Pasco County will host an open house to find out if area residents in Wesley Chapel want to open up roads between Pasco and Hillsborough County.
The public is invited to Pasco-Hernando State College on April 18 to make comments and get answers on three potential road projects from members of the county’s Metropolitan Planning Organization.
The Wesley Chapel Roadways Connections Study wants to hear from the public regarding possible connections between:
- Kinnan Street and Mansfield Boulevard
- Meadow Pointe Boulevard to K-Bar Ranch Boulevard
- Wyndfields Boulevard into K-Bar Ranch
“We are unbiased. We want to hear from residents, looking at the negatives and positives,” said Ali Atefi, transportation engineer for the county’s Metropolitan Planning Organization. “We’re getting information from both sides, connecting or not connecting,” he said.
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A second meeting would be scheduled in the future to review feedback from the public.
An online survey also is being considered to gather additional views on whether to take on these projects, Atefi said.
The study could take up to a year to complete, he added.
Any decisions on moving forward on road projects would be made by the Pasco County Commission.
Currently, Mansfield Boulevard in the Meadow Pointe subdivision dead-ends at the Pasco County line. A barricade separates the boulevard from Kinnan Street, which dead-ends inside Tampa’s K-Bar Ranch in Hillsborough.
In 2016, Mike Moore, then a Pasco County commissioner, and Lisa Montelione, former Tampa city council member, met to discuss connecting the two roadways.
Moore is now chairman of the Pasco County Commission; Montelione is no longer on the city council.
The matter has been batted around for years between Pasco, Tampa officials, and developers of K-Bar, with no resolution.
Some Meadow Pointe residents previously expressed concerns to county officials about the prospect of increased area traffic, if the connection were made.
The subdivision is off State Road 56 in Wesley Chapel, near The Shops at Wiregrass.
Mansfield winds past Pasco-Hernando State College’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch. There also is an elementary school, a middle school and a high school on the boulevard.
Other issues center around costs, and who would pay for such items as traffic calming devices and traffic signals.
Negotiations on other improvements to street grids in the area also fell short — including engineering better circulation via Beardsley Drive and Meadow Pointe Boulevard.
Pasco recently began repaving and re-striping Beardsley from Mansfield east to Meadow Pointe. The project is expected to take 60 days.
For information, visit the county’s website at PascoCountyFl.net.
What: Wesley Chapel Roadways Connections Study meeting
Where: Pasco-Hernando State College, 2727 Mansfield Blvd., Wesley Chapel
When: April 18 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
Published April 12, 2017
