Volume 20 Issue 24
Inside: Your Last Chance To Win FREE Dining This Year! See page 37!
November 17, 2012
The Direct-Mail News Magazines Serving Wesley Chapel & New Tampa Since 1993! THE INDEPENDENT COMMUNITY NEWS MAGAZINES DIRECTLY MAILED TO: 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 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
Obama & Many Locals Reelected; Penny For Pasco Renewed To 2024! By Matt Wiley After months of campaigning and billions of dollars spent on political advertising, the nation’s votes are in and, of course, U.S. President Barack Obama has won reelection. The races for positions in local Pasco County government also have been decided. Despite early rain showers and a large volume of early voting and absentee ballot participation, long lines still formed at voting precincts across the Wesley Chapel area early on November 6 for the 2012 general election, which helped decide not only who would become the next U.S. President, but also who would represent the Wesley Chapel area in the U.S. Congress, and several local government positions. “At 7 a.m., the line was out the door,” said James R. Estel, polling deputy at Precinct 101, located at the Meadow Pointe II Clubhouse on County Line Rd. “It was really busy early in the morning and stayed steady during the day, although there wasn’t really a line. People are happy when you tell them they are the line.” Estel says he has worked as a
ment 11 (property tax exemption for lowincome seniors who have held the same residence for 25 years or more). Also on the Pasco County ballot was the option to approve the proposed 10-year renewal of the Penny for Pasco, a one-cent sales tax for Pasco County, which was (Left) “Electioneers” hold signs outside Pasco’s Voting set to expire at the end of Precinct at Crossroads Community United Methodist 2014. The tax has already Church on Election Day. brought major improvement to the county and polling deputy for the past two presiwill instead continue to bring positive dential elections and noted that this year’s Election Day turnout was smaller, change until the end of 2024, after securing nearly 70 percent of the ballots but adds that he thinks it had to do cast countywide. with the large amount of early voting Official results by precinct were and the 11 amendments on the ballot. not available at our press time; howevAccording to the Florida Division er, unofficial results from the Pasco of Elections (FDOE) office, only three proposed amendments to Florida’s con- County supervisor of elections office show that throughout the 110 voting stitution received the 60 percent needprecincts across the county, of the ed to pass: Amendment 2 (property tax 310,322 registered voters in the county, exemption for wounded veterans), 214,685 submitted ballots — either in Amendment 9 (property tax exemption person or by mail — for a total voting for surviving spouses of military memturnout of 69.18 percent, a little more bers and first responders) and Amend-
than a 4-percent drop from the 73.7 percent turnout in 2008. Although President Obama may have narrowly won the State of Florida by a margin of only about 50,000 votes (although those results were still not “official” at our press time), former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney won Pasco County with more than 52 percent of the vote to the President’s 45 percent. Joining President Obama in Washington D.C. will be C.W. “Bill” Nelson (D-Orlando) — who won reelection in the U.S. Senate over Republican opponent Connie Mack IV, with 52 percent of the county’s vote and 55 percent overall — and Gus Bilirakis (R-Palm Harbor), who also won reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives with 62 percent of the vote in Pasco and 63.5 percent of the state vote over Democratic opponent Jonathon Snow. In the local races, Republican Paula O’Neil secured another term as Pasco’s Clerk of the Circuit Court with an overwhelming 75 percent of the vote over non-partisan opponent Roberta Cutting. Pasco also reelected See “Election” on page 10.
Pasco County, Porters Reach Agreement On ‘Fields At Wiregrass’ Deal
NEIGHBORHOOD MAGAZINE!
A Look Back at ‘Dogtoberfest,’ Another Reclaimed Water Reservoir To Come To Wesley Chapel, Seven Oaks To Go Oak-less?, Fresh Portion of ‘Nibbles & Bytes’ & Your Last Chance To Win Free Dining! Lots Of Local Business Features & More!
Pages 1-28
Pages 29-40
See “Fields” on page 10.
ECRWSS
NEWS, BUSINESS, SPORTS & EDUCATION UPDATES
project by a 4-1 vote, although District 5 Commissioner Jack Mariano was not convinced. “I think this deal is significantly changed, and I’m not comfortable spending (so much of) the tourism funds on the project,” he said during the meeting. “We keep taking step back after step back.” However, his fellow Commissioners did not share Mariano’s opposition to the project. “It’s important that we move
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cials agreed to pay for the $14-million sports complex using nearly all of Pasco’s tourism funds. In exchange, the Porter family agreed to donate 46 acres of land in Wiregrass Ranch, build the facility, as well as operate it. Since that original proposal, however, negotiations regarding operations and revenue brought the project to a standstill. The Porters no longer wished to build or operate the facility, but would still donate the land, as well as 100,000 cubic yards of “fill dirt” for the project, as long as the County would take over construction and operation costs, and include “Wiregrass” in the name of the complex. Despite some disagreement during the meeting, the Board approved the
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“If you build it, they will come.” At least, that is the hope of the Pasco Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) and the Porter family, who have finally reached an agreement for the “Fields at Wiregrass,” a multi-use
sports complex that is to be constructed along S.R. 56 in Wesley Chapel. During the BOCC meeting on November 7, the Board, Pasco administrator John Gallagher and the Porter family came to a final agreement on the project before it fell apart. In the original deal, county offi-
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By Matt Wiley
For Advertising Information Call 813-910-2575 • Volume 20, Issue 24 • November 17, 2012 • www.WCNeighborhoodNews.com
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