By Kyle LoJacono
Hillsborough County commissioners will need to find another source of the $1.6 million needed to help buy land for a planned regional park in Odessa/Keystone.
The board originally proposed taking $1.6 million allocated for a community center in Citrus Park to buy the 40 acres of land in the area of Gunn Highway and Van Dyke Road, which would cost $3.1 million. Public outcry changed the commissioners’ minds and a new vote reversed the move on May 4.
“The money should stay in that community,” said Commissioner Ken Hagan. “It was promised to them.”
Hagan expressed his support for the yet unbuilt center in Citrus Park, despite recently saying, “I don’t think we would ever be able to build a Citrus Park center in the current economy.”
Hagan and Hillsborough Parks, Recreation and Conservation Department Director Mark Thornton said such centers are too expensive to continue operating once built in the current economy.
Hagan, who lives in northwest Hillsborough, said the money would be better used to expand the Citrus Park Little League complex with new fields. Thornton said adding to that facility would add very little operating cost to the county budget.
While the money has been allocated for a Citrus Park center, no location has been set for its construction since it was first provided for in 2005.
The proposed park in Odessa/Keystone would likely have soccer and other athletic fields and a possibly a skate park, according to Thornton.
