Oscar Cooler Sports Complex expansion nears completion
By Kyle LoJacono
Staff Writer
Residents of Loch Devon Estates in Lutz seem to be in favor of the Oscar Cooler Sports Complex’s expansion as long as the entrance remains on the north side of the park.
“If they have a northern entrance to the parking I am very much ok with that,” said Loch Devon resident Tracy Gaschler. “…I am very exited about having the new park in the neighborhood and having a safe place for kids to come and play. My family can’t wait until it’s finally finished.”
However, a year ago residents of the neighborhood off W. Lutz-Lake Fern Road had concerns about the expansion. The problem stemmed from where Hillsborough County Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department originally planned the entrance to the new parking lot. The new entrance originally was directly across from the neighborhood’s only entry point.
“The county first planned to widen Lutz-Lake Fern to three lanes from two by adding a right-turn lane into the new parking lot,” said Mark Saunders, president of the Loch Devon Homeowners’ Association. “They also had a cement divider that would force you to turn into the park or into our neighborhood. People would have to do a U-turn in our neighborhood to keep going on Lutz-Lake Fern.”
Loch Devon Drive is a dead-end road with 23 homes and about 100 residents. Sunders has lived in the neighborhood for 18 years.
Mark Thornton, the department’s president, eventually agreed to redesign the park, which has been set for expansion for six years. The entrance was moved from the eastern to the northern end of the complex. The parking lot will remain directly across from Loch Devon’s entrance.
“It cost us about $80,000 more to design the entrance twice, but in the end it was extremely important to the people in Loch Devon that we move it,” Thornton said. “Our goal was to maximize the property. We had to integrate the design to use the most land we could, but we still want to be good neighbors.”
There will be a bike and pedestrian entrance to the parking lot where the original car entrance was planned. Additional trees have been planted along the eastern end of the parking lot to reduce the amount of noise in the neighborhoods.
Thornton went on to explain that the lights at the complex are hooded to reduce the amount of light that escapes into the surrounding communities at night. The hooded lights cost between 25 and 30 percent more than traditional ones.
When asked why the original plans forced people to turn either into the sports complex or the dead end neighborhood, Thornton only repeated that the original plans were designed to maximize the use of the land.
“When we got together with him last year we told him that everybody in the neighborhood was against it,” Saunders said. “I guess he didn’t realize it was a dead end.”
The finalized plans for the new entrance were not available by press time. Thornton said that will be the last part completed because of it being designed twice.
“I would like to see the finalized plans,” Saunders said. “Imagine building a house in Hillsborough County without approved plans.”
The new park, which comes in at a price tag of about $3.7 million, is set to open either in May or June, but the opening date is also not set.
When finished, the complex will add three soccer fields, a shared football and soccer field, the new parking lot and eventually a new baseball and a softball field.
“The Lutz area hasn’t ever had any soccer fields like this,” Thornton said. “People had to travel to either New Tampa or elsewhere if they wanted to play. It will help soccer grow and flourish in north Hillsborough County.”
