economy.

Businesses that can provide accessory goods or services are likely to benefit.

And, students at Pasco-Hernando State College’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch also could reap internships to help them in their studies or jobs to help cover their expenses.

Simon Property Group, the mall’s developer, has estimated that the project will yield 300 to 500 construction jobs and as many as 800 retail jobs, once the outlet center opens.

Hope Allen, executive director for the Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce, is looking forward to the center’s arrival.

“We are very excited about it,” Allen said.

While the mall may create some new opportunities for local businesses, Allen doesn’t foresee a huge jump in chamber membership.

“Typically big corporations don’t join as individuals of chambers,” Allen said.

“We want the benefits to be for our members, and it means they have opportunities to do ancillary products,” she said.

One company, Signarama of New Tampa-Wesley Chapel, already has experienced a benefit.

It produced display boards that were used during the mall’s groundbreaking ceremony, Allen said.

The chamber executive anticipates similar opportunities will materialize for local businesses as the project moves forward.

While no information is available yet about the tenant mix that the outlet center will offer, Simon Property Group announced more than two years ago that Saks Off Fifth Fashion Outlet would anchor the center. And, Danielle DeVita, senior vice president of the company’s Premium Outlet Group, confirmed that during the December groundbreaking.

Simon Property Group has more than 80 Premium Outlets worldwide with a mix of upscale retailers such as Banana Republic, Diane Von Furstenberg, DKNY, Dior, Burberry and J. Crew.

The outlet mall is a major feature within the proposed Cypress Creek Town Center, a master-planned community with three developers working on different residential and commercial phases of the project.

This project isn’t the only thing kicking up dirt along the State Road 56 corridor, near Interstate 75.

Mercedes Benz is building a dealership on the east side of the interchange, Richard E. Jacobs Group and Sierra Properties are working on plans for more retail, and an ice hockey and skating complex is on the drawing board.

Stanley Giannet, provost at Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, sees new opportunities arising for students at the PHSC campus.

Besides internships and jobs, there may be scholarships, too, Giannet said.

The college offers associate degrees in areas such as business administration, business operations and marketing. All are relevant to Pasco County’s retail growth, including the outlet mall, Giannet said.

“It’s going to have a positive effect for students on campus and the community at large,” Giannet said.

Besides leading the college, Giannet was named Business Leader of the Year and Honorary Mayor of Wesley Chapel in 2014 by the Wesley Chapel chamber. He also serves on the chamber’s board of directors.

He envisions future partnerships between college faculty, chamber members, store representatives and the developer that will benefit everyone and contribute to the outlet center’s success.

“I’m looking forward to doing outreach to them,” Giannet said.

Published February 11, 2015

Wesley Chapel chamber honors businesses, leaders

By

The Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce honored its top businesses and leaders during its annual banquet last week at Saddlebrook Resort in Wesley Chapel.

The awards, according to chamber officials, acknowledge the accomplishments of small businesses, large businesses, volunteers, civic organizations, and business leaders, for the contributions they make to the regional economy.

The business awards were reviewed and scored by a panel of peers based on their demonstrated commitment to the advancement of the business community.

Winners included:

• Business Leader of the Year — Stanley Giannet, Pasco-Hernando State College.
• Large Business of the Year — Parks Ford of Wesley Chapel
• Small Business of the Year — The New Tampa/Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News
• Civic Group of the Year — American Cancer Society
• Volunteer of the Year — Kelly Mothershead, A Focus on Fitness

In addition those awards, Wendy Bechtelheimer was presented the president’s award for her contribution to the organization, while Jeff Novotny of American Consulting Engineers was named the board member of the year.

The event was presented by Parks Ford of Wesley Chapel.