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

“This is great news for New Tampa,” said Hillsborough County commissioner Ken Hagan, who represents the New Tampa area in District 2.  “Restoring 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.

“This 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, “it 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.

“The 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 — primarily Pasco County Fire Rescue Station No. 26, located in the nearby Meadow Pointe I community of Wesley Chapel — provided emergency services to unincorporated New Tampa.

“Pasco has done a good job, but the reality is the response times are longer,” Hagan said.  “A 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 — due to a mutual aid agreement between the counties — 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. 

“I 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.

“Fun” and “Fresh” Stuff Coming To New Tampa!

Good news for those bemoaning the lack of things to do with the kids in New Tampa, as well as the number of empty “big box” stores in New Tampa — an Urban Air Adventure Park is on the way to the Market Square at Tampa Palms, the shopping center anchored by BJ’s Wholesale Club on Commerce Palms Dr..

And it’s not alone.

While Urban Air Adventure Park will fill the former home of HH Gregg, Taza Market, an Indian supermarket and eatery, is expected to take over the old Staples location.

Urban Air Adventure is a Texas-based entertainment center franchise with locations all over the U.S.. The New Tampa location will be the company’s 10th in Florida, which includes centers in nearby Lakeland and Port Richey.

It has already announced on its website that it is coming to New Tampa, and according to plans filed with the City of Tampa, the facility will be 28,000 sq. ft. and include areas for a warrior course, spin/flip zone, slam dunk zone, family zone, wipe out area, adventure hub and private rooms for parties to go with a full service cafe.

The award-winning indoor activity center, which calls itself the “ultimate indoor playground for your entire family” and says it is more than just a trampoline park, typically offers high-flying activities, such as a Sky Rider Coaster, climbing walls and elevated ropes course, to name a few.

Taza Market, according to plans filed with the city, will be a 16,382-sq.-ft. Indian super market with fresh food made daily and a cafe-like area of roughly 1,700 sq. ft. with seating for 80.

Taza in Hindi translates to “fresh”.

The Latest On The Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus Of Pasco County!


Above is a 3D rendering of the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County, which shows eight basketball courts that can be divided into 16 volleyball courts. Source: RADD Sports. 

After years of staring at renderings and blue prints and imagining what the new sports complex in Wiregrass Ranch will actually look like, general manager and RADD Sports CEO Richard Blalock’s vision is now coming into focus.

The Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus of Pasco County is no longer just a large patch of cleared land, it has gone vertical, and the current schedule is looking towards a July 10, 2020, completion.

After three failed efforts since 2001 to build an athletic complex on the property located northeast of the Shops at Wiregrass and two miles east of Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., off S.R. 56, the 98,000-sq.-ft. indoor gymnasium is on its way.

Blalock, however, is not letting his excitement get the best of him. While the $45-million facility — which will share a campus with a full-service, Marriott-branded, 120-room Residence Inn hotel featuring a rooftop bar — is a big part of transforming the Wesley Chapel area — and Pasco County — into even more of a sports tourism hotbed, he intends to proceed slowly out of the gate.

“We’ve got people lined up that want to sign a contract now,” says Blalock. 


A drone photo of the progress on the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus. Photo by Charmaine George.

He is proceeding, though, like a quarterback with plenty of time on the clock. It’s not that he doubts the projection. But, he’s leery of Florida’s cranky wet weather that often slows down construction, most recently during Hurricane Dorian’s trip through the Atlantic.

“We had to take all of the cranes down,” says Jannah Nager, who was recently hired as RADD Sports’ director of marketing after working for more than four years as the marketing and events coordinator at the Pasco Education Foundation. She is the wife of Neighborhood News publisher Gary Nager.

With more bad weather lurking, it may not be the last time the cranes and other equipment have to be removed from the site for safety reasons.

“Everybody is beating us up, ‘When are you going to start booking events?,’” Blalock says. “But, I will not start booking events until after this hurricane season. Once the roof is on, or the side panels, I’ll be more comfortable.”

Blalock says a new facility in North Carolina jumped the gun on its opening and, thanks to Hurricane Dorian, had to postpone that opening.

“That’s the last thing we can afford to have happen here,” he says.

By October of 2020, Blalock says, he hopes to have events ready to go at the new facility, which broke ground in June of 2018. He hopes to book at least 25 events in the first 12 months the sports facility is running. Nager’s job is to help spread the word in the community while marketing the facility to sponsors.

“Jannah knows the community, she knows the people, she knows the ins and out, and she knows the politicians,” said Blalock. “We need somebody that knows community and is popular in the community. That makes our job so much easier.”

The primary sports at the new complex will be basketball and volleyball, and cheerleading is expected to be the third core sport at the facility, which can run eight basketball courts or 16 volleyball courts at any one time.

There also is room for multiple mats for wrestling and judo tournaments, with gymnastics also a possibility. Blalock said he even has been contacted by a youth soccer team in the United Kingdom that is interested in training for a few weeks at the new facility, which will have two outdoor soccer fields and plenty of room to train inside if the weather turns bad.

Local Use During The Week!

Weekend sports tournaments, however, will be just part of the big picture at the new facility.

Blalock says there will be plenty of sports programming for local athletes to participate in, too. He says there will be a three-tier system for each of its three core sports — Academy, Competitive and Development — which will allow opportunities for all level of athletes starting at the age of 9 and going all the way through high school 

Jannah Nager and Richard Blalock are just beginning to market the complex to local sponsors. 

The Academy will be for training elite athletes for travel teams, but will also include an educational component and require participants to maintain a certain grade-point-average. He says the sports will be programmed to not interfere with the local high school seasons.

“The ultimate goal is to change the culture of how these kids are trained,” Blalock says, adding that it is well-documented that youth sports are susceptible to being overrun by overzealous coaches and parents, as well as entitled athletes.

The Competitive program also will be in-house, with three days a week of practices and games — and the chance for advancement to the Academy level, Blalock says.

The Developmental program will be “quasi-recreational,” according to Blalock. Volunteer coaches will run the teams, although those coaches will have plenty of access to paid coaches on the complex’s paid sports staff to help develop more drills and gameplans.

The programming also will be competitively priced with the local market, according to Blalock.

For those who like sports but don’t play for whatever reason, the Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus will offer a Sports Administration & Hospitality program, where kids can gather data, travel with the teams and serve as managers.

And, now that ground has broken on a nearby 55-over community in Wiregrass Ranch (see story on pg. 8), more programming for older residents also may be in the offing, like pickleball and Rock Steady Boxing for those with Parkinson’s disease. There may even be room for some golf cart parking spots, Blalock says.

In addition to its youth and adult sports programs, the facility is able to provide space for conventions, banquets and other non-sports events.

Blalock and Nager are putting together sponsorship packages now, and also are accepting resumes for positions, although Blalock stresses that the actual hiring process is likely several months away. 

For more information about sponsorships and more, visit RADDSports.com or email Jannah@raddsports.com. 

Atonement Lutheran Church Cuts A Ribbon On New Fellowship Hall

A ribbon was cut on Sept. 7 for Atonement Lutheran Church’s new building, which has added more space for the church’s many ministries, including a food pantry that feeds up to 250 families each week.

The newly built structure in front of Atonement Lutheran Church may be somewhat nondescript, but the fact that it exists at all is something of a miracle, considering the church was once facing its last rites.

A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held on Sept. 7, to officially mark the opening of the church’s new Fellowship Hall.

At about 2,800 square feet, it is triple the size of the church’s former multi-purpose room, which only held about 70 people. The new room’s capacity is 200.

Pastor Scott Lindner says it’s an exciting sign of growth for the small church, which has been a part of the community for 30 years, but almost closed its doors for good in the early 2000s.

Lindner says instead of giving up, a former pastor sold five of the church’s original 13 acres to a developer to create the neighboring office park.

“When I got here in 2006, they had just burned the mortgage,” Lindner explains.

As Wesley Chapel has grown, the church has grown, too. Atonement Lutheran church regularly sees about 100 families in worship during the summer, and that number doubles in the winter when the “snowbirds” return to Florida.

The church also just celebrated the 10-year anniversary of its food pantry program, which feeds up to 250 families each week with 15,000 pounds of food.

“Our ministries have grown so much in the past five years,” says Rebecca Parker, a church member who also is a volunteer and chair of its worship and music committee. “We needed more space, so this is very exciting for us.”

Pastor Lindner agrees: “We’ve known for years this time would come.”

The new building will be used for not only Atonement’s own full congregation, but also for some ministries and outside groups to use. In fact, the New River Branch Library plans to host some of its programs in the building when it closes for renovations this fall.

The Fellowship Hall also will be used for a weekly family service the congregants call “Child of God,” which is held every Sunday at 11 a.m. 

The entire family hears a message geared toward children from the pastor. Then, the kids break off to do a craft or activity, while the pastor goes over what he calls a “home blueprint” relating to the message.

“It’s like children’s church, but also a parent support group,” explains Lindner. “There’s a story, questions, prayer guides and suggested activities, so you can make your house an extension of the church.”

Five years ago, Atonement Lutheran held a capital campaign that raised $300,000 to fund the building.

“It took us years to figure out what would work and what we could get permitted and what we could afford,” Lindner says. Over those years, prices increased, and the church will take a loan to cover the rest of the costs, which are expected to come in at about $125,000, once all of the final expenses are tallied, including permitting, landscaping and other expenses.

“We’ve been able to be generous to nonprofits by allowing them to use our building at no cost, and we will continue to do that,” says Lindner. “We believe this is a special place; that’s what keeps us going.”

The Wesley Chapel Noon Rotary Club also has announced that it will again feed hundreds of people in need at Atonement Lutheran for the club’s annual “Turkey Gobble” meal on Thanksgiving morning.  

Atonement Lutheran Church is located at 29617 S.R. 54. To learn more about the church, visit DiscoverALC.com or call (813) 973-2211.

Community Comes Together To Honor 9/11’s Heroes

(Above) Pasco commissioners Mike Moore (far left), Mike Wells and Jack Mariano (in back), retired FDNY EMT Stephen Spelman, Penelope Bastidas (with scissors), and U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis (far right) were among those who helped cut the ribbon on the new 9/11 Memorial (right) at the Tampa Premium Outlets on Sept. 7.

For most Americans, the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, will live on forever.

Where you were, what you were doing, who you were with and how the horrifying sight of the World Trade Center’s twin towers crumbling to earth left you feeling afterwards will likely never really go away.

The memories linger, and on Sept. 7, at the dedication of Pasco County’s first permanent 9-11 memorial inside the food court area of the Tampa Premium Outlets, hundreds gathered to share their recollections and honor those who died that day.

Retired New York City EMT Stephen Spelman knew many of them.

Spelman says he was standing at the foot of the north tower and being ordered by his lieutenant to search for some nearby vehicles. 

“What he did in that moment was actually save my life,” Spelman told the gathered crowd.

As he was returning from that task, Spelman said the north tower collapsed. Because of where he was located, Spelman was able to take off running north on West St. to avoid the falling wreckage.

Many of Spelman’s co-workers, including the lieutenant who gave the order, ran east on Vesey St.

Their bodies were never recovered.

Like so many who were at Ground Zero that fateful day, Spelman hasn’t really recovered, either. He retired from the fire department in 2009, and moved to the Wesley Chapel area in 2010. Years went by as he tried to cope with the psychological burden of losing so many of his friends and co-workers, as well as the lingering health problems associated with what he and so many other surviving first responders endured that day. 

In the Spring of 2017, Spelman says he got a call from the Motts Military Museum in Groveport, OH, which asked him to come tell his story.

The event was set for the 16th anniversary of 9/11, but fate and another disaster would prevent the former EMT trainer from attending.

WC Rotary president Chris Casella (left) and Simon Property Group operations director Dallas Stevens check out the memorial.

Hurricane Irma tore through central Florida on September 11, 2017, causing billions of dollars of damage and taking the lives of 129 people. Florida officials ordered 6.5 million residents to evacuate. Spelman never made that trip up to Ohio. 

A few weeks later, however, he got a package in the mail from the Motts Museum — a piece of the ladder from the Ladder 18 Truck from Battalion 4 in lower Manhattan, the station also known as Fort Pitt. 

“At first, I saw it (the piece of the ladder) as a burden, but it wound up being a real gift,” Spelman says. 

The ladder awakened something in him, spurring him to try to find the right home for it, where it hopefully would do some good.

“I didn’t want it to be in my house,” he said. ‘’It’s an important piece of history.”

Spelman began approaching different places with the idea to create some kind of memorial around the piece. It became an ongoing endeavor. After being turned down on multiple occasions, Spelman finally found some interest at the mall. 

“I finally got the ear of Tampa Premium Outlets and gave them a brief history about me and about the ladder,” Spelman said. “They said they’d see if they could help and gave me a list of things to do. I was looking for sponsors to create the display and it was frustrating. I didn’t think it was ever going to get done.”

Help From An Old Friend

Enter former NYPD officer and Spelman’s FDNY colleague Chris Casella. Casella was trained by and worked with Spelman and also came to Florida in 2002 after retiring from the NYPD. (Casella was already on limited duty due to injury before 9/11.)

As it turns out, Casella, the current president of the Rotary Club of Wesley Chapel Noon (which meets Wednesdays at noon at Omari’s Grill inside Lexington Oaks Golf Club; see ad on pg. 38), was already in talks with the outlet mall to launch a Sept. 11 Memorial Run/Walk on Sept. 7.

“From there, it didn’t take much,” Spelman said. “We started the ball rolling and at first we didn’t think people would take interest.” He and Casella would both end up being pleasantly surprised. 

“I can’t tell you the amount of emails I got, and phone calls from people wanting to be involved in it,” Casella said. “People were coming out in droves wanting to get involved. It was really uplifting and I believe it helped the community in a big way.”

Hundreds of local residents rallied around the idea of honoring 9/11’s surviving heroes Saturday morning in the presence of dozens of first responders from both Hillsborough and Pasco Counties and beyond.

The kickoff event was the one-mile Fun Run/Walk, where nearly 300 runners and walkers took a lap around the main interior road around the mall.

Casella’s predecessor as Wesley Chapel Noon Rotary president, Eric Johnson, served as master of ceremonies, and Boy Scouts from Troop 149, together with Cub Scouts from Pack 149, were on hand to support the race and to hand out miniature American flags. 

“The Wesley Chapel Noon Rotary sponsors both our Cub Scout pack and Boy Scout troop and asked us to come out,” Troop 149 Scoutmaster Kevin Wiatrowski said. “We are delighted to be out here for this special occasion. Mr. Spelman and his son Mathew have been part of our pack for years.”

Jeremiah Loo of Wesley Chapel was the first to cross the finish line as runners and walkers trickled in behind him. Bananas and bottled water were offered up by high schoolers from Cypress Creek Middle/High School, as walkers, runners and spectators from all over the area brought their families out for the event. 

Johnson drew the crowd into the food court of the outlet mall where, at exactly 8:46 a.m., the Rotary Club’s bell was rung to commemorate the first plane striking the north tower. 

The Main Event

A moment of silence and a flyover by a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office helicopter preceded the bell ringing, which concluded the morning’s outdoor events. Spectators then crowded into the food court for the ribbon cutting of the new memorial.

Pasco County commissioners Mike Moore, Ron Oakley and Jack Mariano all spoke at the podium, as did U.S. Rep. Gus Bilirakis, before giving way to Spelman to tell his story about 9/11 and the heroes who did not live to tell about it. 

Spelman mentioned Lieutenant Mario Bastidas, who perished that day. Bastidas’ widow Penelope flew in from New York and gave a brief, but emotional address to the audience before cutting the ceremonial ribbon.

From there, the hallway leading out of the food court to the soda machines and bathrooms was opened and spectators began filing past the new memorial, which incorporated Spelman’s small section of Ladder 18.

“When Chris told me they were going to give me a wall by the bathroom, at first, I didn’t really think that was a great thing,” Spelman said. “But it wound up being that with these soda and gum ball machines down there, these kids (at the mall) are going to ask mom and dad, ‘What is that?,’ and it’s our responsibility to educate them.”

Throngs of local residents dressed in their commemorative red 9/11 shirts lined up to take in the memorial. The Italian Angels Brotherhood of Pasco County showed up in force to commemorate the event. 

“Steve (Spelman) is a good friend, I knew him when we both lived in Brooklyn,” Italian Angels of Pasco president Frank Losurdo said. 

Retired FDNY Lieutenant Mike Besignano, who now lives in New Tampa, was on hand to take in the memorial and the community support.

“Every year it’s difficult,” Besignano said. “I’m happy to see this (memorial), I’m sad but it makes me happy at the same time and people should never forget the sacrifices that were made and are continuing to be made.”