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$69.4M Widening Of Wesley Chapel Blvd. To Begin Soon!

David Nelson Construction Co. To Widen WC Blvd. To Six Lanes Between S.R. 54/56 & Old Pasco Rd.

Research by Joel Provenzano

The map (above) shows the full length of the $69.4-million contract to widen Wesley Chapel Blvd. from (mostly) two to six lanes between Old Pasco Rd. & where S.R. 54 & S.R. 56 meet. All of the existing and planned traffic signals are shown, with the planned “additional” signals outlined in yellow. Please note that the signal that is “planned” at the intersection of Stagecoach Village Dr. and WC Blvd. is already there, but that is considered to be a “temporary” signal that will be replaced. (Map: Provided by Pasco County, modified by Charmaine George & GN)

Even though nearly the entire length of Wesley Chapel (WC) Blvd. actually divides Land O’Lakes (on the west side of the street) from Lutz (on the east side) and only actually enters Wesley Chapel’s 33543 zip code at Lexington Oaks, it is big news that Pasco County has finally awarded (on Apr. 23) the $69.4-million construction contract to David Nelson Construction Co. to widen WC Blvd. between S.R. 56 and Old Pasco Rd. from two (for most of this stretch of it) to six lanes.

Although we are not the first to report this information, we are the only local news medium trying to find out whether or not vehicles will still be able to make left turns onto (or off of) WC Blvd. from the many entrances to communities along the full length of the project. There is a median for the widening project’s entire length, but how many curb cuts will there be along the 4.1-mile length of the project? Are there going to be U-turn lanes at any of the community entrances? With only two traffic signals being included (one of which, the “temporary” signal at the entrance to the Stagecoach community, at Stagecoach Village Dr., already exists), will people living in any of the nine residential communities along the project’s length still be able to make left turns across WC Blvd. to enter or exit their communities? Thanks to our Joel Provenzano, we believe we have those answers.

As someone who has lived at the south end of this project the past five years, I (and Jannah) have witnessed two serious accidents caused by people trying to make left turns in or out of these communities who were hit by drivers going north or south on WC Blvd. We also narrowly avoided a left-turning driver whose vehicle did a full 360º spin in front of us following a collision.

*The intersection of Compark Dr., at the more northern of the two entrances to the Compark 75 office and warehouse park, will receive a new traffic signal under the WC Blvd. widening agreement.*

Here’s what we know about the “new” traffic signals included in the WC Blvd. widening contract:

1) The only completely new signal included in the contract will be placed at the more northern of the two entrances to the Compark 75 warehouse park at WC Blvd. & Compark Dr.

2) The existing traffic signal at Stagecoach Village Blvd. is a “temporary” signal that will be replaced with a permanent signal under the contract

The issue to me, as someone who has lived off of WC Blvd. the last five years, is that there are so many other equally dangerous intersections along WC Blvd. (see list below) that aren’t getting signals.

But, thanks to our research specialist Joel Provenzano, who was an engineer with the Florida department of Transportation (FDOT) for years and is much more “fluent” in reading such documents than I am, we believe we have the answers to my question about the planned median in the center of WC Blvd. that will prevent drivers most of the entrances to these subdivision/apartment communities from going across WC Blvd. to make left turns either into or out of (or both) of their respective communities.

Here is that list of intersections that we believe are being addressed under the widening agreement:

— Pondside Dr. at Old C.R. 54 – Median remains fully open.

— Entrance to Harley- Davidson – Directional median opening (left turns in only) remains the same.

— WC Blvd. at Grand Cypress Dr. (entrance to the Maeva Apartments/Cypress Bend Prof. Park – Directional median opening with left turns in only.

— WC Blvd. at Hyde Park Blvd. (entrance to The Enclave subdivision) – The median will remain fully open in both directions at this location.

— WC Blvd. at Wilshire Dr. (entrance to The Woodlands at Stagecoach subdivision) – No left turns out.

— WC Blvd. at Bramblewood Blvd (entrance to the Cypress Estates) subdivision – Directional median opening with a U-turn lane.

— WC Blvd. at Oaks Blvd. (entrance to The Oaks subdivision) – Full median opening. Note – Oaks Dr. and Bramblewood are connected at Tradewinds Dr., off WC Blvd.

— WC Blvd. at Winding River Way (entrance to the Edgewater at Grand Oaks townhome community) – Full median opening.

— WC Blvd. at Cloud Hopper Way (entrance to the Volanti townhomes) & Cobalt Dr. (entrance to the new Cobalt apartments) – No median openings at all at either location. Note – There will be an opening about 600 ft. south of Volanti for U-turns.

— WC Blvd. at Pet Ln. (alternate entrance to Grand Oaks Plaza and Compark 75) – Directional median opening with left turn in only.

— WC Blvd. at Magnolia Blvd. (at Marathon gas station & just north of Midgard Self-Storage & Ewing Irrigation & Landscape Supply) – Full median opening remains.

— WC Blvd. at Players Dr. – Opening will be restricted to right-out turns only.

— WC Blvd. at Tampa Downs Blvd. (by North Tampa Aero Park) – Left-in directional median opening only.

The Presentation To The BOC

Prior to the vote awarding the contract at the Apr. 23 meeting of Pasco’s Board of County Commissioners (BOC), Panos Kontses, the county’s assistant director of transportation engineering, made a presentation to the commissioners regarding the awarding of the contract to widen WC Blvd.

*The existing traffic signal at the intersection of Stagecoach Village Dr. and WC Blvd. is considered to be a “temporary” signal that will be replaced with a “permanent” one.*

“Typically, construction contracts are presented through the consent agenda,” Kontses said. “However, the size of the contract, the significance of the project for the county and also because of the history of the project, our county administrator suggested that we give you a brief presentation.”

Kontses also noted that WC Blvd. provides access to many communities, as well as commercial businesses, “and also provides an alternate relief route to I-75.”

First, Kontses gave the commissioners an overview of the existing status of WC Blvd. The north end of the project, between Progress Pkwy. and Old Pasco Rd., is 4 lanes, with a 45-mile-per-hour speed limit. It has 5-6-ft.-wide sidewalks and a 4-ft.-wide bicycle lane.

The middle portion, between Old. C.R. 54 and Progress Pkwy. has a 55-mph speed limit and is almost completely two lanes with no sidewalks or pathways and just 4-5-ft. shoulders. The southern portion, from Old C.R. 54/Pondside Dr. to S.R. 54/56 is six-laned, with a 45-mph speed limit, and with a 5-ft.-sidewalk, an 8-ft.-wide pathway and 5-ft.-wide bicycle lane.

Kontses also noted that the project has, “a long history…longer than we wanted…and also went through several project managers. I just happen to be the last one. And, we are very excited to bring this project to its last stage — its construction.”

He then noted that the original route study was conducted in 2003, when WC Blvd. was intended to be a 4-lane rural road. But, even though the design phase for that original plan started in 2008, nothing else happened after the Tampa Bay Regional Planning model became available between 2008- 14, which showed that the original 4-lane plan would not be able to accommodate the expected traffic.

“That area is going through explosive growth,” Kontses told the commissioners, “and the expected traffic volumes were almost double, so the recommendation was to make the road a 6-lane section, but keep it within a 150-ft. right-of-way. “That meant we had to condense the section to an urban road with bike lanes, 5-6-ft. sidewalks and an 8-ft. pathway.”

The route study resumed in 2015- 16, with new design starting in 2016.

“But, in 2017,” Kontses noted, “we got the updated flood plains from Swiftmud and we didn’t want any adjacent properties to end up being flooded, so our design team did a drainage analysis and found that no properties were likely to be flooded, so we were happy about that.”

*The WC Blvd. Construction Project Schedule & Cost shows that the $69.4-million project is expected to be completed by May 2027. (Source: Pasco County)*

Permitting then began in 2017 and right-of-way acquisition between 2019-23. District 3 Commissioner Kathryn Starkey noted that it took “a long time — five years” for the county to purchase all of the needed right-of way, but Kontses noted, “We had to purchase 43 parcels from 25 different property owners, so that was an extensive effort for our resources.”

He added that the plan also had to go through several revisions because of new developments that began building and additional reviews by the Florida Dept. of Transportation (FDOT), “because they contributed some of the funding for the project.”

Bids were finally solicited in Dec. of 2023 and the bids opened in Jan. of this year.

Comm. Starkey also expressed concerns about animal crossings at a wetland near Oaks Blvd., the entrance to The Oaks subdivision.

After that, Kontses pointed out that the improvements also will include lighting along the length of the project, which will help improve safety a lot, because WC Blvd. is notoriously dark.

District 5 Comm. Jack Mariano expressed concerns about not getting landscaping design included in the project, but Comm. Starkey noted that the landscaping for Little Rd. is only about 30% designed, “so they’re way behind on these projects.”

If the BOC approved the agreement on Apr. 23, Kontses says the Notice to Proceed (NTP) could be given within two weeks, or before this issue reached your mailbox, and that the expected completion date for the 36-month contract is May of 2027.

Kontses also mentioned that in addition to the main contract, there is an additional contract for independent Construction Engineering & Inspection (CEI) services for $4.5 million.

“Four million to see if they built it right? That seems like a lot of money,” Comm. Starkey asked. “How about the contract just stipulates that they have to build it right?”

But, Kontses said that the normal cost of CEI is, “about 10-15% of a project’s construction cost, so at $4.5 million, we’re getting a bargain.”

Dist. 2 Comm. Seth Weightman, whose district includes the full length of the project, then moved for approval of the contract, which was seconded by Comm. Starkey and the motion passed 4-0. Dist. 4 Comm. Gary Bradford, who passed away the day before the meeting, was obviously not available for the vote.

Taking The ‘Story Plaques’ Fight To Another Level

Whether or not you’re currently a business owner, imagine, if you can, working hard to create a product that provides a unique service to your customers.

Next, imagine that someone who spent literally zero of those man/woman-hours to create that product comes along and — without your permission — represents themselves as “working with” your company in order to be able to get your customer to spend money with them as they blatantly copy that work. They even go so far as to put your company’s logo on the product — again, without so much as asking the ownership of your company “Is it OK if we do this?”

That’s the predicament local publications like ours face every single day from companies like “In The News” (which no longer exists) and “That’s Great News” (which bought out “In The News”). This company tells our customers to lie to us and say that they need “a clean electronic copy” of a story about their business that appeared in our pages, supposedly “for our social media.”

Then, you walk into their place of business a few weeks later and see that story on a plaque for which we received no compensation and the only credit we received is that our logo appears at the top of the plaque.

I have been dealing with this B.S. for probably close to a decade, as electronic versions of our stories began being posted on our website.

These “News” companies would simply grab screenshots of every Business Feature story off our website and send a proof of that story on a not-yet-created plaque to our advertisers (see left photo above), telling them they were “working with the Neighborhood News” and get a large number of those businesses to purchase their plaques for anywhere from $200-$400 — depending upon the size of the plaque(s) and the length of each story. I saw no fewer than six of these stories in our advertisers’ places of businesses in one month — and it did not make me happy.

And, the kicker was that literally every time I would ask them who made the plaque for them, the business owner would tell me, “I thought you did,” which made me even less happy.

Then, about three years ago, I realized that if I offered my advertisers plaques of their stories that we actually did create for them that they would probably prefer our plaques to the ones created by these outside companies.

The problem was that I didn’t have someone on my staff who could get in contact with our advertisers to tell them about our plaques — and warn them that “That’s Great News” is most definitely NOT “working with us,” but that they are, in fact, using our work to make money for their company. But now, I have my wife Jannah following up with each business on our behalf.

Consider this: Either I or one of my writers spends up to an hour or more researching each of these stories, up to another hour interviewing these business owners, and then multiple additional hours writing each story. I then take an hour or more of my time to edit each one, and then edit each story again once it has been laid into the paper. In most cases, I also pay our photographer Charmaine George to take the pictures that accompany each story, and then pay to print and distribute each copy of each edition of the paper. Why should anyone else make even one dollar off of all of those efforts?

Those companies will tell you that they’re “allowed” to do what they do because of “second use” laws that permit it but, from what I — and an attorney customer of mine — have seen, they still need our permission to do so.

That’s why I created the ad below to say we do not give anyone permission to use our work and that this is fair warning that the next step in this battle could be a legal one. To be continued…

Business Features editorial Story Plaques

Masjid Daarusalam Hosts Blood Drive For Gabe Hassan

The parents of Gabriel (Gabe) Hassan, the Wharton High graduate who passed away on Feb. 6 of this year from a rare form of leukemia, shortly after receiving his diploma, held a blood donation drive at the Islamic Society of New Tampa’s Masjid Daarusalam on May 10, in honor of what would have been their son’s 18th birthday.

There were three OneBlood Bloodmobiles on hand at the blood drive, which began a few hours before the regular services at the New Tampa Mosque, located just north of Cross Creek Blvd., at 15830 Morris Bridge Rd.

Hundreds of worshipers, as well as District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera and State House Minority Leader Fentrice Driskell (D-Dist. 67), donated blood in Gabe’s honor and memory on his birthday. Gabe’s mom and dad, Carolyn & Mahmoud, were among those who donated blood in their son’s honor. Carolyn, who shared her private writings about Gabe and his favorite things with the Neighborhood News (look for them in our May 28 New Tampa issue), said it was the first time she had ever donated blood.

The Neighborhood News story in the May 28 New Tampa issue will provide additional pictures and information for this story.

Blood Drive Donate Blood Fentrice Driskell Gabe Hassan Lily Hassan Luis Viera Mahmoud Hassan Wesley Chapel

Buying Or Selling A Home? You Can Trust Realtor® Johanna Navarro!

Realtor® Johanna Navarro of Century 21 BE3 The Roman Group (located in The Grove at Wesley Chapel) is a New Construction-Certified real estate professional who can help you sell your home or purchase a new one. (Photo by Charmaine George)

When Realtor® Johanna Navarro was buying a house in 2017, she says the experience nearly left her homeless.

The Tampa native, who moved to Wesley Chapel in 1997, says her real estate agent didn’t give her a lot of guidance about how to navigate the overactive local real estate market. She made nine offers before she finally got one accepted.

Then, the closing date kept getting pushed back until she thought she might have nowhere to go. “After that,” she says, “I realized that it could be done better, and that I could do it better.”

At that time, Johanna (pronounced “Joanna”) worked in the financial industry. She had graduated from the University of South Florida (USF) in 2010 with a degree in sociology and two minors, in psychology and business administration.

Johanna realized her desk job at an investment firm wasn’t fulfilling for her. She says she was always the girl who went to open houses, just because she loved looking at homes. So, she decided to become a real estate agent.

“That whole experience brought to light the potential of what I could do to make this a great experience for the next person,” Johanna says. “Now, my goal is to make every home buying or selling experience as wonderful and stress-free as possible.”

One thing she says she helps with is staging and preparing homes to go on the market. Johanna helps buyers understand the home inspection process, whether an item is informational versus something that needs to be acted upon. She helps sellers connect with professionals to clear inspection items. On both sides, she helps with the appraisal, the contracts and the entire process.

Johanna says that knowing what to expect often takes a lot of the stress out of buying or selling a home, so she’s careful to always set clear expectations and communicate effectively with her clients.

And, it all seems to be working quite well for her. In a little more than six years in the business, Johanna says she’s sold about 120 homes.

She’s part of a team called “the Roman Group” that works as part of the Century 21 BE3 The Roman Group agency located in The Village at The Grove in Wesley Chapel.

“We all work together to have a partnership and have each other’s backs,” she says. “If I can’t get to a showing, another one of us can. We really take care of each other.”

The group had worked with Berkshire Hathaway since 2017 but recently transferred to Century 21. “We felt that Century 21 had more to offer our clients,” Johanna explains. “The marketing platform is by far the biggest of anyone else in the local market, so it has a larger reach when listing a home.”

Johanna’s daughter Baileigh, who was only 10 months old when she moved to Wesley Chapel, has now been a licensed agent since 2019 and currently works as Johanna’s full-time assistant.

Baileigh manages Johanna’s social media and helps with emails, market analysis, and client follow ups.

“Clients get us as a team,” Johanna says. “Whenever you call me, someone always answers the phone. We’re able to return emails quickly and respond to questions faster because you get both of us.”

Johanna’s son Bryce was born and raised in Wesley Chapel. He is now a U.S. Marine and has been serving overseas since 2020.

New Construction Homes

Johanna says she’s “New Construction- Certified” and that a lot of her clients are new construction buyers. She notes that the certifications are provided by New Homes Solutions, a Tampa-based company that offers certification upon completion of a five-day, in-person class which equates to about 34 hours of training in the classroom and also on-site, where Realtors learn about all aspects of the new home construction process, from slab to roofing to contracts.

*Johanna Navarro was the seller’s agent when this 5-bedroom, 3-bathroom home in Wesley Chapel’s Country Walk community recently sold for $615,000 — after only five days on the market.* ***(Photo from Johanna’s website: WesleyChapelRealtor.sites.c21.homes)***

“You want someone who’s going to look out for you and make sure you’re getting the very best deal you can,” she says. “Not only am I an extra pair of eyes on the build itself, I also can help you understand the contract and make sure it fits you and your current situation.”

She also says that she cautions anyone who might meander into one of those shiny new neighborhoods on a weekend afternoon about new home communities.

“Prior to even stepping foot into a new community just out of curiosity, I highly recommend that you contact an agent first,” she says. “If an agent doesn’t walk through the door with you at your first visit, you may no longer be allowed to bring an agent with you at all.”

She tells of clients she’s worked with for years who stopped into a new neighborhood for a Sunday visit with no interest in buying. They disclosed to the builder that they already had a real estate agent, but when they later wanted to purchase a home in the community, they were told they were not allowed to work with Johanna.

“My buyers decided not to build with them because of it,” she says. “They also learned a valuable lesson.”

It doesn’t cost the buyer more to bring your own agent, Johanna explains, and she says she can give you a better perspective on upgrades, the process and the experience, as well as knowledge of all of the communities in the area. “In fact,” she says, “if you’re looking for a specific amenity — such as pickleball courts, dog park and kid zones, as well as homes that accommodate ‘generational living,’ or homes that may offer structural upgrades — I’m well versed on all of the upcoming communities and may be able to guide you to a community you didn’t even know about.”

Is Now A Good Time To Buy?

Johanna says she expects interest rates to continue to trickle down, but if you’re on the fence about buying, don’t let interest rates alone be the determining factor.

“Date the rate, marry the house,” Johanna says. “Right now, you have a better chance of getting a home at a lower price than you did a year ago. The value of the house is going to last as long as you live in it, but you can always refinance your interest rate.”

She says this is the perfect market to buy in, because she predicts that as soon as interest rates continue to go down, more people will enter the market, and prices will go up.

“People may feel this isn’t the best time to buy,” she says, “but now is actually a better time to buy than the past four years.”

Nicole and Daniel Saly bought a new construction home a little over a year ago, trusting Johanna to help them buy that home, and also sell their first home, both in Avalon Park Wesley Chapel. “It was a new construction build, which takes some time,” Nicole explains. “Johanna was there with us through the whole process, dealing with the builder, right by our side.”

Nicole grew up in Wesley Chapel, left for the military and says she “came right back.” She and her husband are both veterans, so their home purchase included working with a VA loan.

“Johanna made it a very smooth process,” says Nicole. “She kind of became a friend in the process. She’s a genuinely good person, which goes beyond being a good Realtor.”

Nicole says she often recommends Johanna to friends and strangers alike, and that she hopes she never has to sell her home, but if she does, “We would call Johanna. She is great at realty, whether it’s selling or purchasing a home. But, she’s also great at communicating, and being on your side through a very stressful process. It’s a big purchase, and she definitely stands out.”

About The Roman Group

The Roman Group Century 21 BE3 is owned and led by Jessica Roman, who also serves as the regional president for Century 21 Beggins, with which the Wesley Chapel office is affiliated. Johanna says the entire team at The Roman Group offers a wide variety of specialties, including commercial sales (Jessica leads the office’s commercial division), investment homes, resales, new construction, listings and more.

Realtor® Johanna Navarro can be reached at (813) 299-9870. For more information, visit WesleyChapelRealtor.sites.c21.homes/. On Facebook and Instagram, search “WesleyChapelRealtor.Johanna.” Or, email Johanna at chapelrealtor@gmail. com. The Century 21 B3 Roman Group office is located at 6013 Wesley Grove Blvd., Suite 206.

Johanna Navarro Real Estate Agent realtor The Roman Group Wesley Chapel

What If Wesley Chapel’s Pizza Places Were Ranked By Their Ratings On Yelp?

When we saw that Stacker.com’s rankings of pizza places with Tampa addresses, based on Yelp.com reviews (see story on pg. 42), did not include any pizza places in or near Wesley Chapel, we decided to see which Wesley Chapel-area pizza places had the top ratings on Yelp, with at least 25 reviews each.

On this page are the top-10 we found, based on their Yelp reviews, that are located either in Wesley Chapel proper or in Lutz from Oak Grove Blvd. east to I-75. (Note – PizzaSuprema on Collier Pkwy., with 4.2/5 stars on 147 reviews, was too far west to qualify).

Please remember that these rankings are not mine or yours. They are entirely based on reviews on Yelp. And, since Stacker.com didn’t specify regarding their Tampa rankings, and knowing that Yelp reviews are usually overall ratings, we don’t believe these Yelp star ratings are based on each place’s pizza only. Even so, it was still fun for us to do this for you. Enjoy! — GN