After a connection at Kinnan St. and Mansfield Blvd. was blocked, a different location further east, at Meadow Pointe Blvd., will connect New Tampa’s K-Bar Ranch community to Wesley Chapel for vehicles by July of this year. (Photos: Charmaine George)
K-Bar Ranch is tucked away in the northeasternmost part of Hillsborough County, with pretty much only one way in and one way out. However, another option is finally on the way.
This July, a road connecting K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. to Wesley Chapel’s Meadow Pointe Blvd. is expected to be completed and open to vehicular traffic. K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. is an east-west road that runs just south of the Pasco-Hillsborough county line through New Tampa’s K-Bar Ranch from Kinnan St. to, eventually, Morris Bridge Rd.
City of Tampa chief traffic management engineer and head of the Smart Mobility Division Vik Bhide confirmed during a Tampa City Council workshop that construction on the final stage of the Pasco County side of the planned connector road will begin soon.
“The developer (M/I Homes) has already secured permits from Pasco County for that work and will be moving forward with it,” Bhide said. “We are coordinating with Pasco County (its planning and engineering departments).”
Mike Moore, the Pasco County Commissioner for District 2, which includes all of Meadow Pointe, said he hasn’t received a recent update and was looking into it, but he has received a few emails complaining about the connection being made.
However, there haven’t been nearly as many complaints as those who flooded Moore’s inbox and helped prevent a connection being approved further west at Kinnan St. in New Tampa to Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe. That debate, which raged for a decade, was settled following a roadways study that ended with the two roads being connected with a first responders-only safety arm, monitored by Pasco County.
The study preferred a New Tampa-Wesley Chapel connection to Meadow Pointe Blvd., claiming it would be the better choice.
K-Bar residents have been clamoring for the connection to Pasco County, which would allow easier travel north to the S.R. 56 corridor, which includes shopping, restaurants and the Shops at Wiregrass. It also will offer another way out of their community.
Currently, residents of the western portion of K-Bar Ranch would have to take Kinnan St. south to Cross Creek Blvd., then west to Bruce B. Downs Blvd., then north towards Wesley Chapel.
When K-Bar Ranch was planned, Bhide says, four northbound access points to Pasco County were envisioned. The connection to Meadow Pointe Blvd. will be only be the second one to actually be completed, along with the first responder connection at Kinnan St. and Mansfield Blvd.
However, that Kinnan connection to Mansfield Blvd. is only available to the public via walking or biking.
A third connection, further east at Wyndfields Blvd. in Pasco, and a fourth connection when K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. is completed all the way to Morris Bridge Rd., won’t be ready for at least two more years, according to Bhide.
“Our recommendation, in light of the access needs in this area, is to open that up for traffic,” Bhide said. “The reason is….we feel the more access, the better. After hearing neighborhood concerns about public access and mobility, this would be the right thing to do.”
There is no question it will mean more vehicles on Meadow Pointe Blvd., which is a concern to some.
“It will increase traffic,” Bhide admitted. “However, we think it will be a two-way benefit.”
With its one-year moratorium on applications to build new multifamily/apartment complexes in parts of the Wesley Chapel and Land O’Lakes areas set to expire in April, the Pasco County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) voted unanimously to expand the area covered by the moratorium at their meeting on Feb. 7 in Dade City.
The expansion includes a strip that encompasses the area around The Grove at Wesley Chapel area, as well as a wide swath south of the S.R. 56/54 corridor (see map).
The Wiregrass Ranch Development of Regional Impact (DRI) is excluded from the moratorium, because multifamily developments within Wiregrass Ranch are better integrated into the overall development.
District 2 County Commissioner Mike Moore has spearheaded the need for a moratorium for the past few years, arguing that developers are attempting to rezone property to build more apartments and townhomes, as opposed to using the property for its original commercial purposes.
Moore has stated that there are dozens of parcels in the moratorium area that already have the entitlements to build apartments, which he does not oppose. But, what he is against are applications to rezone property that he believes would be better used for job-creating commercial spaces.
The county has hired a housing market research firm to present a report to the commissioners on whether the area is indeed saturated, and whether entitlements already granted will suffice to meet future demand. That report is expected to be presented to the commission in April.
Only three people who attended the Feb. 7 meeting spoke in opposition to the moratorium area being expanded: Hope Kennedy, the president and CEO of the North Tampa Bay Chamber of Commerce, and two planners who thanked the commission for excluding Wiregrass Ranch, but expressed concerns about the county’s attractive south market and the 54-56 corridor being included in the expansion.
Kennedy was blunt, telling commissioners that the moratorium, and the expansion of the boundaries, “is absolutely terrible for business.”
Kennedy said the area has a workforce problem and the current housing crisis is directly related to potential residents being able to find affordable housing. Workforce housing is generally defined as being affordable housing for middle-income workers.
District 3 Comm. Kathryn Starkey agreed with Kennedy that the county needs more workforce and affordable housing.
“I get calls all the time, (that) people can’t find a place to live,” Starkey said. “We’re trying to attract companies here, and…where are they going to live? Because there is no inventory out there for someone to be purchasing a house or renting an apartment.”
Starkey, however, voted in favor of the expansion because the moratorium will only be in effect for two more months.
Commissioner Moore, however, explained that the S.R. 54-S.R. 56 corridor is attractive to businesses and companies that may want to relocate to the county, and the land available to them would disappear if it was allowed to be rezoned for apartments.
“We can’t lose our job-creating sites,” Moore said, “and they want to be along major corridors.”
Moore pointed out that the three speakers in opposition don’t live in Pasco County, and claims that he has not spoken to a single local resident who is against the moratorium.
“The people in Pasco County are for this,” Moore said, “and I represent the citizens of Pasco County.”
In another notable event landed by AdventHealth Center Ice, the Boston Pride will defend their Premier Hockey Federation Isobel Cup trophy in Wesley Chapel in March. The PHF playoffs will be free to attend and the final will be televised live on ESPN2. (Photo: Michelle Jay/NWHL)
You probably have already heard that last July, the Tampa Bay Lightning defeated Montreal in Tampa, earning the Bolts a second straight Lord Arthur Frederick Stanley Cup.
But, did you know that Lord Stanley had a daughter named Isobel, and a trophy bearing her name is handed out to the best professional women’s hockey team?
It’s true, and next month in Wesley Chapel, the winner of the 2022 Isobel Cup will be decided at AdventHealth Center Ice.
The six teams in the Premier Hockey Federation (PHF) will square off March 25-28, with preliminary round games tipping things off on Friday, the semifinals on Sunday and the final to be contested live on Monday at 9 p.m., on ESPN2.
The PHF championship game will mark ESPN’s first linear broadcast of professional women’s hockey. And, although NBCSports.com reports that no current members of the powerhouse U.S. and Canadian women’s national teams have played in the PHF since 2019, a recent influx of new capital — a reported $25 million — will more than double each PHF team’s salary cap (from $300,000 to $750,000) and provide health care and maternity leave benefits for all PHF players.
“We’re pumped about it. This is a pretty big deal,” said AdventHealth Center Ice CEO Gordie Zimmermann. “The women are trying to develop and move into the pro ranks and the gain the respectability that they have always been looking for. So I think this is a great platform. The hockey development here is like no other in the nation and they recognize it as great place to present their format. Girls hockey is growing in Florida as well, so this is a great thing for all the developmental programs in the area to come and watch.”
Zimmermann says all the girls hockey programs will be invited to watch the playoffs. The general public also is invited to the event. AdventHealth Center Ice seats roughly 1,000 spectators.
It’s surreal and somewhat ironic that both the Stanley and Isobel cups, awarded to best teams playing the national sport of Canada, would be decided in….Florida. But, the opening of Center Ice in 2017 opened up a lot of previously unimaginable possibilities.
The PHF playoffs is another coup for Zimmermann. Other than the many men’s hockey events Center Ice has hosted, some of its most noteworthy events have involved women’s hockey. It was the training site for the 2018 Olympic gold medal-winning U.S. Women’s Hockey team and hosted Team USA, Canada, Finland and Sweden for the 2017 Four Nations Cup. In 2019, a virtual women’s hockey museum opened inside Center Ice.
Each spring, the rink complex also plays host to USA Hockey’s Women’s Nationals.
“We have been a catalyst for the growing interest in hockey in Florida since our opening, and in women’s hockey in particular,” Zimmermann says.
Seven of the 25 players in Center Ice’s elite Global Prospects Academy are girls, and the facility also is home to the Crunch travel program, which has 14-under and 16-under teams.
The PHF was established in 2015 as the National Women’s Hockey League before re-branding itself. The league is made up of the defending champion Boston Pride, Buffalo Beauts, Connecticut Whale, Metropolitan (New Jersey) Riveters, Minnesota Whitecaps and the Toronto Six.
The pairings aren’t set yet because the regular season is still ongoing, although Connecticut and Toronto are currently in first and second place, respectively.
For more information, visit PremierHockeyFederation.com or AHCenterIce.com.
Michael Varnadore (white shirt) and his team of nerds at NerdsToGo in the Pebble Creek Collection can solve almost any consumer or business computer problem.(Photos courtesy of NerdsToGo)
Michael Varnadore is a nerd, and he’s proud of it.
He says he’s been a nerd since the 1980s, when he first laid his eyes on an Apple IIe computer, bought his first Commodore 64 and got his first Information Technology (IT) gig in 1986, when the U.S. Air Force started using the new Zenith Z-100.
What a decade that was. The computer world has changed a lot since then, and Varnadore has changed along with it. Now, he directs an entire team of nerds at NerdsToGo Computer Services, located in the Pebble Creek Collection shopping plaza on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. Varnadore’s nerds can come to you and solve your computing needs.
“First and foremost, we want to be known as the guys you can trust with your IT, with your business, and with your data,” says Varnadore. “All of my nerds are certified, background-checked and drug-tested. Everybody here is a professional IT specialist of one type or another.”
NerdsToGo offers a slew of services, ranging from replacing a cracked screen on an iPhone to serving as an on-demand mobile IT department for your small business.
“We basically do everything,” says Varnadore, who opened his NerdsToGo franchise in 2019. “Our motto is ‘We Make IT Work.’”
NerdsToGo was founded in 2003 in Guilford, CT by David Colella to provide computer service for residential and small business users, long before computers were ubiquitous. The concept hasn’t changed, and there are now 25 locations nationwide, mostly along the east coast but as far west as Seattle.
On the consumer side, Varnadore’s franchise does hardware repair, and can even replace the back glass on an iPhone (and other phones) with its new laser machine. In many cases, they can have your cell phone or laptop with a cracked screen back to you within a few hours.
Owner Michael Varnadore says his nerds can take care of your small business IT needs, too.
And, Varnadore promises that they will never put business ahead of honesty.
“This was my first time visiting NerdsToGo, but definitely will not be my last,” wrote one of the customers on Google, where the New Tampa NerdsToGo franchise has a 4.9 rating. “All of the staff here were super knowledgeable and pleasant. They were upfront and honest, did not try to haggle me for business. In my case, I had numerous devices to repair and they were very honest and told me which ones were not repairable. For the items that were repairable I received same day service.”
Varnadore says home networking, mostly involving setting up mesh networks to improve the WiFi range in homes, is popular, as well as options like setting up a new computer and transferring data off an old one, setting up printers, installing certain applications, removing malware and other issues with cyber security.
All of these are even more important issues now, in a Covid world, than they were before, because so many more people are working from their homes.
There are enough computer conundrums to keep NerdsToGo busy. One of the most common complaints from consumers? “My computer is too slow!”
NerdsToGo specializes in tuning up your device by offering solid state drive (SSD) bundles, where they swap out an old hard disk drive (HDD) for a newer SSD, while transferring all your data to the new drive.
HDDs have moving parts, like a spinning “platter,” which can be broken when dropped or bumped, while an SSD is more like a large memory chip.
Varnadore says the difference in speed can be like trading in a station wagon with side paneling for a Porsche.
“The slowest thing on a computer these days is the hard drive,” Varnadore says. “Data is read and written to the disk so many times, people don’t realize how much that it slows everything else down. Now, with new solid state technology, there’s no moving parts. It’s very fast. You put (an SSD) in, it turns that slow computer into something running better than the day they bought it. People are amazed at the difference in speed, and that can save them hundreds, even thousands of dollars.”
NerdsToGo does most repairs in its office, but sometimes a trip to your home or business is all it takes.
NerdsToGo also is bolstering and emphasizing its local and small business offerings for those who can’t afford a full-time IT employee or don’t want to invest in expensive managed service companies to monitor their networks.
Through its NerdAssure program, NerdsToGo can manage the IT services for small businesses, supporting anywhere from one to hundreds of computers.
“From the day we opened our doors, we’ve always provided services to small businesses,” Varnadore says. “The new NerdAssure is a new branded capability we are rolling out that can do stuff in the background.”
The service monitors more than 3,000 different elements of the business’ computer hardware and software to make sure it’s running effectively, and if there’s a problem, NerdAssure is alerted so it can take action.
Varnadore says that NerdAssure also provides a real-time antivirus, “that not only looks for bad guys’ signatures but actually has a security operations center watching for any events that might be taking place.”
One of the most valuable services is backing up your business’ data. “If you lose critical data you can be out of business,” Varnadore says. “Everything else can be replaced. But, your intellectual property can’t. We can protect that.”
NerdAssure provides hosting for a Microsoft 365 environment and takes care of email issues while offering other IT administrative support as well.
And, when problems do arise, NerdsToGo can be onsite the same day to fix them.
“We want to be the IT company for your small business,” Varnadore says. “When you need us, we are there, and we can be there onsite, so you’re only paying for the time you need us there. When you don’t need us, NerdAssure is monitoring and securing your network in the background.”
And, when you do need NerdsToGo, Varnadore says you won’t be passed through to a call center somewhere else. The New Tampa location phone is answered by a customer specialist, one of the technicians or even by Varnadore himself. So, give your local nerds a call for a free technology evaluation.
NerdsToGo is located at 19651 Bruce B Downs Blvd., Suite C6. The store is open Monday-Friday, 9:30 a.m.-6 p.m., and 10 a.m.-4 p.m. on Saturday. For more information, visit NerdsToGo.com or call (813) 321-1700.
Tommy Tonelli celebrates his second region championship Friday night. (Photo: John C. Cotey)
When you play a great basketball game for Wharton’s Tommy Tonelli, you will receive praise, a high five and maybe even a hug from the coach.
When you play arguably the greatest basketball game for Tonelli, you get something even better.
The Griddy dance.
Yes, Wharton was that good Friday night, beating Sumner in the Class 6 region championship by a resounding score of 50-11 and turning in a defensive effort so impressive that even old school coaches like Tonelli are compelled afterwards to perform the latest dance craze at center court in front of his joyous players.
The win propels the Wildcats (28-2) to the state final four for the first time since 2013, and only second time overall. Wharton will play Martin County Thursday at 6 p.m. at the RP Funding Center in Lakeland in one 6A semifinal, with Winter Haven and Ponte Verde squaring off in the other semifinal.
The Griddy dance. (Photo: Charmaine George)
While the Wildcats were expected by most to win Friday’s game, no one envisioned holding Sumner to 11 points. Three Wildcat players — Trevor Dyson, Chandler Davis and Lucean Milligan — each scored that many or more by themselves.
“That’s amazing,” said senior Carlos Nesbitt, who scored 10 points for the Wildcats. “We pride ourselves on our defense, and tonight we just executed the game plan. That’s what we do, we’re known for our defense.”
But, 11 points?
Trevor Dyson takes on four Stingrays for two of his team-high 13 points. (Photo: Charmaine George)
“I don’t know if we expected that,” said Dyson, a senior forward who led the Wildcats with 13 points and had a huge game on the boards.
This is the kind of night it was for Sumner: After guard Tyrell Smith took a pass along the baseline and swished a tough fall away jumper over the outstretched hands of a Wharton defender to give the Stingrays a 2-0 lead, Tonelli turned to one of the referees and said “If they keep making those kind of shots, we’re in for a long night.”
Sumner made only four more baskets all game.
The 11 points were the fewest ever allowed by Wharton in a playoff game, and was 27 points less than Sumner’s worst game of a season, a 45-38 loss to Bloomingdale, whose coach, Wharton hoops legend Shawn Vanzant, might have learned a few things about defense in his time as a Wildcat.
Wharton came into the game allowing only 44 ppg. In three state playoff wins, they are allowing only 28.6.
After Sumner’s game-opening basket, Wharton scored the next 12 points as Dyson hit a three-pointer, Davis blocked a shot and got the ball back on the break for a lay-in, and point guard Trent Lincoln found Nesbitt for an alley-oop jam.
Tonelli said it was the best game of Nesbitt’s career.
“He did everything on both ends of the court, things you don’t even see,” Tonelli said. “He was the unsung hero.”
Following a Sumner basket to make it 12-4, Wharton went on another run, this time scoring the next 14 points, including three consecutive three-pointers in a span of 2 minutes, 30 seconds in the second quarter by Milligan, twice, and Davis.
And the rout was on. By halftime, the Wharton lead had ballooned to 30-6.
“The three-pointers got us hyped,” said Davis. “And on defense, we just locked them up. They had six points at halftime, and we were hitting our shots. They’re a good team, but we played great defense.”
Even with a 30-6 lead, Tonelli says the Wildcats were taking nothing for granted. However, Sumner only scored twice in the second half, and didn’t even score in the fourth quarter, missing all 13 of their three-point attempts for the game.
Tonelli hugs his wife Kristin after the Wildcat win. (Photo: Charmaine George)
It was easier than Tonelli thought it would be. The night before the game, he woke up in a full sweat, and had to get up and change his clothes. The game, and the quickness of the Sumner guards and its height in the post, was weighing so heavily on him, his wife Kristin said she thought he might be having a heart attack.
But she also said it was nothing new. Tonelli is the ultimate tactician, and had prepared non-stop for the Stingrays.
“We watch film every day ,” said Lincoln, the point guard. “We probably watch more film than anyone. We knew their plays. We knew what was coming. We were prepared. We have to thank coach for that.”
Dyson and Nesbitt, a pair of 6-4 forwards, controlled the boards, despite going up against Christian Henley, listed as a 7-footer, and 6-5 D.J. Jones.
Henley was shut out, and Jones had a single basket.
“The coaches told us we were going up against some tall players,” said Dyson, smiling. “But I wanted to show them who the big dog was.”
The last time Wharton won a regional championship, the Wildcats needed a miracle. After making Wharton’s C.J McGill made a free throw with six seconds left, Orlando University rushed down the court and hit a three-pointer from the corner as the buzzer sounded. After a huddle by the officials, a few moments that Tonelli says were the most agonizing of his coaching career, they determined the shot was taken a micro second after the clock expired.
Friday’s win was almost anti-climatic.
“I’d rather win a game this way,” Tonelli said, a wide grin flashing across his face.
