Volume 21 Issue 3
Inside: Our Editor’s 2012 Local Dining Favorites!
February 2, 2013
See Neighborhood Magazine!
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 • Easton Park • Grand Hampton • Heritage Isles • Hunter’s Green • Hunter’s Key • K-Bar Ranch • Lake Forest • Live Oak Preserve • Pebble Creek • Richmond Place • Tampa Palms • The Hammocks • 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 • The Lakes at Northwood • The Villages of Wesley Chapel • Wesley Pointe • Westbrook Estates • Williamsburg
City Council Approves Assisted Living Facility In West Meadows! By Matt Wiley Just a little more than a year after plans for a charter school on Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. in New Tampa were shot down by the Tampa City Council, another development concept has gotten the go-ahead. At a meeting on January 17, the City Council members unanimously approved the rezoning and development of the land between Brinegar Cir. and New Tampa Blvd. on the west side of Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. in the West Meadows PUD (Planned Unit Development). The land has been rezoned from PDA (Planned Development Alternative) to PD (planned development) for a congregate living facility and office buildings. The 17.24-acre site will be the future home of the 64,240-sq.-ft. Legacy at Highwoods Preserve, an 88-bed assisted living facility that, much like the
new Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC), will combine cutting-edge technology with top-notch patient care. The facility will specialize in assisted living, but also will have a 44-bed wing dedicated to Alzheimer’s care. The site also will house 7,500 sq. ft. of office space in three buildings, 2,500 of which could be used for medical space. The Legacy, a collaboration between Houston-based PinPoint Commercial, LP, and Thrive Senior Living, LLC, is one of nine assisted care facilities currently planned, or already in development, across the southeastern U.S. for the partnership, including locations in Georgia, Louisiana and Texas. Jeramy Ragsdale, a principal for Thrive, says that the company is working closely with the neighbors of the approved site and with the West Meadows Home Owners Association (HOA) to design a plan that addresses any and all concerns.
(To new Gateway Bridge) NEW TAMPA BLVD To BBD Brad van Rooyen, president of the West Meadows HOA, spoke at the meeting in favor of the development. He previously appeared at a City Council meeting in January 2012 to speak in opposition to a proposed charStoneView ter school being built on Office Condos Buildings the same site. The Legacy “We think (the assistat ed living facility) is going Highwoods Preserve to be a great asset, not only for West Meadows, but the surrounding communities as well,” he said to the The two buildings of the planned Legacy at Highwoods Preserve Council. “I’m here assisted living facility will have their entrance opposite the tonight to ask you to sup- StoneView condos on Highwoods Preserve Pkwy. New Tampa Blvd. wasn’t shown on the site plan, so we added it. When it is port this development.” Ragsdale says that built, Tampa Palms residents will be able to access The Legacy from the not-yet-completed Gateway Bridge. construction is currently planned for early in the second quarter the Council currently is planned for of 2013. A second reading in front of Thursday, February 7.
Nearly 70 ‘Nuisance’ Hogs Taken In Three-Day Flatwoods Hunt!
NEIGHBORHOOD MAGAZINE!
Pebble Creek’s Big Water Bill, Sweetbay To Close BBD Location, Freedom Girls & Wharton Boys Hoops Draws Title Buzz, Lots Of Local Business Features & More!
Check Out Charles Jewelers For V-Day, Lightning Strikes Again At The Forum, Our Editor’s Favorite Local Restaurants From 2012 & Much More!
Pages 1-34
Pages 35-52
ECRWSS
NEWS, BUSINESS, SPORTS & EDUCATION UPDATES
Postal Customer
Also Inside This Issue!
control. We cover expenses through registration fees, which takes the burden off the taxpayer.” The New Tampa-area hunt was one of 13 across the state. There were 280 total hunting permits available District-wide, although only 22 were available for the New Tampa hunt, which sold out the first day. There were no restrictions on size or the number of hogs that could be taken. Local hunter Kelly Davis and her party pulled out four hogs the first night, each weighing 60-100 pounds. Kelly Davis with her dogs and hogs after Davis used two dogs, both blue-tick the Jan. 22 hunt. Photo: HouseofBlueticks.com. For more information, please coonhounds, which she breeds and sells with her business House of Blueticks call the Land Management Section at the SWFWMD’s Brooksville Head(HouseofBlueticks.com). According to the Florida Fish and quarters at 1-800-423-1476 or Wildlife Conservation Commission, (352) 796-7211, ext. 4467. hogs are not native to the state, have been known to reach five to six feet in length and weigh an average of 100150 pounds with some specimens reaching more than 600 pounds! PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE PAID TAMPA FL PERMIT 2801
After three nights in the New Tampa woods, local hunters have helped put a dent in the wild hog population in the Lower Hillsborough Wilderness Preserve, located east of I75 and north of U.S. 301. The hunt, which was put on by the Southwest Florida Water Management District (aka Swiftmud), began at dusk on January 22-24, and produced 68 hogs, whose population was becoming a problem, as the omnivorous wild pigs
uproot vegetation to find food. A Swiftmud release says that the District only uses hog hunts when the damage that the hogs cause reaches an “unacceptable level,” which, in some cases, can leave swamps and pine flatwoods looking like plowed fields. The District says that the damage has become severe and frequent enough to warrant such a hunt. “It’s been a very successful year,” says Will VanGelder, District senior land management specialist. “This is a fiscally responsible approach to hog
Dated Material Please Rush!
By Matt Wiley
For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 21, Issue 3 • Februar y 2, 2013 • www.NTNeighborhoodNews.com
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