Hillsborough County’s Conservation and Environmental Lands Management department will host a series of meetings during the next 2½ months to provide information to residents about the county’s regional park system, and gather input for a master plan.
The public meetings will take place at 10 locations, with the first on Jan. 9 at the Upper Tampa Bay Park on Double Branch Road. All meetings will take place on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to11:30 a.m.
The meetings will provide an overview of the conservation department’s duties, outline recreational opportunities in the area and explain the master planning process in detail. Department officials also will field questions.
When the master plan is finished, it is expected to include specific recommendations on policies, procedures and practices relating to natural resource management, facility uses and upgrades, and outdoor recreation for the parks and trails.
(Photos courtesy of Hillsborough County)
“The master plan is really going to focus on the vision for our regional parks,” said Forest Turbiville, the county’s director of conservation and land management. “We want the public to kind of tell us what they would like to see. …What kind of services, activities and, potentially, facilities that they would like to see in the future at each one of our regional parks, as well as our ELAPP (Environmental Lands Acquisition and Protection Program) sites.”
For those unfamiliar, ELAPP is a voluntary, non-regulatory program established for the purpose of providing the process and funding for identifying, acquiring and protecting endangered or environmentally sensitive lands in Hillsborough County. It is a citizen-based program made up of volunteer committees.
While the department has a few possible ideas for the plan, Turbiville said he first wants to gather residents’ ideas and feedback on improvements that can be made for the regional parks and trails before organizing the bulk of the plan.
“Really, we’re waiting for the feedback from the public,” said Turbiville, whose department manages over 78,000 acres of land across regional parks and ELAPP sites. “We’re going to have a survey that’s available that we’re going to hand out at the public meeting. It’s going to consist of a pretty extensive list of questions centered around what people would like to see in the parks.
“The public input is going to drive the outcome of the plan,” he said.
As an example, Turbiville said some people might suggest additional programming at select park facilities, request the construction of a new nature center or may want the county to build additional boardwalks on the trails.
The master plan is expected to be completed by the end of December 2016, so its programs’ budgets can be set in motion for the 2017 fiscal year, and successive fiscal years, Turbiville said.
Park master plan meetings
What: Hillsborough County’s Conservation and Environmental Lands Management department will have a series of public meetings to help develop the county’s master plan for parks and conservation. The meetings will be on Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 11: 30 a.m.
Meetings in the general vicinity include:
- Jan. 9: Upper Tampa Bay Park, 8001 Double Branch Road in Tampa
- March 5: Upper Tampa Bay Trail, 9201 W. Waters Ave., Tampa
- March 12: Lake Rogers (meeting will include Lake Park): 9586 N. Mobley Road in Odessa
For a complete list of meetings, visit HillsboroughCounty.org/Conservation.
Published January 6, 2016
