The City of Zephyrhills is pursuing state funding for four projects, although ongoing financial impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic may hamper some, or all of the requests, from being included in the state’s budget.
Zephyrhills City Manager Billy Poe explained the requests during a regular Zephyrhills City Council meeting last month. They call for:
- Transforming Seventh Street into a complete street, generally from U.S. 301 to South Avenue and C Avenue
- Building sewer line and sewer capacity expansions and improvements on the north end of town to make way for additional development around the Zephyr Commons Publix Super Market on Gall Boulevard
- Paving and taxiway improvements at the Zephyrhills Municipal Airport
- Phase II of the Sarah Vande Berg Tennis & Wellness Center, which calls for a 30,000-square-foot indoor multi-use complex on the northeast portion of the 10-acre property on Simons Road — large enough for four tennis courts, but could also be converted to accommodate soccer, weddings, concerts and other community events or sports
The deadline to submit requests to the state is Feb. 2. Final project submissions and prioritization will come before a formal council vote, likely at a Jan. 11 regular meeting.
Monies would be made available to Zephyrhills in July, should one or more of those projects be approved by the Florida Legislature and signed off on by Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The city manager said each of those projects should be “shovel-ready” for construction by the summer time frame, except for the sewer line initiative, which first needs to be designed.
Published January 13, 2021
