Volume 19 Issue 1
Inside: Win Tickets To The Straz Center!
January 4, 2011
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The Direct-Mail News Magazines Serving New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Since 1993! THIS INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY NEWS MAGAZINE IS DIRECTLY MAILED TO: NEW TAMPA: Arbor Greene • Cory Lake Isles • Cross Creek • Grand Hampton • Heritage Isles • Hunter’s Green • Hunter’s Key • K-Bar Ranch • Lake Forest • Live Oak Preserve • Pebble Creek • Richmond Place • Tampa Palms • West Meadows WESLEY CHAPEL: Aberdeen • Belle Chase • Brookside • Chapel Pines • Country Walk • Lexington Oaks • Meadow Pointe • New River • Northwood • Pinewalk • Pine Ridge • Saddlebrook • Saddleridge Estates • Saddlewood • Seven Oaks • Lakes at Northwood • The Villages of Wesley Chapel • Wesley Pointe • Westbrook Estates • Williamsburg
Wesley Chapel Medical Center Construction Is Under Way By Michael Smith The once-sleepy hamlet of Wesley Chapel took another step towards becoming a modern metropolitan area last month with a groundbreaking ceremony for the community’s first-ever full service hospital. The December 14 groundbreaking, which took place at the site of the planned 80-bed facility – 52 acres that lie a half-mile north of S.R. 56 on the east side of Bruce B. Downs Blvd., within the Wiregrass Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI) – was the culmination of a collaborative effort between University Community Hospital (UCH) and the Adventist Health System (AHS). The two healthcare companies officially merged under the AHS banner earlier this year, but originally, they each had sought to build a hospital in the area. They joined forces after the state Agency for Healthcare Administration (AHCA) denied their individual Certificate of Need (CoN) applications
in 2006. The following year, the two companies announced that they would form a joint venture to build the new hospital, and their new CoN application was subsequently approved by the AHCA over another application submitted by the Baycare Health System, which had proposed building a teaching hospital in conjunction with the University of South Florida’s College of Medicine. The new hospital was originally proposed for a site across from the Saddlebrook Spa & Resort, but it was relocated to the Wiregrass site after residents in the area of the first site voiced opposition to the plan. All of the legal wrangling delayed the start of construction on the hospital for several years, but really, it was a much longer process than that, according to Don Porter, the patriarch of the ranching family that originally settled the 5,000-acre Wiregrass Ranch property before opening it up to development a few years ago. At the groundbreaking ceremony,
Members of the Porter family, representatives of Adventist Health System and University Community Hospital were joined by Pasco County officials at the groundbreaking for the future Wesley Chapel Medical Center. Porter talked about growing up in a Porter also told of a ranch hand who cabin on the land just a few yards away had been injured in an accident a few from the site of the new hospital, and years later who had to be treated by a said that a plane had crashed there in veterinarian. “Now, our family is proud 1943. He said that the entire crew of to be a small part of helping this hospithe plane had died because there were tal come to Wesley Chapel,” he said. no doctors in the area at the time. See “Hospital” on page 6.
County Officials Will Discuss BBD Widening At Public Hearing
NEIGHBORHOOD MAGAZINE!
Looking Ahead Towards The March City Of Tampa Elections, A Look Back At The Top Stories Of 2010, A Visit To AAP Fitness & Much More!
Visits To The Gingerbread Cottage, Liang’s Bistro, Holiday Fund Raisers, Our Editor’s 2010 Restaurant Favorites & Your Chance To Win Tickets To The Straz Center!
See pages 3-32!
See pages 33-48!
ECRWSS
LOCAL NEWS, BUSINESS, SPORTS & EDUCATION
struction of the light rail and allowed it to begin within a reasonable period of time after the commencement of construction of the roadway itself, which is scheduled for 2012. Since voters rejected the tax referendum last fall, however, it is not known when money will be available for the construction of mass transit. So, the MPO staff is now recommending that the Segment A project move forward as planned, with eight lanes, although Valdez says that two of those lanes, one in each direction, will be set See “Widening” on page 8.
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Steve Valdez, although it was originally designed to be widened to eight lanes, Segment A is currently listed as a sixlane project in the Hillsborough County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO)’s Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP). That’s because planners felt it was a good idea to make that segment only six lanes in order to make sure there would be enough room to add mass transit, presumably light rail, in the future. The six-lane proposal with room for mass transit also was supported by a majority of residents who attended a pair of public hearings about the project last spring. However, that proposal was largely contingent upon the passage of the countywide Transportation Tax Referendum, which would have funded con-
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The widening of the middle two segments of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., between Palm Springs Blvd. in Tampa Palms and Pebble Creek Blvd., although frustrating to drivers who have to negotiate the delays, lane changes and traffic cones, is going fairly
smoothly. However, Hillsborough County officials are planning a public hearing on Tuesday, January 4, to receive further input from citizens on the southernmnost segment of the project, aka Segment A, which includes the area from Bearss Ave. to Palm Springs Blvd. According to county spokesman
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By Michael Smith
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