bserver O EAST COUNTY FREE • THURSDAY, JANUARY 16, 2014
YOU. YOUR NEIGHBORS. YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD.
BUSINESS
RACE DAY
Ranch Business Alliance announces new initiatives. PAGE 5A
OUR TOWN
East County parents lace up for Dopey’s Challenge. PAGE 1B
SPORTS
Lakewood girls finish with near-perfect season. PAGE 19A
rebuilding process by Josh Siegel | Staff Writer
DEVELOPMENT by Josh Siegel | Staff Writer
Courtesy photo
Brooke Farnsworth, 17, Joseph Grosso, 18, Tiffany Miller, 16, and Jenna Greenfield, 15
+ Playwright promo Theatre Odyssey this weekend will showcase the work of six students, including four from Lakewood Ranch High School, during the second annual Student Ten-Minute Playwriting Festival. The plays will start at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 17, at the David S. and Anne V. Howard Studio Theatre, at the State College of Florida’s Bradenton campus. Lakewood Ranch students selected include: Brooke Farnswoth, for “Game of Life”; Jenna Greenfield, for “The Gate”; Joseph Grosso, for “Elevate My Life”; and Tiffany Miller, for “Suspect.”
The home suffered little exterior damage.
Most of the family’s belongings are being stored in a warehouse.
Family recovers after losing home DELAYED RESPONSE
+ Climb for cancer Four students from Nolan Middle School will fight cancer while swinging from the trees this weekend. Hayley Lotozynski, Payton Rypel, Alana Kelly and Alyssa Morford, from Nolan’s Technology Student Association, are producing a video on how their TSA chapter is involved with the American Cancer Society. They are holding a fundraising event, called “Climb for the Cure,” from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at TreeUmph! Adventure Course, 21805 State Road 70 E., Bradenton. Individuals participating in the event should be checked in by 1:30 p.m. to access the elevated ropes course. Patrons will receive 10% off their ticket price and another 10% will be donated to the American Cancer Society. To reserve a time online and to receive benefits, enter the online reservation code “tsa14.” The girls will be shooting video of the event, as well. Attendees also will enjoy a feature a silent auction, food and other festivities. For more about TreeUmph!, visit treeumph.com.
Photos by Josh Siegel
Paula Carmassi, left, and her family stayed with neighbor, mother and fellow nurse, Kim Gennocro, right, in the first few days after a Dec. 30 fire made the Carmassi home unlivable.
The Carmassis will rent another home while theirs is repaired from fire damage. LAKEWOOD RANCH — Nearly two weeks after a fire made her home unlivable, Paula Carmassi sat on a black leather couch with her neighbor, Kim Gennocro, and giggled. For the first two nights after the fire, which occurred just after 6 p.m. Dec. 30, when the family’s Christmas tree caught fire, Carmassi and her family — husband, Brad, and their 13-year-old son, Zak — slept on this couch inside Gennocro’s home. Since the fire, likely caused by an electrical problem at the outlet in which the Christmas tree lights were plugged, the family’s mood has been inconsistent. “My son loves computer games, and
one of them requires him to use a password,” said Carmassi, a nurse at Lakewood Ranch Medical Center. “I told him to not use our address for the password because we don’t have one.” On the night of the fire, Carmassi felt relieved. That night, the Carmassis were home. In the kitchen, Paula Carmassi, a dietary manager at Kobernick-Anchin, was flipping hamburgers, covered with bacon and blue cheese. Zak was playing on the computer in his bedroom. Brad Carmassi heard his wife shout
SEE FIRE / PAGE 17A
In response to the fire at the Carmassis’ home Dec. 30, a confusing navigation situation inside the Central Park community delayed the East Manatee Fire Department. There are two neighborhoods inside Central Park that have the same street — Forest Park Circle, where the Carmassis live — running through them. Fire crews stopped at the first neighborhood, Brickell Park, which is gated. They waited a few minutes before making it to the Carmassis’ neighborhood, Forest Park. While he waited, Brad Carmassi used a hose to douse the fire. He later was treated for smoke inhalation at Lakewood Ranch Medical Center.
Commission approves 610-home community Developer D.R. Horton plans to break ground on Del Tierra this year. EAST COUNTY — A 610-home community is coming to East County, but not in the form its developer originally sought. The Manatee County Board of County Commissioners unanimously approved a plan Jan. 9 for Del Tierra, a community slated for the west side of Rye Road, south of Upper Manatee River Road, during a tension-filled public hearing that showcased the concessions that developers and residents will have to make as growth continues. “We think this is a natural progression,” said Caleb Grimes, an attorney representing developer D.R. Horton. “We think this is a community that, when it’s done, will be successful and that means having happy neighbors.” Residents of the neighboring Country Meadows community voiced objections to Del Tierra, which Texas-based D.R. Horton will develop on 233 acres, citing concerns with traffic, water runoff and density. Although Country Meadows residents argued the proposed community would be significantly more dense than their neighboring subdivisions (roughly three homes per acre compared with one home per acre), county planning staff noted density for the proposed development is below the county’s comprehensive plan limit of nine dwelling units per acre. Trying to appease both sides in a deliberation that took more than four hours, the board approved an amendment to the site plan that requires Del Tierra to have private streets and to make the inter-neighborhood connection gated and used for emergency access only. The changes developed after Country Meadows residents expressed concern about D.R. Hor-
SEE COMMUNITY / PAGE 8A
INDEX Calendar............ 18A Classifieds ........ 17B
Cops Corner....... 16A Crossword.......... 16B
Neighborhood...... 1B Real Estate........ 12B
Sports................ 19A Weather............. 16B
Vol. 14, No. 41 | Two sections YourObserver.com