The New Tampa All Abilities Park, which has been in the works since 2018, could be open by the end of this year.
Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera, who represents New Tampa in District 7, says that although he hasn’t yet heard of an official opening date, he is hoping the park — which will cater to children with autism and other sensory and cognitive challenges, can open sometime next month.
The city broke ground back on the park on Feb. 14.
“The All Abilities Park is coming along great,” says Viera, who excitedly posted these pictures on his Facebook page recently. Viera has spearheaded the park’s development since first winning office in 2016. His older brother Juan is on the autistic spectrum.
The full-fledged autism/sensory park will be the first of its kind in Tampa. Tens of thousands of kids in the New Tampa area and beyond are projected to use the park once it opens.
The 10,000-sq.-ft. park will include play pieces that are wheelchair accessible and geared towards those with sensory challenges. Other sensory areas and colorful murals highlight a nature theme.
The park, which will cost roughly $2 million, paid for by the city and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) federal funding, will be available to everyone.
“I am grateful for the hard work of our city staff,” says Viera, a New Tampa resident. “I have worked for five years to get this park created and it is wonderful to see how beautiful it is. More than anything, this park is a symbol to families raising children with special needs that they do have a place at the table in our city.”
Darren Glover made the move in 1997 from Eisenhower Middle School in Gibsonton to a brand new high school opening in New Tampa.
A quarter of a century later, he’s still a Wharton Wildcat and has no plans to ever leave. He was one of more than 200 current and former Wildcats who gathered Nov. 5 in the school’s cafeteria to celebrate the school’s 25th anniversary.
Glover is one of just five teachers at the school that opened the school and has remained there, along with paraprofessional Sherry Hargin, guidance counselor Cindy Rogers and English teacher Merrill Connor.
Others, like current principal Mike Rowan, assistant principal Eddie Henderson and guidance counselor Tommy Tonelli, were at Wharton in 1997, but left for other jobs before coming back to stay at the school.
While Glover may not have expected to spend the next two-plus decades at Wharton, he confesses to having loved every minute of it.
He met his wife Elizabeth, a social studies teacher, at the school (well, technically, at happy hour at Durango Steak House, which is now Hungry Crab Juicy Seafood). They had two sons – Riley, who graduated from Wharton in 2021, and Aubrey, who is currently a senior.
“I built a family here. It has been really great,” says Glover, a driver’s education teacher and athletic department business manager. When the school organized the 25th anniversary gathering, he was eager to reconnect with past Wildcats.
The celebration included the school’s first principal Mitch Muley and assistant principal (AP) Carmen Aguero (top left photo on next page), plus the four other principals who have led the school — George Gaffney, Brad Woods, Scott Fritz and current principal Mike Rowan, who was an original teacher at the school (all of whom are shown on page 1).
Also on hand were original staffers and athletic coaches Marcie Scholl, David Mitchell (2nd photo from left on next page), Henderson and Tonelli (both in far right pics on next page). The celebration was held prior to Wharton’s football game against Hillsborough High, and many of the dignitaries stuck around for the 27-7 win, as the ‘Cats head into the playoffs. Many of the original staffers were recognized on the field during halftime.
“I was really looking forward to seeing everyone,” Glover said.. “They weren’t coming back for a free hamburger (or, in this case, Mediterranean food from The Little Greek); they were coming back for a reason. — to see their old high school, to be a part of it again. It’s a great thing.”
The original staff at Wharton.
During the pre-game meal, not only did the 200+ people in attendance hear from Muley and Rowan, but current Wharton math teacher Carlos Rosaly read a number of recollections of the early days of the school written by those original staffers:
“From Carmen Aguero,” Rosaly read, “one day there was a huge squirrel that climbed up the building outside the cafeteria and Mitch yelled to Junior (former head custodian Tirso ‘Junior’ Cintron), ‘Get the pressure washer and shoot that thing. So, Junior did exactly that. Meanwhile, the bell rang and out from the cafeteria came 200 children who all of a sudden were getting showered on.”
Rosaly also read an anecdote from former Wharton AP Pam Peralta, “Some of Pam’s favorite memories are coaching swim team with Marcie Scholl and winning Districts in our first year, and attending sporting events and watching Wharton’s finest cheerleaders at the spring pep rally that first year.”
Rosaly said Aguero also recalled when interviews were being conducted in the trailers on BBD and Muley was upset about something and “started spewing profanities…in front of a visiting parent. Carmen said to the parent about Muley, ‘Man, you never know what you’re getting into with these construction workers.’”
Starting Out…
In December 1996, Mitchell Muley was named Wharton’s first principal. He had already opened Ben Hill Junior High on Ehrlich Rd. 10 years earlier, and he had a good relationship with long-time Hillsborough County Schools administrator Paul R. Wharton, for whom the school was named. Muley, then 49, was the perfect fit.
Mitch Muley, the school’s first principal.
He worked out of a trailer on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. near where the school was being built.
Muley spent his first six months ordering equipment, interviewing potential teachers and visiting potential students at junior high/middle schools like Van Buren and Buchanan that weren’t really close (Benito Middle School, which also opened in ‘97, provided a much closer option for New Tampa kids, too), and King, Chamberlain and Hillsborough high schools.
He put together a committee of those students who, in March, picked a school mascot — as the Wildcats beat out the Wolves.
In April, the school’s colors were selected – navy blue and white, with black trim – and the school hired its first head football coach, Dan Acosta.
The first football team had to practice that spring at Greco Middle School on Fowler Ave. They had to practice without equipment.
That was followed by selecting cheerleaders, a band director, a fight song and an alma mater song, as well as more coaches and teachers.
On August 17, 1997, Paul R. Wharton High swung its doors open for the first time. The traffic light on BBD across from the entrance to what is now Live Oak Preserve hadn’t yet been installed. Fences and walkways weren’t quite completed. Some painting still had to be done. The auditorium wouldn’t be ready until Oct. 1.
“We were still trying to get our certificate of occupancy two days before opening,” Muley recalls. “Just trying to get everything ready, to get it open, is what I’ll remember from that first year.”
Wharton is now the neighborhood school, but communities like West Meadows and Cross Creek were fairly new, so many of its original 1,400 students were driven or bused in from previously attended far-away schools like Hillsborough and Chamberlain.
“What I remember was the diversity,” says Kedric Harris, currently an assistant principal at Gaither who attended Wharton that first year. “It was the first time being at a school that had a real world atmosphere. We had no seniors, but it was an interesting mix of white, Black and Hispanic students.”
Harris dove right in. He loved being at a new school. He ran for, and was elected, treasurer of the student government, and played on the basketball team that won 20 games.
What he remembers most is that while the school’s colors were blue, white and black, the school itself looked lavender and purple when he first arrived.
Harris was likely the first Wharton student to ever return to the school as a teacher. After graduating from Florida A&M, he became an English teacher at Wharton from 2004-11, and then an administrative resource teacher before moving to Gaither.
Tonelli, who retired as the super-successful boys basketball coach but continues as a guidance counselor at Wharton, says there is always something special about a new school, and you could feel it in 1997.
“It’s the excitement of everything being the first,” Tonelli says. “You are helping to establish the tradition, helping set the pride and create the enthusiasm for the school. That was an exciting time.”
Tough Times, Too…
There were tough times early. More than $19,000 of video equipment (76 VCRs and 14 camcorders) were stolen the weekend before the school opened, and a fight between students the first semester captured a significant amount of media attention.
The fight helped tarnish Wharton’s image, and other similar issues over the years have helped prevent the school from shaking it.
“Wharton, from the beginning, because of some of the fights, got a bad rap and a bad name,” Tonelli says. “But, a lot of really good things have gone on at Wharton the last 25 years. It has been unbelievable, really — really successful in so many areas. Academically, we’ve had some unbelievable kids that have gone on to do great things. From the school paper, the culinary program, the yearbook, the athletics, we’ve had a lot of really good things happen and a lot of good things continue to happen.”
Glover agrees, which is why it meant a lot for the past students, teachers and administrators to gather to celebrate 25 years of wonderful moments, he says
“I think Wharton bound the (New Tampa) area together,” he says. “We’ve had some bumpy times, but it’s a great school. We have some great families here, and there are some great things always happening. I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
The New Tampa Performing Arts Center (NTPAC) isn’t quite open for business yet, but the ribbon at the new facility has been cut.
A gathering of roughly 50 local dignitaries, residents and politicians gathered on Oct. 17 to snip the ribbon and get a peek at the new facility.
There wasn’t too much to see — some of the classroom areas are close to completion and the stage has taken shape, but there are no seats and no orchestra pit just yet — although after using little more than their respective imaginations for more than 20 years, it was a pleasant sight for those involved in the decades-long attempts to build the center.
The NTPAC dates back to 2001, when Hunter’s Green resident Graeme Woodbrook formed a committee of those involved in the New Tampa arts scene to pursue the idea. The vision was grand — a 50,000-, or even 65,000-sq.-ft. cultural center that would put New Tampa on the map and be the area’s anchor.
The current NTPAC is 20,000 sq. ft., but is expandable to 30,000 sq. ft.
Woodbrook and his group eventually formed a nonprofit organization called the New Tampa Cultural Arts Center, but attempts to find a home for the center, and the support they sought, fizzled by 2005 and the nonprofit dissolved.
However, Doug Wall, who founded the still-vibrant New Tampa Players theatre troupe and served on that nonprofit committee, continued the fight.
Woodbrook was on hand at the ribbon cutting, along with former Tampa City Councilman Shawn Harrison, District 2 County Commissioner Ken Hagan and former District 2 Commissioner (and State Sen.) Victor Crist, all of whom played vital roles in keeping the dream alive for so many years.
Wall passed away from cancer in 2017. Without Wall and Woodbrook, the NTPAC would have never come to fruition, according to Hagan.
Nora Paine, the current producing artistic director of the New Tampa Players, said the opening of the NTPAC for the troupe’s first performance, likely sometime in early 2023, will usher in the vision of the original theatre pioneers, and be a haven for those interested in the arts.
“For 20 years, we have made progress in building the New Tampa arts community,” Paine said. “I cannot wait for us all of us to see how the New Tampa Players and the whole New Tampa arts community will be able to flourish with an affordable, reliable and permanent home, here at the New Tampa Performing Arts Center.”
When Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan tossed his shovel of dirt at the groundbreaking of the new and improved Branchton Regional Park last month, he did so with one thing in mind — this is going to be more than just a park. It’s going to be a destination.
Work has begun on the area’s latest county park project, bringing a host of activities to 43 acres just off the southwest corner of Morris Bridge Rd. and Cross Creek Blvd.
The current Branchton Park — a large patch of nature with a trail, basketball court and small playground — is being re-created just south of its current location.
“Currently, it’s a very beautiful, picturesque park,” Hagan said, “but really, it only has a small playground and basketball court, with a shelter. We’re going to turn it into a destination.”
That will involve a larger playground, four pickleball courts, all-sports courts for basketball, volleyball and other sports, a splash pad and walking trails, to name a few of the amenities.
And, that’s just the start.
“It gets even better, because that’s only Phase 1,” Hagan said. “The next phase will have a dog park for both large and small dogs, an event pavilion, additional walking trails with a boardwalk, and a really cool…zipline, which will be the first one in Hillsborough County.”
The zipline is expected to be a private-public venture, and Hagan said he hopes to add more private-backed amenities in the future.
Hagan also has broached the idea of adding a Hillsborough County Sheriff’s office substation to the area. He says he has already secured the $6 million needed to complete the first phase of the park’s upgrades, which could be completed by sometime in 2023.
Two years ago, the county polled local residents about their preferred amenities. More than 500 people responded online to the survey, and the county has incorporated many of those requests into the new park’s design.
“When we build this park, there will be something here for everyone,” said Rick Valdez, director of the county’s Parks & Recreation Department. “From birth to 90 years old, there’s going to be something that you can come out and enjoy at this park.”
When District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore argued for his apartment moratorium, he promised people that there were more than enough multi-family projects coming. He was opposed to land zoned for commercial and retail being turned into land slated for sprawling apartment complexes, saying there were plenty of entitlements for multi-family projects already in existence.
Moore may have had a point.
At the moment, there are more than 20 apartment complexes, ranging from the usual to those promising “luxury” and even “elegant” living locations in Wesley Chapel’s three zip codes — 33543, 33544 & 33545 (see map on pg. 7), that are either making their way through permitting, under construction or recently completed.
If you count other projects just outside the border of the Wesley Chapel area, that number grows. There are apartments coming to the Zephyrhills side of Eiland Blvd., just across the street from Wesley Chapel. In Land O’Lakes, Zephyrhills and San Antonio, that number exceeds 30 rental communities.
All in all, Wesley Chapel could be home to nearly 10,000 apartment dwellings in the next two years, if not sooner.
And, there are more projects not even in permitting yet, large multi-family communities headed to Wiregrass Ranch, the Two Rivers area on S.R. 56 and Epperson.
“The message I was attempting to send is justified by the number we’ve seen either come out of the ground or that are already (in permitting),” Moore says. “And there’s a ton more parcels that already have the multi-family zoning. There’s people holding out or not ready to develop and are holding on to those entitlements. That’s a lot more.”
While Moore continues to worry about apartment oversaturation, the debate still goes on in the County Commission. As recently as Oct. 11, members sparred over whether apartments were more important than jobs.
The Silverslaw Apartments (above) are being built just north of the Hyatt Place Wesley Chapel on the north side of S.R. 56 near I-75, and are one of many large rental complexes on the Wesley Chapel schedule over the nest 2-3 years. (Photo by John C. Cotey)
District 3 Commissioner Kathryn Starkey argued that the county has “hundreds of thousands of jobs coming…these people will need someplace to live.” District 2 Commissioner Ron Oakley, who represents the northern and easternmost parts of Wesley Chapel, agreed.
Eric Garduño, the government affairs director for the Bay Area Apartment Association, says Pasco County has always been near the bottom of statistics when it came to apartments per person. And the Tampa Bay area in general has always adopted zoning ordinances that favored single-family home developers over apartments.
“I think that’s starting to change in the sense that you can’t build single-family and single-family only to meet the housing needs as a community and a nation,” he says.
Wesley Chapel Blvd., which has expansion plans, is home to a number of large incoming complexes. The area around the bustling Grove Entertainment has close to 1,000 units on tap, including many that are already taking lease applications, and the corridors on S.R. 54 and 56 towards Zephyrhills have already attracted a number of projects.
“I think, generally speaking, policy makers really need to look at attracting jobs, and how that goes hand-in-hand with housing,” Garduño says. “You are starting to see it in a lot of places.”
