Roadway Connections Open House Apr. 18!

The oft-argued merits of a connection point between Wesley Chapel’s Mansfield Blvd. and New Tampa’s Kinnan Dr. is set to get a new look, but that won’t be the only route back and forth between Hillsborough and Pasco counties that the Pasco County Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) plans on looking at in less than two weeks.

The MPO will hold an open house-style meeting on Tuesday, April 18, 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m., at Pasco-Hernando State College (PHSC)’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, in order to gather public comments and other information to be used in the upcoming Wesley Chapel Roadways Connections Study.

The study is designed to evaluate the pros and cons of three potential roadway connections between Wesley Chapel and New Tampa (red circles on map above):

Mansfield Blvd. & Kinnan St., a long sought-after connection by many in the Cross Creek and K-Bar Ranch area, though it also has its share of opponents.

Meadow Pointe Blvd. & the Meadow Pointe Blvd. extension, which leads right into the planned K-Bar Ranch Blvd. and would provide easier access to Morris Bridge Rd.

Wyndfields Blvd. & the Wyndfields Blvd. extension, which would also connect directly to both K-Bar Ranch Blvd. and Morris Bridge Rd.

“We are just starting the process, and the purpose of the first meeting is to get public input about what issues there are on both sides,’’ says Pasco County transportation engineer Ali Atefi, P.E.

Kinnan St. and Mansfield Blvd. have been separated by about 50 feet of grass, trees and sometimes garbage, for years. In 2016, Pasco County District 2 commissioner Mike Moore and then-Tampa District 7 City Council member Lisa Montelione met to discuss connecting the roadways, but those talks stalled.

New District 7 City Councilman Luis Viera made the connection point one of the staples of his winning campaign, and continues to say he would like to push to bring the roads together.

“From both sides, we have had a request for a connection and, we’ve had people that don’t want to connect,’’ Atefi says. “But, these connections are shown on our long range plans and we want to do an in-depth study and figure out the positive and negatives.”

The open house, which Atefi says “is not a debate,” will include an MPO summary at 6 p.m., followed by an opportunity for those attending to examine area maps and to voice their opinions. Stations will be set up, and representatives from Pasco County Planning & Development, the MPO and the consulting team will be available to answer questions.

The public is welcome to drop in anytime between 5:30 and 7:30.

Atefi says other meetings will be held in the future, and the public will also be encouraged to take online surveys to help determine what, or if any, connections should be made.

The PHSC-Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch is located at 2727 Mansfield Blvd. in Wesley Chapel. For more information about transportation planning in Pasco County, visit the MPO website at PascoMPO.net.

Relay Recap and Bartell Spaghetti Dinner Coming

Congrats to my good  friend, ACS of the South Nature Coast of Florida (serving Pasco, Hernando & Citrus counties) senior market manager Robyn Liska and everyone else involved in the 2017 Wesley Chapel Wiregrass Relay for Life for another successful event, which was held at the Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) track on March 10 — a little earlier in the year than most of the other local Relays, which are held primarily in April and May.

A total of 33 teams and hundreds of participants helped the Wesley Chapel Wiregrass Relay raise about $50,000, a little below its goal of about $65,000, but the ACS Relay for Life is about so much more than just raising money. It’s about a community coming together to lift up those who have been affected by the scourge of our lifetimes — cancer.

This year’s Relay again started with a survivors lap around the track and also featured a free sit-down dinner for survivors and their caregivers, moving speeches, a beautiful luminaria ceremony, great music provided by the Troy Duncan Band and others and the feeling you only get when people come together with a common goal and purpose — like to eradicate cancer.

This wasn’t my first Relay and it won’t be my last. It also likely won’t be the last for Paul Bartell, who has chaired many previous Relays in Wesley Chapel. Paul told me he wasn’t going to be quite as involved in future Relays, as he and his wife Jamie have started the Sean Bartell Memorial Foundation, in honor of their son who died in 2014 from a rare disease called toxic epidermal necrolysis.

The Bartells’ foundation is hosting its annual fund-raising Spaghetti Dinner on Saturday, April 29, 4:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m., at Trinity Church of Wesley Chapel (33425 S.R. 54). The suggested donation to enjoy delicious pasta — donated by Carl and Jessica Meyers of Little Italy’s Family Restaurant on S.R. 54 in Lutz (see ad on pg. 40) — is only $10 per person.

Paul promises there will be a special ceremony at 5 p.m., the magic and entertainment of Scott Barhold and local business vendors and that proceeds will benefit scholarships for students at Wiregrass Ranch, Wesley Chapel and Zephyrhills high schools.

For more information about the ACS Relay for Life or to make a donation, visit Relay.ACSEvents.org/site/TR?fr_id=81704&pg=informational&sid=209325. For the Spaghetti Dinner, search “Sean Bartell Memorial Foundation” on Facebook.