Sites, builders to be reconsidered
By Steve Lee
Sports Editor
WESLEY CHAPEL — Pasco County Commissioners planned on fine-tuning details for a multi-sport athletic facility in Trinity later this month, but things have changed with the recent pullout by Sportsplex USA.
Now, a one-site proposition could turn into two locations on each side of the county. Starkey Ranch in Odessa and New River Township in Wesley Chapel were among other initial proposals.
Commissioners also could seek new bids for a project to utilize up to $11 million in tourist development dollars earmarked for an athletic complex.
“I was surprised after the meeting we had,” said Pat Mulieri, chairperson of the commission. “I felt like (the Sportsplex project) was going to go.”
Mulieri planned to research Cal Ripken Youth Baseball, a national organization named after the Hall of Famer that promotes tournaments and builds facilities.
Commissioners will discuss the project’s future at its Jan. 12 meeting at 10 a.m. in Dade City. Mulieri said the county spent $60,000 for Sportsplex to return with a site analysis and appear at two public hearings. No contract was signed, she added.
Animosity was prevalent at the December meeting, with several county residents and proponents of competing sites speaking out against the Sportsplex project that called for four baseball/softball fields and a restaurant/pub.
Jack Mariano was the most outspoken commissioner, questioning several points of the Sportsplex proposal and pushing for an expansion of Arthur Engle Field in Hudson.
In a Dec. 28 letter addressed to Pasco County Administrator John Gallagher, Sportsplex Chairman Paul Berghoff wrote, “From the negative newspaper articles to the diverse individual efforts trying to impact or derail the project, it appears abundantly clear to me that we need to step back.”
In hindsight, Mulieri, who represents central Pasco as the District 2 commissioner, said she should have called for a vote at the December meeting.
“You have to make a decision and let it go,” she said.
The next decision could lead to revisiting sites in Odessa and Wesley Chapel, among others. Mulieri all but ruled out Starkey Ranch, estimating that it would cost about $1 million for land upgrades.
New River Township, just west of Zephyrhills, remains in the running primarily for its public-private partnership with developers of that residential community willing to fund a portion of the project.
“We’re still open to that,” said Eric Marks, the senior vice president of New River Partners who would not disclose how much money his company would invest. “We continue to be interested in a partnership with the county.”
“He’s a very generous man,” Mulieri said of Marks, adding that his firm was “willing, at one point, to building it and leasing it back to us.”
A potential drawback to the New River site is that an athletic complex would be built within the development rather than along its SR 54 frontage.
“One of the problems with that site is it wouldn’t be visible from the main road,” Mulieri said.
Unlike plans for a tennis center at Saddlebrook that fell though in 2009, commissioners are not ready to give up on the multi-sports project just yet.
“I don’t think it’s a lost cause, but I think it’s something where the board has to make a decision,” Mulieri said. “I think it’s time to fish or cut bait.”
