Road Closure Coming This Week

Morris Bridge Rd. at the S.R. 54 intersection will be closed for five days beginning Thursday.

An around-the-clock detour of Morris Bridge Rd is scheduled to begin after 12 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 17, and be active until Thursday, Sept. 22, as long as the weather doesn’t get in the way and delay construction crews trying to do their work.

Drivers can follow the detour signs along S.R. 54, U.S. 301, S.R. 56 and Morris Bridge Rd.

This closure/detour is necessary for the Cone & Graham construction company to reconstruct the southern side of the intersection of Morris Bridge Rd. and S.R. 54 as part of the $42.8-million S.R. 54 widening project, which is adding two lanes with medians to the previous two-lane road running from east of Curley Rd. to east of Morris Bridge Rd. 

For more information on the project, which is expected to be completed sometime late next year, visit HERE.

Publix Prepping For Big Move And Other Notes

It has been almost a decade since the plans for the Publix supermarket in the Hollybrook Plaza to move a little to the east into a newly built location were first floated.

But now, those plans finally are picking up steam.

According to permitting records filed with Pasco County, Publix is beginning the process of moving from its current location at the corner of S.R. 54 and Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. to a 9.5-acre parcel right across Wiregrass Ranch Blvd. from the Walmart.

Plans indicate that Publix, which owns the land, will build a 60,548-sq.-ft. center, which will be anchored by a 48,848-sq.-ft. grocery store, with a 2,100-sq.-ft. liquor store and 9,600 square feet of retail space.

The new Publix center will be located directly behind the Bank of America, Advance Auto Parts and Starbucks-anchored Pleasant Plaza on S.R. 54 (see map).

Permitting also was submitted last month for a retail and restaurant project to be located behind the Clearwater Crossing plaza (anchored by Glory Days) and wrapping behind the new Publix.

Wiregrass Ranch development company Locust Branch, LLC, submitted a preliminary development and construction plan for a 7,216-sq.-ft. strip center.

There are no current plans for the future of the Hollybrook Publix building. However, Scott Sheridan, the chief operating officer of Locust Branch, LLC, doesn’t think it will remain empty for long.

“I think that will be an easy fill,” he says, largely in part to the fact that it is a heavily-trafficked area. 

There are also new apartments planned just south of Hollybrook Plaza, behind the Sonny’s BBQ on BBD.

TWO MINUTE WARNING: The Sombutmai Center, located at 22835 S.R. 54 a little west of Morris Bridge Rd. in Wesley Chapel, is adding a restaurant to its plans, according to permitting records.

2 Minutes, a popular mom-and-pop  restaurant known for its large portions and located on Gall Blvd. in Zephyrhills, is planning its second location at the new Wesley Chapel-located center.

The new 2 Minutes will be 3,017-sq.-ft. and will serve breakfast, lunch and dinner.

NEW CHILDCARE OPTIONS: There are a few new childcare/education options coming for Wesley Chapel residents.

Amazing Explorers Academy (AEA), a 12,110-sq.-ft. facility which will be located just south of Overpass Rd. near Watergrass, is in permitting. AEA will offer a STEAM curriculum for 200 students between the ages of six weeks-12 years old.

Also, a 13,586-sq.-ft. Primrose School (for children in Pre-K through kindergarten) on Chancey Rd. and Persimmon Park Dr. in Wiregrass Ranch also is in permitting. A third, as-yet-unnamed 10,000-sq.-ft. childcare facility is being planned just north of the El Dorado Furniture store (see below) on Wesley Chapel Blvd.

PLACE TO SIT: Speaking of El Dorado Furniture, the 70,000-sq.-ft. store located on S.R. 54, just west of Wesley Chapel Blvd. (across from the Cypress Creek Town Center), will hold its Grand Opening in September.

El Dorado promises a different kind of furniture store experience, with Boulevard showrooms set up like strips of old-fashioned city streets, with benches and street lamps lining the path.

Weightman, Teachers Big Winners On Primary Night

As far as surprises go, Pasco County didn’t have many (if any) on Primary Election night (Aug. 23).

But, the Wesley Chapel area most likely has a new commissioner lined up to replace the departing Mike Moore in District 2. Buoyed by the backing of Moore and other well-known local Republicans, Seth Weightman coasted to an easy win over opponents Christie Zimmer and Troy Stevenson.

Weightman picked up 48.9 percent of the vote, while fellow Republicans Zimmer (27.1 percent) and Stevenson (24 percent) basically split the rest.

A regional manager for waste-hauling company Republic Services, Weightman was backed by county tax collector Mike Fasano, former Florida House Speaker Will Weatherford and current Florida Senate President Wilton Simpson (who won the GOP nomination for Florida Secretary of Agriculture and will face Democratic nominee Naomi Esther Blemur in the General Election on Nov. 8).

Only registered Republicans voted in the two County Commission primaries. If only Republicans had entered the races, the primaries could have decided the elections, as voters of all parties would have been allowed to cast ballots.

But, Louie Rodriguez entered the Dist. 2 race as a write-in candidate with no party affiliation, which closed the primary to only Republican voters.

On Nov. 8, Weightman and Rodriguez will “run” against each other. 

In Dist. 4, challenger Gary Bradford was accused of employing the same closed primary strategy when he defeated incumbent Christina Fitzpatrick 43.9-37.7 percent, avenging his loss for the same seat in 2020. 

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Bradford acknowledged that a friend of his, Cory Patterson, filed as a write-in candidate in order to close the primary to Republicans only. 

As the Times noted, Patterson, who has donated to Bradford’s campaign and has a Bradford campaign sign in his yard, will “run” against his friend on Nov. 8.

Only about 1 in 4 (24.8 percent)registered voters in Pasco County cast ballots in the 2022 Primary Election. However, that was still up from just 21 percent for the midterm Primary Election in 2020.

Meanwhile, there were three Pasco School Board seats up for grabs on Aug. 23. In Dist. 1, which includes all of Wesley Chapel, Al Hernandez (44.8 percent) and James Washington (31.5) were the top two vote-getters of the three candidates. Since Hernandez failed to pass the 50 percent threshold, he and Washington will square off in November to determine who replaces retiring Allen Altman, the Dist. 1 member since 2006.

Cynthia Armstrong edged Matthew Geiger by 2,159 votes on Election Day, but by then, had already built a massive 13,000-vote advantage via mail-in ballots, to hold on to her Dist. 3 seat with 58 percent of the vote. Megan Harding retained her Dist. 5 seat with 71 percent of ballots cast.

In other races, Dist. 12 U.S. Congressman Gus Bilirakis easily won his primary with 84 percent of the vote. His 33,883 votes were more than five times the combined amount of his four challengers, who received roughly 6,000 votes total. Bilirakis is in a safe Republican district and is expected to easily win re-election in November against Democrat Kimberly Walker and Charles Smith, who has no party affiliation.

And, in one of the more interesting votes of the night, Pasco’s millage referendum to raise funds to increase teacher salaries easily passed (59-41%), even though a similar measure narrowly failed in neighboring Hillsborough County.

In Pasco, registered Republicans, generally advocates of lower taxes and less spending, outnumber Democrats 165,856 to 114,335. But, in Hillsborough, which has more registered Democrats, its millage referendum failed in a vote so close a recount was ordered.

Calling All Foodies! It’s Time For the 2022 Reader Survey!

For you oldtimers out there, it doesn’t seem that long ago that the debate over who had the best food in New Tampa or Wesley Chapel came down to the ABC Pizza on S.R. 54 and the gas station in front of Pebble Creek (Spoiler alert: It was the ABC Pizza).

Now, the choices for good food in both of our distribution areas are seemingly endless. CLICK HERE FOR THIS YEAR’S FOOD SURVEY.

In fact, in Wesley Chapel and New Tampa alone, there are close to 200 restaurants, and pretty much everything is covered, except for maybe Vietnamese, although a quality full-on Vietnamese restaurant is going to be opening soon just south of County Line Rd. (scoop alert!).

Otherwise, if you have a hankering for something, there are multiple places to satisfy your cravings.

But, to determine what the best places are (or, at least, your favorite places), we need your help. Any Reader Survey is only as good as, well, its readers. So whattya say? Take a few seconds and fill this out.

There may be a few more categories this year than usual, but we think we’ve actually made it simpler for you — just type in your favorite choices, although we do ask that your rank your favorite three restaurants in New Tampa and Wesley Chapel overall. Of course, if you see this in your copy of the Neighborhood News, and throw it in an envelope and mail it to us.

Heck, if you prefer writing it out, you can take a picture of your ballot once you fill it in and even email it to john@ntneighborhoodnews.com.

We even have prizes for a few of the lucky ones that do!

We — and the local eateries — do truly appreciate your participation. 

So, what’s different this year? 

Well, we’ve added a “Best Dish” category, because sometimes, that’s the reason you’re going to a certain restaurant. Maybe the place isn’t your favorite overall, but the spaghetti and meatballs are simply to die for. Some restaurants just do one thing better than anyone else, so fill us in!

We’ve also added a “Favorite Appetizer” category because it can make or break a dining experience. These days, mozzarella sticks and loaded potato skins simply aren’t enough. Restaurants are really putting some serious effort into their pre-meal offerings. And really, who hasn’t ordered nothing more than an appetizer (or two) as their meal?

We’ve also added a Covid-19-inspired category — “Best Coffee Shop,” because a lot of us work out of a coffee shop these days.

We’ve also added “Best KRATE at The Grove,” because, well, duh! While you can certainly vote for any of the container restaurants in any other category, we decided that the container park really needed its own category. Plus, we’re curious to see how this one will turn out.

We decided to split the dessert categories into “Best Ice Cream/Frozen Yogurt (FroYo)/Gelato” and “Best Bakery” sweets, and added a “Best Fried Chicken/Wings” category, given “Best Indian Food” and “Best Latin (Other Than Mexican)” their own categories for the first time, added “Best Breakfast/Brunch” and brought back the “Best Burger” category.

And, with the exception of the KRATEs, any of your favorites can be in New Tampa (zip code 33647, as well as in the Palms Connection plaza on E. Bearss Ave. in 33613) or Wesley Chapel (zip codes 33543, 33544 and 33545, as well as 33559, which is technically Lutz, but it allows you to include picks near the Tampa Premium Outlets, since so many locals love so many of those places to eat). 

We think we have everything covered this time around. While it might be a little more work for you than when we gave you the names of pretty much every restaurant in our distribution areas, our goal was to present enough choices so that this year’s Reader’s Survey would present the most complete and accurate snapshot of your views of the dining experience in Wesley Chapel and New Tampa. 

Now, it’s your turn. Thanks in advance for entering, which, one more time, you can do by CLICKING HERE. — JCC & GN

Habla Español? There’s Cancer Support For You

Deacon José Moronta and Mariela Labrador have organized a cancer support group that helps break down the language barrier for Spanish-speaking people. They group meets at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church the third Thursday of each month. (Photo: Charmaine George)

When Mariela Labrador, a long-time parishioner of St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church on Cross Creek Blvd., found herself a caregiver for a loved one with cancer, she looked around for resources and support from her community.

As a native Spanish-language speaker, she found it helpful to connect with others who understood what she was going through, and where she could communicate without any language barrier.

She found Latinos Unidos Por Un Nuveo Amanecer (Latinos United for a New Dawn, or LUNA) online at LunaCancerFL.org. LUNA’s mission is to reach out to the Spanish-speaking community to help cancer patients, survivors and their families.

Over time, Mariela began volunteering for the organization, which has been part of the Tampa Bay community for more than 20 years, and eventually, she became a member of the organization’s Board of Directors.

Earlier this year, Mariela says, she decided to connect her work with LUNA to her church and organized a support group to meet at St. Mark’s for Spanish speakers who are facing cancer.

She says she hopes to grow the group to be large enough to support bringing in guest speakers on relevant topics, such as nutrition, relaxation, or pain management. But, at this time, she is focusing on building relationships and growing the group so people can share experiences and lean on each other.

“At this point, I’m concentrating on reaching out to the community and identifying the needs,” Mariela says.

The local LUNA group meets at St. Mark’s on the third Thursday of each month, from 6:30 p.m.-8 p.m.

While the group took a break over the summer, its next meeting will be held on Thursday, September 15. All are welcome to attend. You do not have to attend St. Mark’s or be of any particular faith tradition to participate in the support group, and there is no need to RSVP in advance.

Anyone who has questions or needs more information, can call the church at (813) 907-7746.