In pursuit of pythons

Did you know Florida’s Burmese python problem is spreading north? Former Cory Lakes Isles resident and Wharton High grad Kevin Reich is helping to make sure that doesn’t happen.

Kevin Reich caught and bagged this nearly-18-foot Burmese python back in July.

Kevin Reich was driving through the Grand Cypress National Preserve in Ochopee, FL, one evening back in late July, and was about to give up and head home when the tail of a Burmese python caught his eye.

β€œJust by the tail, I knew it was going to be a big one,” Kevin says.

So, he did exactly the opposite of what you might expect β€” but something perfectly normal for him β€” he parked his car on the side of the road, hopped out and walked up to the snake.

Armed only with his bare hands, Kevin grabbed the tail and dragged the python out, the two dancing a slithery dance, as he deftly avoided attempts by the python, which are non-venomous constricting snakes, to wrap itself around him. 

After 15 minutes, the snake was tuckered out. Kevin grabbed it by the neck and victoriously bagged it.

He was right about the size, too: it checked in at a goosebump-inducing 17-feet, 9 inches long, and weighed in at 83 pounds, 12 ounces. 

At the time, it was the second-longest ever caught by aΒ member of the Python Action Team.

β€œI knew it was going to be a challenge and a bit of a battle,” Kevin says. β€œBig snakes don’t come along much. It was a very big, very strong animal. When it started to lose its steam, I just went in for its head and got a hold of it. I could tell it was still very strong. It was trying to turn its jaw around to bite me. The hardest thing sometimes is getting them in the bag.”

While Kevin’s full-time job is in the U.S. Coast Guard, he finds plenty of time to do his part to help the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) try to tame the ever-growing population of Burmese pythons in the Florida Everglades and surrounding areas. The FWC created the Python Action Team in 2017, to combat the invasive species, and has captured nearly 1,000 pythons since.

Still, Kevin says that in certain areas, where racoons, rabbits and opossums should be bountiful, there too often is nothing, due to the spread of the Burmese python.

He says he knows what animals do and don’t belong in a certain area. Growing up in Cory Lake Isles, he says he was your typical Florida outdoor boy, exploring his nature-rich community.

β€œThere isn’t one little portion of those lakes or islands that I don’t know,” he says. β€œI fished on that lake every day. It’s where I learned a lot about the outdoors in Florida.”

Kevin joined the Coast Guard in 2016, after graduating from Wharton in 2012.

He was stationed in Miami, which was a perfect fit, in part because it allowed him to explore the Everglades. It was while doing so with a buddy that he caught his first Burmese python β€” a freshly hatched 2-footer.

By the way, his second catch was a 15-and-a-half foot python.

He became a certified volunteer Burmese python hunter, before the FWC and Southwest Water Management District began programs that contracted people to help rid the area of pythons.

β€œIt’s awesome,” Kevin says. β€œYou get paid to go out in these places in the Everglades and explore and help remove these snakes.”

Python Action Team members make just $8.46 an hour, plus $50 for each snake measuring 4 feet, and $25 for each additional foot beyond that. So, a 17-foot Burmese python would net the hunter $375.

That’s a nice bonus for something Kevin confesses he would do for free just to help. He says that 95 percent of contractors do not euthanize pythons on site. Instead, they bag them and hand them over to the FWC for research, as the wildlife commission tries to figure out a way to more effectively  remove the snakes. 

Since he began trapping pythons, Kevin says he has captured well over 100 of them. He has been bitten numerous times, and has been sprayed with the snake’s musk, which he says leaves one the foulest odors he has ever smelled. He says he keeps Lysol disinfectant wipes in his equipment bag to wipe off his arms anytime he gets tagged.

The longest python ever caught in Florida was 18-feet, 8-inches (in 2013), and the longest ones caught by the Python Action Team are 18’-4” (in September) and 18’ (last December). 

β€œMost of the folks that know me are not at all surprised that I do this,” Kevin says. β€œIt’s definitely a challenge and something I enjoy. I know what animals do and don’t belong, and some of these places just don’t have any small mammals or birds left. These snakes are everywhere. I’m doing my part to help and preserve the area.”


93-LOVE

Williamsburg resident Francesca Caravella is 93 years old, but that doesn’t stop her from playing tennis 3-4 days a week and whipping up on the youngβ€˜ns.

Three times a week, and sometimes more, Francesca Caravella slings her tennis bag over her shoulder and trudges across the grass from her home just a few hundred yards away in search of competition.

She arrives at the court each morning, and effortlessly reaches down like a gymnast stretching for a routine to remove little plastic bags from her shoes, her protection against the morning dew.

Here at Williamsburg, one of Wesley Chapel’s oldest communities where she has lived since 1983, Francesca is tennis royalty. The 93-year-old left-handed racquet-wielding spitfire also is something of a freak of nature.

β€œYou wouldn’t know she’s that old, the way she plays,” says Glenn Dimiccio, who maintains the courts at Williamsburg and also is one of the community’s top players.

Dimiccio is warming her up on this day, and it is brutally hot and humid. And yet, Francesca is moving side-to-side, hitting backhands and forehands undaunted. 

She had her left meniscus surgically repaired a few years ago, ending her singles career, and her right knee is bone-on-bone and can get quite sore, but Francesca is remarkably agile for someone her age. She still cracks a steady forehand and will liberally mix in high lobs to keep her opponents off the net.

β€œYou gotta do what you gotta do,” she is fond of saying. 

In matches, Francesca lets her partners do the work at the net. She was once smacked so hard in the face by an overhead, β€œI had to spend thousands of dollars on new dentures.”

Francesca definitely knows the game of tennis. She is picky about her racquets and tennis gear and she watches the game closely on the Tennis Channel. 

Her friends at Williamsburg have asked her why she doesn’t get an official USTA ranking. The USTA holds national events in all age groups, including 90+, and her teammates and opponents are almost certain she is one of the best 90-year-olds in the country.

β€œI don’t want to travel far to play people,” she says. β€œBeing number one is just not that big a deal for me.”

The daughter of immigrants who hailed from Messina, Sicily, Francesca grew up in Brooklyn, NY, where she says exercise was always a way of life.

She played handball in junior high and stickball in the streets. She says she joined a gym at 16 years old, and after meeting her husband Sal at age 18, learned to ballroom dance. After she had children, she would exercise along with Jack LaLanne on television.

It wasn’t until she moved to Florida in 1985 that she picked up a tennis racquet.

β€œNobody ever gave me a lesson,” Francesca says. β€œNot one. I picked up things by watching players on television. I remember watching (Bjorn) Borg, (Andre) Agassi and (Pete) Sampras. I learned the basics by watching them.”

After tennis, Francesca heads back home to shower, and then it’s off to the New Tampa YMCA for some cardio and yoga. When her workout is over, she will spend many afternoons on her ΒΎ-acre lot, tending to her gardens.

Francesca takes her tennis seriously. She keeps a journal and a log of every potential player. She plans matches at least two weeks in advance. And, if you don’t show up to play when scheduled, you will learn something else about Francesca.

β€œShe is feisty,” Dimiccio says.

The two became fast friends, after DiMiccio moved to Williamsburg long after Francesca had already established herself as the Queen of the Courts in the tight-knit community.

Dimiccio had just started playing tennis again after putting away his racquet decades ago, and he says β€œshe was kicking my butt.”

The two are now inseparable mixed doubles partners. Dimiccio is more advanced, with a high 4.0 USTA rating, while Francesca is more of a 3.0. He serves as her unofficial coach and protector, and they make an ideal pair.

β€œI promised her I’ll play with her every Friday as long as she’s around,” DiMiccio says, then jokingly adding, β€œbut now it looks like she just might bury me.”

Special thanks to Wes Henagan for his help on this story.

THE GOLDEN TOUCH

Developer Mark Gold has big plans for The Grove.

In a tiny office tucked behind The Grove shopping center he recently bought for $62.7 million, Mark Gold is unveiling big dreams.

β€œBig, big, major,” he says. β€œThis is major.”

Gold’s vision is all over the walls of the leasing office at The Grove, on blueprints and promotional materials. 

There will be a family park, an amphitheatre for musical performances, a brewery, new restaurants, an indoor adventure facility, beautiful landscaping and lighting, and what Gold says will be the biggest shipping container park β€” think Sparkman Wharf, but on steroids β€” in the world.

A rendering of how a “container park” will look at The Grove.

There also is room for 400 homes, if Gold chooses to develop the additional acreage.

While others have, for too many years, seen a big box dead end office plaza with empty buildings and overgrown and unkempt land, Gold sees the future.

β€œThis is a diamond that no one has touched for 10 years,” he says. β€œNo one had the money to polish the diamond. That’s just crazy.”

The Grove, which opened in 2007 and whose current tenants include Best Buy, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Michael’s and others, as well as the Cobb 16 Movie Theater, may be an afterthought to many locals, a shopping center that once had great potential before development stopped. Gold and his Mishorim Gold Properties promise that will change.

β€œThe message is, The Grove is coming back,” says Gold, emphatically. β€œIt’s not owned by the bank or an insurance company anymore, it’s owned by creative developers that do this already all over the U.S.”

As Gold lays out his plan, it almost sounds too good to be true. However, District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore, who arranged a meeting for Gold with county planners and administrators, loves the idea.

β€œI think he’s the real deal,” Moore says. β€œWhen he left after his presentation, there was energy and excitement in the room.”

Pasco’s uber-friendly-to-business county commission is likely to do what it can to make things happen fast. Many of the typical hold-ups β€” such as proper zoning and utilities  β€” are all already in place.

The mostly vacant Village across the parking lot from stores like Best Buy, Marshall’s and DICK’s Sporting Goods has been mostly vacant but Gold already has new tenants signed to leases.

Gold, who has now owned the plaza less than a month, isn’t wasting any time starting to create a destination that he thinks could serve as a downtown Wesley Chapel one day.

β€œThis is not only about money, it’s about vision,” he says. β€œLet’s bring something to Wesley Chapel that people like to come to.”

Just a few days after his purchase, he already had signed leases for 15 of the 60 containers, or micro-shops, that will populate the land between The Grove’s office β€œvillage” and Outback Steakhouse. Moore said he was impressed to see that overgrown grass had already been moved and some of the area was already being prepped.

Gold is hoping to create a European-flavored market or bazaar, with an emphasis on locally-owned stores and boutiques, and he says that in about two months, the containers will begin showing up.

β€œThings are moving fast,” he says. β€œThis is big in places like Europe, Amsterdam…you see it all over the place. In the U.S., it is fresh. And, it is going to be the largest one in the world.”

Each of the container β€œshops,” which are former semi-truck trailers that will be outfitted with solar panels, is 40-feet long (although there are options to split the office containers into two or even three separate spaces), and here’s the big news β€” he is renting them out for only $1,500 a month for an entire container, with limited up-front costs for design.

β€œIf you have a dream, let’s make it happen!,” Gold says.

β€œIf you have a dream, let’s make it happen!,” he says. β€œThis is your mom-and-pop opportunity, your dream. I care about my tenants. I want to help people come to us. Let me help you.”

A family park for children also will be one of the key components of The Grove’s transformation, as will a 36,000-sq.-ft. indoor trampoline/adventure park (see pg. 14).. 

New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees is a part-owner of Surge Adventure Park, Gold says he already has Surge at four of his developments and that it is likely Brees will follow him to Wesley Chapel, too. Surge Adventure Park would be built near the Cobb 16 Movie Theater.

As we reported last issue, Double Branch Artisanal Ales, owned by Wesley Chapel residents, is expected to open in December, the first new project under Gold’s Mishorim Gold Properties.

β€œI think it is extraordinarily exciting for our community,” says Hope Allen, CEO of the North Tampa Bay Chamber. β€œIt’s a long time coming. β€œIt was disheartening to see (The Grove) not living up to its full potential over the last couple of years. I appreciate that new ownership is going to invest in it.”

Gold says he also has signed leases with at least four restaurants β€” pizza, sushi, gourmet hot dogs and frozen yogurt β€” for the currently mostly-vacant office park that he calls β€œThe Village,” as well as a restaurant/duelling piano bar owned by Wesley Chapel resident Jamie Hess and his brother Joe.

β€œI met with him and was very enthusiastic and energetic,” said Jamie Hess, who signed his lease on Oct. 10. β€œI thought he had an amazing plan. I went home and researched his other properties and after that, I was sold. He’s going to make The Grove a huge success.” We’ll have a separate story about the piano bar in a future issue.

Gold has a reputation for investing in property that is undervalued and turning high-vacancy shopping and office centers into bustling, vibrant, family-focused entertainment destinations.

He bought the Lynnhaven North shopping center in Virginia Beach, VA, in late 2018 and quickly turned that around, with nearly $10 million worth of renovations and upgrades.

Whether you’re talking about the Regency Court Shopping Center in Jacksonville, or the Shoppes at Hickory Hollow in Antioch, TN, the DW Center in Newport News, VA, or a handful of other similar U.S. projects, Gold has swooped in to buy a failing shopping center and invested millions into transforming them.

And, the ebullient Gold is excited about The Grove’s prospects.

He says he has been looking to purchase land in the Tampa Bay area for years, but couldn’t find anything that suited him.

β€œIt was like Mission Impossible,” he says.

He spent eight months negotiating to buy The Grove, when he says it usually takes him only about a month to complete similar deals.

The purchase included the 604,000 sq. ft. of existing shopping and dining space, as well as 1.3-million sq. ft. of retail and office space that he plans to build. 

But, even better, The Grove is located in one of the southeast’s fastest-growing areas.

Not only are there thousands of homes at various stages of development within a 10-mile radius of The Grove in nearby communities like Mirada, Epperson and even Quail Hollow, but Wesley Chapel also boasts an average annual household income of $92,000.

The shopping center is located just off busy I-75, and can be seen by 100,000 drivers a day.

β€œI am in the middle of the all the action,” Gold says. β€œRight where I want to be.”

And soon, he hopes, where all of Wesley Chapel will want to be.

For leasing & more information about The Grove, contact keren@mgoldgroup.com.

County Agrees To Hire Tampa Fire Rescue For Unincorporated Area

The City of Tampa and Hillsborough County have resolved its dispute over usage of Tampa Fire Rescue Station No. 21 on Cross Creek Blvd. (Photo: John C. Cotey)

When roughly 5,000 residents in Pebble Creek, Live Oake, Cross Creek and other communities located in unincorporated Hillsborough County lost their City of Tampa fire rescue service in 2018, Hillsborough County turned to nearby Pasco County for service.

With a new mayor in office, they have now turned back to Tampa.

On September 18, the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) agreed by a 7-0 vote to finalize an agreement with the City of Tampa to restore its fire service to the area, which former Mayor Bob Buckhorn ended in 2017 after demanding the county pay roughly five times what it was already paying.

Under the new proposed agreement, the county will pay the city $600,000 a year for service from the four stations located in New Tampa.  It also gave a 90-day notice to Pasco County which, in lieu of the City of Tampa, has been providing service for the unincorporated area since 2018.

Hillsborough County commissioner
Ken Hagan

β€œThis is great news for New Tampa,” said Hillsborough County commissioner Ken Hagan, who represents the New Tampa area in District 2.  β€œRestoring Tampa’s fire rescue service to unincorporated New Tampa was my No. 1 priority.  It was the first thing I met with (newly elected) Mayor Jane Castor about when she got elected.  I’m absolutely thrilled that we’ve reached an agreement in principle.”

District 6 Commissioner Pat Kemp agreed, and offered thanks to Mayor Castor for being open to renegotiating.

β€œThis is the most sensible and safe solution to serve the residents there,” Kemp said.

The nearest Hillsborough County Fire Rescue Station is the University Area Station No.5 on E. 139th Ave., which is more than 10 miles from most of Pebble Creek.

So while the $600,000 is nearly three times what the county was paying in its previous agreement with the City of Tampa, β€œit is $900,000 less than what the City previously wanted, and it is far less than what it would cost to construct and operate a fire station in the area,” Hagan said.

Hagan said he recently spoke at a Homeowners Association meeting in Cross Creek, and fire rescue service was one of the first concerns raised.  He says he came to the BOCC with nine letters of support from HOAs in the unincorporated areas of New Tampa.

β€œThe best-case scenario was to ultimately restore service, and unfortunately, that required a new Mayor,” Hagan said.

In 2017, Buckhorn said the City of Tampa would no longer provide fire rescue service to the unincorporated portion of New Tampa, which it had done since 1998 with some combination of Fire Stations No. 20 in Tampa Palms and Nos. 21(located across Cross Creek Blvd. from the Cross Creek community) and 22 on Cross Creek Blvd., In February, another station, No. 23, opened just off of County Line Rd. on Trout Creek Dr., essentially surrounding unincorporated New Tampa with fire rescue stations.

Without coverage from the city, Hillsborough turned to Pasco County for help. For $275,000 a year, Pasco β€” primarily Pasco County Fire Rescue Station No. 26, located in the nearby Meadow Pointe I community of Wesley Chapel β€” provided emergency services to unincorporated New Tampa.

β€œPasco has done a good job, but the reality is the response times are longer,” Hagan said.  β€œA few calls have taken over 20 minutes to respond.  I’ve also heard horror stories from residents who have had to call 911 a second time or have taken matters into their own hands and driven loved ones to the ER themselves.  As a result, New Tampa has been begging the county to contract with Tampa.”

Pebble Creek residents created a Facebook page and online petition asking the County to build a fire station closer to them.

While Tampa’s closer fire rescue stations could still respond to emergencies if the Pasco Fire Rescue Trucks were occupied β€” due to a mutual aid agreement between the counties β€” all local calls in the unincoporated areas were diverted first to Pasco Fire Rescue.

A return to the old agreement, Hagan says, is simply more convenient, and safer, for area residents. 

β€œI can tell you, the community is absolutely delighted that Tampa Fire Rescue is once again going to be providing service to unincorporated New Tampa,” Hagan said.

Proposed Boundaries Offer Big Changes

The Seven Oaks community escaped being rezoned for different middle and high schools in 2016, but it doesn’t appear it will do so this time around.

Pasco County Schools staff is recommending that the entirety of Seven Oaks be rezoned to attend the new Cypress Creek Middle School, as well Cypress Creek High School, according to new school year 2020-21 maps posted on its website.

Wiregrass Ranch High will host a public workshop in its gymnasium on Monday, October 7, 5 p.m.-8 p.m., where the new maps will be displayed. District staff will be on hand to answer questions.

Almost every student living in Seven Oaks is currently zoned for John Long Middle School and Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH).

The rezoning is expected to help ease school overcrowding. JLM was at 110-percent capacity of its in 2018-19, but will have 400 fewer students with the new boundary, according to projections posted by the District staff, putting it at 80.5 percent capacity for 2020-21.

WRH was at 122.7-percent of its capacity in 2018-19, and will have roughly 540 fewer students with the new boundary, or 89.7 capacity.

Cypress Creek Middle and High schools also will have its boundaries extended north and draw students formerly zoned for Pasco Middle School and Pasco High in Dade City.

The new boundaries (above) also will be a change for students living in the Terrace Park, Timber Lake Estates and New River Ranchettes areas located just west of Morris Bridge Rd., between S.R.s 54 and south of 56, with roughly 100 or so students headed to Zephyrhills High School.

Quail Hollow Elementary’s boundary (above) is proposed to be extended north to the San Antonio area.

To view the new maps and the data, visit pasco.k12.fl.us/planning/page/rezoning. There also is an online form to file public comments.