Volume 18 Issue 5
Inside: Soho Sushi Now Open In New Tampa! See Magazine Section!
February 27, 2010
The Direct-Mail Newspaper Serving New Tampa & Wesley Chapel Since 1993! THIS INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER 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
Workshop Provides Information About Proposed Sales Tax By Michael Smith Would you be willing to pay an extra penny per dollar every time you shop in order to spend less time idling in traffic here in New Tampa and elsewhere around the county? That’s what Hillsborough County transportation officials were hoping to learn when they came to Freedom High on February 18 for a public information workshop on a proposed onepercent sales tax increase that may be put to county voters on a referendum ballot this fall. About two dozen area residents turned out for the meeting, about as many as the county experts who came to answer their questions. If it passes, the tax is expected to generate approximately $178 million per year over its proposed life of 30 years (although that, like many other specifics regarding the proposal, has not yet been determined; as this issue went to press, the members of the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners [BOCC] were still deliberating over the exact language of the referendum). Seventy-five percent of
that revenue would be used for transportation projects, including improved bus service and light rail, while the other 25 percent would be used for non-transit projects, from roadway improvements to construction of more bike lanes and pedestrian walkways. Bob Gordon, director of the county’s Public Works Department, said that both the tax referendum and the laundry list of proposed projects that are needed countywide were culled from recommendations made by the county’s Transportation Task Force (TTF), which was created by the BOCC in 2006 to study ways to improve transportation in the county. Gordon said that the 23-member TTF, made up of elected officials, business and industry leaders and citizens, originally recommended more than $500 million in short- and long-term projects, which were to be paid for by revenue from the Community Investment Tax (CIT) and gas taxes. However, Gordon said that the list of proposed projects had to be pared back after both property tax and sales tax revenues declined dramatically over the past couple of years.
Hillsborough County Public Works Department director Bob Gordon discusses the list of transportation improvements that could be made if voters approve of a proposed one-cent sales tax hike. That’s why, Gordon said, in the second phase of their study, the members of the TTF proposed the transportation sales tax as the best way to both pay for the projects that are already needed, as well as for new projects to improve mobility in the future. He added that in order for it to pass, the new tax needs to be approved by a simple 50-percent+1 majority of voters, and if it does pass, the first priority will be to make “significant” improvements to the existing Hillsborough Area Regional Transit (HART) bus service. That means more bus
routes, additional trips on existing routes (including more service in the evenings and on weekends) and new types of service, such as rapid transit service and "flex" service. HART planning manager Steve Feigenbaum explained that “flex service” uses smaller vans, operating within specific areas so that people who need a ride can call and be picked up at their homes, then taken either to the nearest transfer center or to their ultimate destination, if it’s within the flex area. See “Referendum” on page 6.
Lawsuit Challenges The City’s New Tampa Boulevard Bridge Project
NEIGHBORHOOD MAGAZINE!
We Talk With A Local Toyota Dealership, Visit With State House District 61 Candidate Elena McCullough & Offer A High School Winter Sports Wrap-Up!
A Preview Of The 2010 Night Of 5000 Gala, Visits To St. Joseph’s John Knox Village & Soho Sushi, Our 2010 Fantasy Baseball Contest & Much More!
See pages 3-32!
See pages 33-52!
ECRWSS
LOCAL NEWS, BUSINESS, SPORTS & EDUCATION
2009, on behalf of West Meadows resident Evelyn Romano and Tampa Palms resident Andrea Braboy, with fellow Tampa Palms resident Warren Dixon acting as their attorney in the hearings that followed. Dixon says that the agreement, which calls for the city to set aside property offsite to mitigate for the wetlands that are going to be destroyed, should not have been issued for a number of reasons, including the fact that the EPC, in his opinion, did not follow its own rules, as outlined in both Hillsborough County ordinances and in the See “Lawsuit” on page 4.
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officials, on the other hand, have said that they are required to build the bridge because it is part of the overall planned road network for the area, and because they have already collected money from developers who were required to pay impact fees that are applied towards the construction of that road network. Now, however, the project is on hold, at least for the time being, and may even be quashed altogether, thanks to a challenge of the wetlands mitigation agreement between the Hillsborough Environmental Protection Commission (EPC) and the City of Tampa, allowing the destruction of a little more than two acres of wetlands in order to build the bridge. The challenge was filed in April
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In the last issue of the New Tampa Neighborhood News, we told you about the results of a traffic study commissioned by the City of Tampa as part of its plan to move forward with the construction of a bridge over I-75 that would connect New Tampa Blvd. in
West Meadows to Commerce Park Blvd. in Tampa Palms. The bridge has long been a controversial project, opposed by many residents of both communities, mostly on the grounds that it would bring high volumes of traffic into their neighborhoods, posing a threat to pedestrians, bikers and residents in general. City
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For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 18, Issue 5 • Februar y 27, 2010 • www.NTNeighborhoodNews.com
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