The Laker/Lutz News

Serving Pasco since 1981/Serving Lutz since 1964

Oakside Cemetery

Zephyrhills says: ‘Goodbye, final dirt road’

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Now, it’s no longer dust in the wind.

The City of Zephyrhills and its Public Works Department have completed the work to pave the very last dirt road maintained by the city within its limits.

Jennifer Lane was a dusty road about the length of a city block located just west of Oakside Cemetery.

Residents of Jennifer Lane would often complain about how dusty it could be to travel what was the last dirt road in Zephyrhills city limits. (Courtesy of Zephyrhills Public Works)

Now, it’s completely paved.

The city wrapped up the $163,000 project on May 13.

“Being the only unimproved (and dirt) road in Zephyrhills, it was a thorn in my side for a long time,” said Shane LeBlanc, the city’s public works director.

“We had a resident of Jennifer Lane always calling to tell us how dusty it was — that there was so much dust. So, this was a short project, and now that it’s done, one that is very welcome.

“There are no more dirt roads in the City of Zephyrhills, and I’m very proud of that,” LeBlanc said.

Pavement and minor renovations were recently completed on Jennifer Lane, the last dirt road maintained by the City of Zephyrhills.

Zephyrhills now has more than 70 miles of paved lane roads.

There are some dirt roads remaining in Zephyrhills, but those are maintained by Pasco County, not the city of Zephyrhills.

LeBlanc says he constantly fields calls about dirt roads, but is unable to respond because those are a county issue.

“Now, when I get a call about a dirt road, I know it’s not a city issue because they are all paved,” LeBlanc said, with a laugh.

The final walkthrough inspection occurred the morning of May 13, and the project was completed well within the 120-day contract.

LeBlanc said the weather cooperated, enabling the pavement project to be done in less than 30 days.

“This was knocked out real quick, with no big disruption to the residents or the city,” the public works director said. “There was a little inconvenience, but, again, they are now overly pleased because there is no more dust!”

Published May 18, 2022

Event honors flags, vets

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A fire burned at Oakside Cemetery — its flames stoked with respect and honor.

Its tinder: an American Flag.

The Zephyrhills High JROTC retired dozens of flags by burning them, in a ceremony that included an Honor Guard and Saber Arch, and an atmosphere filled with reverence.

The Zephyrhills High JROTC color guard presents the flags during the squad’s Project Patriotism at Oakside Cemetery, 5301 First St., in Zephyrhills. (Mike Camunas)

The flag ceremony was part of Project Patriotism. The 35 cadets taking part also cleaned hundreds of headstones marking the final resting spots of veterans buried in the cemetery.

The service and learning project is held each year to teach the cadets organizational skills, to foster community outreach, and to help them understand the benefits of volunteerism.

After the ceremony, Cadet Command Sgt. Maj. James Laferriere said:

“For us all being in high school, I thought everything went really well. With JROTC, we have a whole lesson on how to properly fold and handle flags, as well as properly retire flags.

“This (project) allows us to practice those methods and allows us to actively participate in our community,” said Laferriere, who is one of the few seniors in the squad.

The JROTC started Project Patriotism six years ago and it has evolved every year.

Zephyrhills High JROTC senior, Cadet Command Sgt. Major James Laferriere, stands at attention, with fellow cadets at Project Patriotism, in Oakside Cemetery.

Last year, the squad cleaned the grave markers for the first time.

Over the years, the ceremony has grown and more flags have been retired.

There are five units in this JROTC squad — Alpha, Beta, Charlie, Delta and Echo — and each is assigned a different duty.

Some go out into the community to seek donations of flags to be retired.

Others meet with officials from the City of Zephyrhills seeking money to support the event.

This year, the city donated about $600 that was spent on cleaning supplies, meals and transportation.

“The city really came through for us,” said retired First Sgt. Jimmy McAuley, who leads the JROTC.

His daughter, Sgt. First Class Jasmine McAuley, is a sophomore at Zephyrhills High.

“The community knows about it, but the cadets go out and go to homes to ask for flags, and then come up with the ceremony and go to the city, so everyone has a job to do and they did a great job,” the JROTC leader said.

“It’s a humbling experience,” Laferriere added, “but we’re honored to do it.”

Zephyrhills High JROTC sophomore, Sgt. Andrew Fraley, scrubs the gravestone of a veteran who was laid to rest at Oakside Cemetery. Fraley’s efforts were part of his squad’s Project Patriotism.

The ceremony commenced with the Honor Guard walking through a Saber Arch and the reciting of the Pledge of Allegiance.

After that, several cadets, some in dress uniforms and others in fatigues, lined up and placed a retired flag into the fire.

Following that, several young cadets removed the top of their fatigues and fanned out into the cemetery, searching for the grave markers of veterans.

When they found one, they’d salute the veteran and then get down on their hands and needs with buckets of soapy water and brushes to clean away grime from the headstones.

“The ceremony, to me,” said Capt. Aiden Macumber, who led the ceremony, “is a way to honor those who have served.

“It means a lot, to me, because I had a lot of family members who were in the military. This is an annual tradition for our battalion, and I’m very honored to be in charge of this event.”

The act of cleaning the gravestones, he said, demonstrates that the cadets still care about the veterans, no matter how long they have been buried in the cemetery.

“We’re coming in here to make sure the (headstones) still look good, and it’s a great honor, in my opinion, because it’s how we say, ‘Hey, we still remember you, we’ll still take care of you and, of course, thank you’,” he said.

Published March 02, 2022

Improvements keep coming to Zephyrhills redevelopment area

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The concept design plan for Hercules Park renovations is being updated to include public requests for restrooms, artwork, educational signage, a retention pond, and Wi-Fi, among several other features such as playfields and pathways.

Initial design plans for a BMX bike track were not well-received during a workshop, so that piece is being removed from the scope, according to Gail Hamilton, director of the Zephyrhills Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA).

The 12-acre park property is at the corner of County Road 54 and Gall Boulevard, next to Zephyrhills High and Woodland Elementary schools.

Upgrades continue to occur in the redevelopment district that is under the jurisdiction of the Zephyrhills Redevelopment Agency. (File)

Hamilton provided an update on the CRA’s activities in a number of areas during the agency’s last meeting. The Zephyrhills City Council serves as the board of the CRA.

The CRA is a dependent special district in which any future increases in property values are set aside in a Trust Fund to support economic development and redevelopment projects within the designated district.

The Zephyrhills CRA redevelopment district is approximately 501 acres. It encompasses the center spine of the city, generally between Hercules Park to C Avenue, and from Zephyr Park to 17th Street. Within those boundaries are the following historic neighborhood districts: Hercules, Historic Jeffries, Historic Abbott, Moore’s Estate, Zephyr Lake, Oakside, and Plaza.

Other notable updates on activities within the district were shared during last month’s meeting. They include:

  • A CRA commercial matching façade and signage grant totaling up to $6,000 has been approved for Tara Hornbeck, doing business as Mulligan’s Tavern, at 5420 Gall Blvd.

Upgrades for the new Irish pub are slated to feature an aluminum frame cloth awning by the front door entrance, as well as replacement of rotted windows and doorframe.

The building was formerly the home of Salsa’s Mexican Grill, which has been closed for more than a year, Hamilton said.

Several other improvements outside the grant’s scope also will be completed — including parking lot repaving and landscaping — at the restaurateur’s expense. “We will have a nice looking building when it’s all said and done,” Hamilton told CRA Commissioners.

  • A $5,000 CRA residential ownership incentive grant has been approved for Elis Jose Burgos-Berrios, at 4929 16th St.

The grant’s purpose is to encourage home purchases within distressed neighborhoods as a catalyst to improve the owner-occupancy rate and neighborhood, one street at a time.

The grant requires Burgos-Berrios to file a homestead exemption on the property for five years.

Burgos-Berrios is a city employee, tasked with maintaining the city’s Oakside Cemetery, at 5301 First St.

  • Public Wi-Fi now is installed for Fifth Avenue, but the CRA is working with a consultant and the city’s IT department on developing a website landing page that Main Street will eventually oversee.
  • Zephyrhills Public Works has installed a slew of black benches throughout downtown, matching the color scheme of trash cans, signs and poles.

• The CRA has partnered with Main Street and public works to install blue Adirondack chairs (made of recycled plastic water bottles) attached with concrete slabs at Transplant Park, a pie-shaped area at 12th Street and Fifth Street. A neighborhood happenings sign promoting downtown parades and events also will be installed at the pocket park.

Published July 28, 2021

Zephyrhills considers some fee increases

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The City of Zephyrhills is updating its comprehensive list of fee schedules — and many come tagged with price increases.

The proposed fee resolutions and amendments incorporate public record requests, venue rental policies, cemetery lots, and site plan reviews, among others.

The fees were discussed during an hour-long city council workshop meeting on Oct.  23.

Rental charges for Alice Hall will remain at $40 per hour, but minimum hourly requirements have been added, under Resolution No. 739-17. (Courtesy of City of Zephyrhills)

Perhaps the largest proposed change is to the city’s site plan review fees for new business development projects, such as restaurants, retailers and so on.

Under Resolution No. 741-17, the Site Plan Review Fee will double to $1,000, up from $500 per 1,000 gross square feet.

Todd Vande Berg, the city’s planning director, said the fees haven’t been adjusted in several years and would still be in line with surrounding communities, such as Port Richey, New Port Richey and Plant City.

He also noted the proposed fees are still considerably less than the $5,000 charged by the county for similar projects.

City Manager Steve Spina added site plans reviews and development projects require the services and resources of nearly a dozen city staffers from multiple departments.

“It’s a lot of staff time to review and coordinate all the different aspects that go into these kinds of reviews,” Spina said during the workshop.

“In the long run, you have to justify your costs. I think this helps us do that. It helps us get reimbursed when we hire consultants to do things, and it helps with some of the staff time that goes into it—and it’s a lot of time for them,” he said.

Rental policies for both the Alice Hall Community Center and the Airport Venue were also presented at the workshop.

The charge for renting out Alice Hall will remain at $40 per hour, but minimum hourly requirements have been added, under Resolution No. 739-17.

A rental minimum of two hours will be required from Monday through Thursday, from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., while a minimum of four hours will be required for rentals Friday, Saturday and Sunday, between 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Meanwhile, the city plans to establish rental prices for its community airport venue, which is home to the annual Pigz in Z’ Hills BBQ & Blues Fest.

Since its launch in January, Spina said the city has struggled to determine rate charges for event hosts.

The 14-acre community venue site, at 5040 Airport Road, includes a 20-by-40 stage and 50 vendor spaces equipped with water and electricity, along with additional space for freestanding vendors, business expos and children’s activities.

The venue is situated north of the Zephyrhills’ City Yard, stretching to Airport Road and backing up the southern boundary of the Lincoln Heights subdivision.

Rates will be based on a sliding scale, dependent on attendee figures and if alcohol is served, per Resolution No. 745-17.

For example, renting the venue for less than 500 people could cost between $300 and $360. An event with more than 10,000 attendees, such as Pigz in Z’ Hills, could cost somewhere between $2,600 and $3,100.

Those figures also incorporate cleanup, city personnel and employee labor. There’s an additional surcharge for booths and trailers.

Spina said the finalized fees first have to be “cleaned up” and will be presented to the council at a later date.

Besides venues, shade hangar rentals at the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport will increase to $125 per month, up from $95. All other prices at the airport will remain the same, per Resolution No. 743-17.

Those aren’t the only price changes coming to the city.

Cemetery and cremation lots at the city’s Oakside Cemetery are increasing for residents and non-residents, the first price change since 2005.

Cemetery lots for residents and city employees will be $800, up from $750, while cremation lots will be $350, up from $300, under Resolution No. 740-17.

Cemetery lots for non-residents jumps to $1,200, up from $810, while cremation lots will be $525, up from $350.

Spina defended the price increase for nonresidents during the workshop, noting many people will “shop” cemeteries from across the region, which may eventually lead to lot availability issues for the city in several years from now.

“We have a lot of people coming from St. Petersburg or elsewhere to use the cemetery because it’s less expensive. It could be a space issue down the road,” he said.

A fee policy for public records requests also was introduced.

Requests estimated to require more than an hour of a city employee’s time; a minimum deposit of $25 will be required. Additional charges will be added to cover the cost of posting and packaging.

Spina noted the city has received an influx of requests daily and weekly, often related to council actions, police incident reports, and personnel records.

“People have a right to the public record, so you have to try to determine to balance those customer needs,” he said.

Other workshop items, including transportation impact fees and fire user fees, were tabled for a later date.

The basic fee schedule, per Resolution No. 738-17, includes the following figures:

Copies

Single-sided copies, up to 8 ½” x 14” – $0.15

Double-sided copies, up to 8 ½” x 14” – $0. 20

Ledger size, 11” x 17” – $0.20

Certified copy of a public record – $1

DVD/CD of electronic or audio public records – $5

DVD/CD imaged documents (building plans and permits) – $5

Duplicate videotape – $1

Plans/Maps

8 ½” x 11” — $2

11” x 13” — $2

18” x 24” — $5

22” x 34” — $5

24” x 26” — $5

34” x 44” — $10

36” x 48” — $10

Published November 8, 2017