Epperson resident Jennifer Rose is excited to be one of the first residents of the community where the first Crystal Lagoon the U.S. is expected to open in February or March of 2018.
Jennifer Rose was in the market for a home, and narrowed her choices down to two communities.
Her realtor, however, suggested they take one more drive, this time to Wesley Chapel, to a large stretch of land off Curley Rd. with nothing to see but trees, grass, dirt and tractors.
Rose, a hair stylist at Salon Loft, was sold a vision that day, of a development with affordable homes that were cheaper than they ones she had previously looked at, that would be built from the ground up with gigabit internet, roads that would one day handle autonomous vehicles, a community that would be vibrant and active, and year-round parties and events.
Oh, and this new community also promised to be home to a Crystal Lagoon — which boasts a specially- formulated system for keeping its water crystal clear and clean. The lagoon, the first of its kind in North America, will be surrounded by white sandy beaches, have a swim up-bar, an adventure cove, cabanas and multiple party areas.
“There was nothing there at the time,’’ Rose says. “Even the model home was only in framing. But, I could just see the outline of the lagoon.”
The pictures of what that Crystal Lagoon will become sealed the deal.
“I absolutely loved the whole concept,’’ said Rose, who bought a five-bedroom, 2,500-sq.ft. home.“I saw all the pictures of what it was going to be. It was swimming in bottled water that piqued my interest.”
Rose is one of the first handful of residents to move into Epperson, a new community being constructed by the Metro Development Group north of S.R. 54 off Curley Rd.
Epperson is the first part of the “connected city,” a project created by a senate bill that called for a private-public partnership between Metro Development and Pasco County.
The project will turn 7,800 acres of mostly undeveloped land in Wesley Chapel into a mini-city of its own within 50 years, with 37,000 homes, more than 60,000 jobs and almost 100,000 projected new residents.
“The connected city thing is hard to imagine,” says Diane Bissett, who became the first-ever resident in Epperson. “It will be neat to see it come together, and to say we were a part of that.”
Diane Bissett, pictured above right with her children, is the first homeowner in Epperson (Photo courtesy of Diane Bissett)
As an employee of D.L. Horton, one of six homebuilders in Epperson, Bissett had an inside track to the first home being built in what promises to be an original, almost-futuristic community.
Bissett had been eyeing the new development for what felt like forever, primarily because of the promise of the 7.5-acre Crystal Lagoon.
When she initially heard about the project, she says, she was working for a different homebuilder in Watergrass, right across the street. Not only did she think she would never be able to buy a home there, she says it just didn’t seem real what Metro was proposing.
“No way,’’ Bissett thought.
However, changing jobs and getting first dibs on a house at Epperson, Bissett, the mother of a 2-year-old boy and 4- and 14-year-old daughters, jumped at the chance to be part of something fresh and new.
And, as it turned out, a little frightening. For a month, Bissett and her family were the only residents on their street.
“There was a whole lot of dirt and not much else when I moved in,’’ Bissett said. “It was very dark and scary. It was a little spooky in the beginning.”
Bissett was the first of what is now roughly 60 residents living in Epperson, where homes are still going up and will one day number roughly 2,000.
Home sales have so far exceeded expectations., driven by the excitement over the first Metro Lagoon by Crystal Lagoons, which is currently being filled in anticipation of a spring opening.
“The Lagoon effect is real,’’ said Greg Singleton, the president of Metro Development, recently at an event announcing that water has started filling in the lagoon.
Todd Carrier bought the second home in Epperson, and wasn’t going to let bad timing deter him once he read about the lagoon.
Carrier had just bought a home in Spring Hill and had lived in it five months when he heard about a Crystal Lagoon coming to Wesley Chapel sometime around April.
“Honestly, it was a shot in the dark,’’ Carrier says. “Since I just bought a house I didn’t think I’d get approved.”
Not only did Carrier get approved, the 25-year-old AT&T sales rep found someone to rent his Spring Hill home to within five weeks.
“I heard about the lagoon and I wanted to be part of that before the prices went sky-high and got to the point where I couldn’t afford it,” Carrier says.
An avid gamer, Carrier is excited about the gigabit internet speeds, which can download high-definition movies in 30 seconds, and says the community events also are a bonus.
He grew up in a new community once before, when his parents moved into The Preserve at Lake Thomas in Land O’Lakes in 2000.
“It was not as nice as this is going to be though,” he says.
In the end, of course, it was the lagoon that spurred him to dive in headfirst.
When friends and coworkers ask him where he lives, he often just describes his new digs as “the place with the lagoon.”
“They don’t know Epperson,” he says, “but they know the lagoon.”
While the allure of the lagoon has brought everyone together, Bissett says being part of something so innovative and buzzworthy is intoxicating. Her son loves watching the construction trucks drive by as new homes continue to sell at a rapid rate.
Bissett jokes that for years, many of her South Tampa friends often passed on coming over on weekends because Wesley Chapel was too far a drive. Now, “I’ve had a lot of friends come out of the woodwork to ask me, ‘What are you doing next summer?’”
As someone who doesn’t take a lot of vacations, Bissett says Epperson, “will be like living in a resort vacation place.”
The community already has hosted trick-or-treating, and the streets are now being filled in the evenings with children riding bicycles and hanging out in their friends’ driveways. Bissett thinks a special camaraderie has developed amongst what is currently a small, tight-knit group.
Jennifer Rose says her kids can’t wait for the lagoon to open in the spring. (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Rose)
Rose agrees. She was the third person to move into Epperson, and from there, the numbers have steadily risen. One by one, each home on her street was filled with a new family. and her children, Christopher, 11, and Kayla, 9, have made new friends with each “Sold” sign that goes up.
“Oh my gosh, they love it,’’ says Rose, who previously rented a home in Wesley Chapel. “In our old neighborhood, I couldn’t get my kids to go outside. Now, I can’t keep them inside.”
It won’t be long now before what will be the center of the Epperson universe is ready for its first swimsuit-clad visitors, and the vision sold to the current residents comes into full view. Residents will lay in hammocks on Gasparilla Island after filling up at the lagoon’s swim-up restaurant and bar, or rent kayaks to cruise the waters of Venture Bay, or maybe just relax at The Grotto and cool off under the waterfall.
“The lagoon,’’ Rose says, “is going to be the place to be.”
You get a lagoon…and you get a lagoon…and you get a lagoon!
While a good many Wesley Chapel and New Tampa-area residents have been eagerly awaiting the prospects of a state-of-the-art Crystal Lagoon being built in our area, a second lagoon also is in the works as Metro Development Group moves to raise the bar on amenities for new housing developments.
Though it was first reported back in 2014, Metro finally is digging the hole on the former Epperson Ranch that will become the much-anticipated, first Crystal Lagoon in the state of Florida. Next year, construction on a second lagoon, located at Mirada on the old Cannon Ranch, will begin as well.
Construction of the 7.5-acre lagoon at Epperson Ranch, located north of the Bridgewater community on Curley Rd. north of S.R. 54., is expected to be completed by the end of 2017.
Crystal Lagoons was founded in 2007 by Chilean biochemist-turned real estate developer Fernando Fischmann, who created a system based on pulses and ultra sonic filtration that can take virtually any kind of water and purify and maintain it at a low cost. Crystal Lagoons is the only company in the world with the technology, which is patented in 160 countries, and claims it currently has more than 300 projects in development in 60 countries.
According to Crystal Lagoons, its system is more efficient than a swimming pool, will use 100 times less chemicals and is 50 times more energy efficient, while consuming only 2% of the energy needed by conventional filtration systems.
The lagoon uses 30 times less water than a typical 18-hole golf course, and its clear, blue water will be surrounded by a white, sandy beach.
The Crystal Lagoon at Epperson Ranch will be 4,200 linear feet in circumference (which is almost 1 mile around), according to Metro Development Group president Greg Singleton.
The average depth will be eight feet, with some spots as deep as 10-12 feet. The water is so clear, Singleton adds, it doesn’t refract as much light, so the deeper spots will give it more of a deep blue color.
The lagoon will hold about 14-15 million gallons of water.
Where Metro Development Group is going to get that water created some consternation locally, when it was expected they would pump it in from the local aquifer. Local residents worried that tapping into the aquifer would create sinkholes.
Instead, Metro plans on purchasing water from Pasco County Utilities to fill the lagoon, although the developer does still reserve the right to find another source.
Another cause for the delay in construction was the uniqueness of the project, which created permitting issues for Pasco County and made finding the right people to build it painstaking.
“Being that this is the first Crystal Lagoon in the U.S., it is a unique construction project and we wanted to make sure we found the right partners and contractors for the job, which took more time than we expected,’’ Singleton says. “Also, being the first lagoon in the U.S. to be designed and permitted, we were methodical in our approach to get it right. We also needed to give our approving agencies time to work through their process, as this was also new for them.”
Epperson Ranch, which is part of Metro’s “Connected City” project currently weaving it’s way towards approval from the Pasco Board of County Commissioners, is already preparing to begin selling homes with the flashy amenity as a big draw. The first lot closing was expected to happen by the end of 2016, and model homes will start to be framed by the end of January.
The other Crystal Lagoon in Wesley Chapel also will be in the Connected City, Singleton says, in the Mirada community, which is just south of S.R. 52, a little further up Curley Rd.
“The two Lagoons in Connected City have been planned for at least two years and provide another compelling reason for people to live, work, and play in Connected City,’’ Singleton says.
Development of the Mirada community is expected to begin in the spring of 2017, and Metro is looking to break ground on that second Crystal Lagoon by the end of 2017.
Metro, which also developed the Union Park community in Wesley Chapel, plans to build four Crystal Lagoons in Florida.
Along with the two in Wesley Chapel, the developer intends to break ground on a lagoon in the SouthShore Bay community in South Hillsborough in spring of 2017, and will build another in a Fort Myers community called Brightwater.
For more information about the Crystal Lagoons, visit Crystal-Lagoons.com. To see what else Metro Development Group has going on, check out MetroPlaces.com.
Above is a rendering of a Diverging Diamond Interchange, like the one planned for the S.R. 56 exit off I-75, which has been moved up to a Fiscal Year 2018 start date. Source: FDOT.
Relief is coming to the congested, frustrating and oftentimes maddening S.R. 56 interchange of I-75 sooner than expected, as the Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) announced it was moving up its plans to build a diverging diamond interchange (DDI).
That project is now slated to begin in fiscal year 2018, the beginning of which is July 1 of 2017.
“That is great news,” says Mike Moore, the new Pasco County Board of County Commissioners (BCC) chair who represents District 2, which includes most of Wesley Chapel. “I thought the diverging diamond was a great idea from the start, and the other commissioners did too. I’m glad we can start it sooner.”
Moore and District 38 State Rep. Danny Burgess (R-San Antonio) played key roles in getting the project, which will cost around $18.5-million, fast-tracked. FDOT officials presented their new proposal to the Pasco Metropolitan Planning Organization Dec. 8 at the Dade City Courthouse.
Construction of the DDI was originally scheduled to begin in 2024, but last November was moved up to 2020. The additional shortening of the timeframe will be good news to many travelers, especially around the holiday season, who have seen the lines of traffic to get off or on I-75 or through the interchange at S.R. 56 increasing.
DDIs, according to the website DivergingDiamond.com, are designed to create fewer conflict points when traveling through them, have better sight distance at turns, shorter pedestrian crossings and wrong-way ramps that are extremely difficult to access.
Despite looking like a confusing, diamond-shaped jumble of roads in pictures, the diverging diamond is said to cause virtually no driver confusion. A Springfield, MO, study showed a 60-percent reduction in collisions in a five-month period compared to a traditional exchange, and the website claims that in a five-year span of a DDI in Versailles, France, only 11 crashes have been reported.
Florida is building its first DDI at the University Pkwy. exit (No. 213) off I-75 in Sarasota. The Wesley Chapel location would be the state’s second DDI interchange.
The I-75/S.R. 56 junction continues to be one to avoid if at all possible for those in the New Tampa and Wesley Chapel area, and the 2.3-mile-long northbound exit routinely experiences back-ups of a mile or longer, sometimes even reaching the I-275 apex at the Pasco County line. The opening of the Tampa Premium Outlets on S.R. 56 west of I-75 last year hasn’t helped.
The S.R. 56/75 interchange was opened over a decade ago, and in 2011 a new ramp was constructed to ease congestion, to the delight of many in the community.
Roughly 100,000 drivers (combined heading east or west) pass through the I-75/S.R. 56 interchange, according to FDOT.
Steve Domonkos, the specialty leasing manager for the Shops at Wiregrass mall and a member of a Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) transportation task force, is happy to see the DDI construction moved up. But, Domonkos worries that even by 2018, with the rapid rate of development happening in both Wesley Chapel and Lutz, it still may be too late.
The sooner the better, he says, “but sooner than sooner would have been even better. It’s great to hear they are finally moving it up because traffic is already horrendous,’’ Domonkos says. “It’s a shame that the state and county didn’t get together before the Outlets opened, though. That intersection is already maxed.”
Moore, who drives through the intersection almost daily, says he has heard the same complaints from his constituents. But he thinks they will be happy to see progress considering the project was initially slated to begin in 2024.
“This shows what can happen when everyone works together to get something done,’’ he says.
Public hearings on the DDI project were scheduled around the region on Dec. 14, which was after we went to press with this issue. The Florida DOT will accept written comments until Tuesday, December 27, through D7wpph.com, by U.S. Mail (Attn: Ed McKinney, Florida Department of Transportation, 11201 N. McKinley Drive, MS 7-500, Tampa, FL 33612) or by email to D7wpph@dot.state.fl.us.
Many readers will be getting their Wesley Chapel edition of the Neighborhood News today, and will see a story on the front page about the School Boundary Committee (SBC) choosing Option 20 for the new school zones for Wesley Chapel.
Option 20
Well…things have changed since our deadline.
After months of meetings by the SBC, including a parent townhall where more than 1,000 residents showed up to have their voices heard, and a reversal by the SBC in choose Option 20 instead of it’s original choice of Option 12, Pasco County Superintendent Kurt Browning has stepped in and said nope, we’re going with Option 13.
Option 13
According to Browning, the SBC did not meet the most important goals of easing overcrowding at Wiregrass Ranch in the least disruptive way.
So now, the Pasco County School Board meeting on Tuesday will be, most likely, craaaazzzyyy.
The meeting starts at 6 p.m., and usually takes an hour. But Tuesday, there will be parents from three different rezoning groups from different parts of the county speaking, and each group gets an hour. Each speaker is allotted two minutes, maybe three.
Those with interest in the Wesley Chapel rezoning will speak second, or around 7 p.m.
Another meeting is scheduled for Jan. 17, where the School Board will again hear from parents, and then vote on the new school boundaries immediately afterwards.
For Wesley Chapel, that will essentially be a vote between the Browning-recommended Option 13, and the SBC-recommended Option 20. (Option 12, the original SBC choice, remains off the table).
Option 20 would have rezoned Seven Oaks, which would have been on the block again for rezoning once Cypress Creek Middle School is built, anywhere from 4-7 years from now.
“I don’t want to rezone Seven Oaks twice in as few as four years,” Browning wrote in a letter to parents. “If we adopted map proposal 20, some students could attend four different schools in their secondary years. They could conceivably start 6th grade at John Long Middle School, move to Weightman Middle School by 8th grade, start 9th grade at Wesley Chapel High School, and be moved to Cypress Creek High School before graduation.”
Browning also wrote that with the “least disruption in mind”, he decided to overrule the SBC and instead recommend Option 13 to the school board. Option 13 does not rezone Seven Oaks, but does move students in Meadow Pointe IV and Country Walk from their current schools of John Long Middle and Wiregrass Ranch High to Weightman Middle and Wesley Chapel High.
“Under option 13, the projected average daily membership for Wiregrass Ranch High School will decrease after the seniors graduate in 2017,” Browning wrote. “Projected enrollment goes down to 2,124 in 2018 and 1,956 in 2019.”
Wiregrass Ranch currently has 2,495 enrolled students, and 2,658 boundary students, and is at 163 percent of capacity.
“We are committed to getting the Cypress Creek middle school built as soon as possible, hopefully in five years,” Browning continued in his letter. “If we are successful convincing the county commission to increase impact fees on new homes for schools, we believe we’re in a very good position to be able to fund the middle school and build it within five years; without it, we will have more difficult decisions to make in the near future.”
So to summarize: Option 12 was chosen, then discarded for Option 20, which was then shelved for Option 13.
The parents in support of Option 20, the final choice by SBC, were large in number and have lit up Facebook with plenty of anger.
They will have an opportunity to persuade the board to ignore Browning’s recommendation.
Normally, there we’d say chances are slim.
But the way this process has played out, we’ll pass.
John C. Cotey can be reached at john@ntneighborhoodnews.com.
Here’s the story that appears in the current Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News:
School Boundary Committee’s About-Face Sets Wesley Chapel Ablaze…Again
With a smattering of black shirts with the crossed out number 12 — representing Option 12 — serving as a backdrop, the Pasco School Boundary Committee (SBC) surprised many in attendance and changed course on Dec. 2.
The SBC unanimously rejected its initial recommendation of Option 12 for new school zones for all three Wesley Chapel high schools in order to populate Cypress Creek Middle & High School off Old Pasco Rd., choosing instead Option 20 to pass on to the Pasco County School Board for final approval.
The vote wasn’t close, with 16 of the 21 voting members raising their hand for Option 20. Option 13 received five votes from the committee comprised of school principals, parents and county administrators, while Option 12 didn’t receive any.
While Option 12 didn’t rezone the Seven Oaks community, the SBC’s new option (20) did, leaving dozens of residents of Seven Oaks as incensed as the residents of Meadow Pointe and Union Park were about Option 12.
Option 20 will now be passed on to Superintendent Kurt Browning and his staff, and then to the School Board for public hearings at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, December 20, and Tuesday, January 17.
“Our neighborhood was saved,’’ said Union Park representative Tom McClanahan, who was supporting Options 13 or 20, neither of which rezoned his community and kept their kids going to John Long Middle School and Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH).
McClanahan had formed an alliance with Seven Oaks, as Option 13 didn’t rezone either of their neighborhoods. “We just wanted to come out against Option 12, that was the biggest issue,’’ he said. “I still think Option 13 makes more sense for the community, but 20 still makes sense for us.”
Parents can attend and mount a challenge to Option 20 with the upcoming board members, which Seven Oaks intends on doing. But Linda Cobbe, the District spokesperson, said Browning told her “he doesn’t have any intention of changing any decisions made by the committees on the new boundaries.”
The SBC’s 16-5-0 vote caused muffled rejoicing and a few silent high-fives from many of the 80 or so parents in attendance at the Wesley Chapel High (WCH) gymnasium.
Option 20 will keep Meadow Pointe III and IV, Country Walk and Union Park in their current feeder zone (Double Branch Elementary to John Long Middle to Wiregrass). While none of the SBC members said it had anything to do with their vote, the selection alleviates many parents’ fears of their kids being transported to school via Meadow Pointe Blvd. and S.R. 54, which was a prevalent theme of the Nov. 29 parent town hall that was attended by more than 1,000 people at WCH (photo above).
“I’m glad the feeder patterns stay the way they are,’’ said Michael Degennaro, who has a 9th grade daughter at WRH. “Every other option broke them up. This keeps the communities intact. Really was no reason to take (us out). There’s 1,600 of us vs. 700 (in Seven Oaks). You displace too many students (with Option 12).”
Residents of the Seven Oaks community, some of whom were in attendance, were not as happy. Students will now be zoned to attend Thomas E. Weightman Middle School and WCH, except for current juniors at WRH, who will be grandfathered in to graduate at the school they attended for three years.
Seven Oaks Voice, the group that has been representing the community during the process, immediately scheduled a number of meetings to formulate a response, including one on Dec. 15 (a week after we went to press with this issue), where local media were invited to attend. We’ll update you on that meeting in our next issue.
Option 20 was originally among the final three choices for the SBC, but was the first one dismissed for two reasons — it didn’t provide as much relief to the overcrowded schools as did Option 12, and it rezoned Seven Oaks, which could need to be rezoned again in four years.
But, some eagle-eyed Meadow Pointe residents disputed the attendance numbers. Kevin Croswell, representing Meadow Pointe III, spoke at a School Board meeting on Nov. 15, saying the original enrollment numbers presented by the county to the SBC in Option 20 were incorrect. Their numbers — which turned out to be the correct numbers and were later adjusted by the district staff — showed that Option 20 offered almost the same relief as Option 12.
“I think certainly the numbers helped,’’ said Chris Williams, the school district’s director of planning. “We corrected those numbers…and basically 20 became comparable to 12.”
The possibility of rezoning Seven Oaks again in four years when a new middle school is built on Old Pasco Rd. next to the new Cypress Creek Middle & High School, seemed to be less of a sticking point.
The new middle school also could be built 6-7 years or longer down the road, said Williams, depending upon how quickly the money, raised from impact fees, becomes available. That longer timeline seemed to cause a few SBC members to have less of a concern about “double-dipping” Seven Oaks in the rezoning pool, and to take a closer look at Option 20.
“It’s not about the community (of Seven Oaks), it’s about keeping the schools together and keeping the integrity of the feeder pattern schools together, that’s the most important thing,’’ said SBC member and Seven Oaks resident Denise Nicholas, who also is the Pasco County Council PTA (PCCPTA) president.
“I did not vote for 20, because I truly don’t believe in rezoning twice,’’ Nicholas added. “I don’t think it’s fair for any community, whether it be Seven Oaks, Meadow Pointe, Union Park, Stagecoach, whoever, to be double-dipped and to have to be moved twice.”
Many SBC members attended the Nov. 29 town hall meeting at WCH, where the large crowd made clear its disdain for Option 12.
WCH, a C-rated school in 2015 after four straight years as a B school, also took a bit of a beating throughout the town hall, as did Weightman, which is a B school, while WRH is a B and Long MS is an A.
Most in attendance at the town hall meeting seemed to favor Option 20, with one parent telling the panel that a petition with more than 1,100 signatures backing that option already had been sent to the School Board.
The biggest loser at the town hall? S.R. 54.
“It’s horrible. It’s horrendous. It’s dangerous,’’ said one speaker.
A large majority of the supporters cited traffic as their main concern, since Option 20 will keep their students from having to be transported up Meadow Pointe Blvd., and then across S.R. 54, in order to get to WCH.
No one wants to travel on S.R. 54, especially considering a widening project right in front where 54 crosses Meadow Pointe Blvd. begins in 2017.
Supporters of Options 13 and 20 were emboldened by a Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) review by Joel Provenzano.
A permits review manager and traffic engineering specialist for FDOT, Provenzano concluded that, “the best traffic pattern for the state roads (by far) is Option 20.”
Provenzano’s professional opinion was debated at the town hall, with some suggesting it was just that — an opinion. No official study (Provenzano’s study was considered a courtesy) has been completed by FDOT concerning the school options and the traffic patterns.
Some Seven Oaks parents said their path to WCH, north on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. and east of S.R. 54, also would be fraught with danger. Nicholas claims the intersection of BBD and S.R. 54 has proven more dangerous than the one at Meadow Pointe Blvd. and S.R. 54.
Williams said the county typically doesn’t consult with FDOT — or the Pasco Fire Department or Sheriff’s Office — when drawing its school zones.
The Multi-Student Issue
Another concern voiced at the town hall came from parents with two children in the same school. One parent who has two children in the band at WRH said the rezoning would be a logistical nightmare, since her senior-to-be would allowed to stay under grandfathering rules but her junior-to-be would be moved to WCH under Option 12.
This is a legitimate concern echoed by a number of parents during the night. Students who will be seniors next year don’t have to change schools, but their siblings who are incoming freshman or rising sophomores or juniors will have to.
“Friday night is going to be very hard,’’ the mom said, as she will have one student performing in band at WRH while the other is performing at the same time at WCH.
Williams suggested at the Dec. 2 meeting that parents use school choice as the best option to keep their kids together, although there are no guarantees.
A number of band and athletic parents, as well as a few band members themselves, weren’t happy about the possibility of changing schools.
Citing scholarship offers and exposure, they argued that leaving a band at WRH that finished 4th in the state for a new band that likely will not be as good was detrimental to their college hopes.
One parent was distraught that her daughter had taken all of the prerequisites for WRH’s culinary program, and now would have to attend a school that didn’t have one. A WCH student was concerned that the sign language courses she had been hoping to take would not be offered at Cypress Creek. Both were also told to look into school choice.
Eva Cooper of Meadow Pointe III, who has a sophomore and a senior at WRH, lobbied for Option 20 because she claims Option 12 only kept six communities together, while Option 20 didn’t split up any.
She asked why the SBC had originally decided to keep the Seven Oaks community intact at WRH, where 19 percent of the school’s students live, while splitting up Meadow Pointe, which has 46 percent of WRH’s students.
“Why are we accommodating so few, and affecting so many?,’’ she asked.
Another Option 20 supporter and Country Walk resident, Tina Dosal, submitted a proposal based on maintaining the Double Branch Elementary feeder pattern. Maintaining feeder programs is one of the considerations the SBC was tasked with, but Dosal was one of the few to actually make the feeder argument.
The panel at the town hall was comprised of Williams (the director of planning), WCH principal Carin Hetzler-Nettles, area superintendent for east county Dr. Monica Isle, Ed.D, strategic initiatives and allocations program manager Kimberly Poe, area superintendent for central county Dr. David Scanga, Ed.D., assistant superintendent for support services Elizabeth Kuhn, director of transportation Gary Sawyer and county athletic director Matt Wicks.
Most Outstanding Defensive Lineman Christian Austin rushes the quarterback in the second annual Pasco County East-West All-Star game, which was played on Dec. 8.
Wesley Chapel High (WCH) defensive lineman Christian Austin wreaked havoc on the West team’s offensive line to earn Most Outstanding Defensive Lineman, but it wasn’t enough to lift his fellow All-Stars to victory Dec. 8 in the second annual Pasco County East-West Classic, which was played at Sunlake High in Land O’Lakes.
The East team, with Austin and 13 other players from WCH and Wiregrass Ranch High (WRH) on the roster, fell to the West 27-21 on a quarterback scramble in overtime.
WRH and WCH had seven players each named to the team, which is comprised of only seniors. The event was sponsored by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel.
“This is a great thing, what we’re doing here,” said WRH head coach Mark Kantor, who was the head coach of the East team. “We should keep it rolling. It’s fun to coach the kids (from other schools) and just to be part of this.”
Wesley Chapel-area players showed up early and heavily on defense for the East squad. WRH’s 6-foot, 180-pound linebacker Ryan Scamardo made a touchdown-saving tackle and had a quarterback pressure on the West’s opening drive, but the West still found the end zone on a third-and-goal for the game’s first score.
A fumble recovery then set up a short field for WCH quarterback Jacob Thomas and the East offense. Thomas completed a first down pass to the 13, and then Zephyrhills Christian’s Mykh’ael Chavis ran it in from there to tie the game.
Austin, who is undersized for an interior player at 5’-10’ and 190 lbs., but able to use his edge in quickness to make plays, was a menace from his defensive line position. He beat behemoth 6-8, 350-pound lineman Darrin Bright of Ridgewood for a tackle-for-loss on the West’s fourth drive, forcing a punt.
On the next West drive, they tried a halfback option play, and Scamardo was there to break it up for a loss of yardage and force a fourth down.
Scamardo’s WRH teammate and fellow LB Jason Winston, tripped up the West quarterback on the ensuing drive to force another fourth down. Another Bulls player, safety Dylan Bryan, made a huge play on the next drive, intercepting the ball and returning it to the West 36.
In the third quarter, the West took a 13-7 lead but local defenders kept making plays, as Winston and Bryan combined to force another West fourth down.
The offensive players from WCH and WRH began making their marks, as well. On first-and-goal from the 5, Thomas ran a bootleg to his left and beat the West defense to the corner for a touchdown to give his squad a 14-13 lead.
And then, Austin logged another sack on the West’s ensuing possession.
With time winding down, the East got in the end zone again to take a 21-13 lead with 1:12 left to play, but the West charged right back with a touchdown and two-point conversion with 18 seconds left to send the game into overtime.
But, even though the West team fell short, WCH coach Tony Egan, who served as an assistant for the East squad, said, “This was an awesome experience, mixing it up with other coaches, no one wanting to give up any secrets, keeping it very vanilla. It’s also another chance for some of these players to get something on film.”
Egan mentioned that Thomas had finally received his first of what Egan expects to be multiple scholarship offers, from Ave Maria University near Naples, FL.
“Honestly, it was a shot in the dark,’’ Carrier says. “Since I just bought a house I didn’t think I’d get approved.”
