Avalon Park West Continues To Build On Its ‘Small Town Feel’

Home buyers looking for the convenience and amenities that a mixed-use master-planned community offers may find what they’re looking for at Avalon Park West (APW), located five miles east of I-75 at S.R. 54 and River Glen Blvd. in Wesley Chapel. APW is part of the New River Township Development of Regional Impact (DRI), which is undergoing review for a revision requested by the developer, Avalon Park Group, to distinguish APW from the existing New River community.

If approved by Pasco County, the project’s eventual size of about 1,400 acres and 4,400 single-family homes and multi-family units, means the APW development is large in size, but the streets lined with homes featuring spacious front porches and set-back garages give it a “small town feel.”

The landscaping emphasizes natural features such as ponds and trails, while the amenities center offers a clubhouse, pool and playground. Frequent special events like movie nights provide recreation for residents. For people who just want to relax, yoga classes are available.

With New River Elementary within walking distance, as well as plans for a K-12 charter school, an assisted living facility, and plans for a future downtown area with 680,000 sq. ft. of retail and office space, APW is — according to marketing manager AnaLee Rodriguez — a community where residents, “live, learn, work and play.”

Rodriguez says Avalon Park Group has a clear vision of what the project should be.

“We’re building a small town,” says Rodriguez. “You can grow up in this community, go to school, work, start (and raise) a family here and, with the assisted living facility, you can even have older members of the family live nearby.”

The first phase of APW, known as Cypress Village, consists of 317 single-family homes. Builders for the first phase are Beazer Homes, Avex Homes, and D.R. Horton, which has already completed its involvement in Cypress Village.

Avex and Beazer are still building and selling homes on lots in 45-foot and 55-foot widths. Some floor plans have flexibility in how they can be configured, ranging from a 1,697 square-foot, single-story home with three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a two-car garage (listed at $216,990), to a two-story home priced at $289,990 for 2,974 square feet of living space that includes four bedrooms, two-and-a-half baths and a two-car garage. Homeowners association (HOA) and community development district (CDD) fees combined start at about $2,000 per year, based upon the home you purchase.

Home features vary by builder and model, but examples available include 50-gallon water heaters, high-efficiency HVAC systems, Energy Star-rated appliances, pre-wired security systems, ceramic tile flooring in wet areas and irrigation systems.

For residents like Jefson and Candice Louis, living at APW with their two children means more than having a nice home with a front porch view of the world.

“The community is family oriented with lots of activities,” says Jefson, who cites APW’s annual Fourth of July celebration as one of his favorite events. “It’s great sitting on your porch, watching the fireworks.”

Candice expresses appreciation for the neighborly attitudes of residents. “We meet together, take our children to the playground and eat together on Sunday. We have fun here.”

She’s also looking forward to the forthcoming commercial development that will complement the quiet residential area with convenient shops and services. “That’ll be a great addition,” says Candice.

Sidewalks and nature trails make APW a pedestrian-friendly community, which promotes relationships as well as exercise, according to Elisenda Lopez, whose family has lived there for about a year and a half.

“I like to walk in the neighborhood and run into my neighbors and have conversations with them,” Lopez says.

Cassandra Miranda’s family of five includes three daughters, whom she says benefit from the activities hosted by the community. “They have so many events for the kids to come out and meet each other.,” says Miranda.

‘Avalon Aglow!’

Many events at APW are not just for its residents, but are open to the general public as well, creating relationships with the greater Wesley Chapel community. In addition to summer’s Fourth of July Celebration, APW hosted last month’s third annual Wesley Chapel Jazz Festival (see pg. 3) and the public is invited to attend “Avalon Aglow” on Saturday, December 10, 5 p.m.-8 p.m., featuring food trucks, a snow slide and fireworks.

Inviting the public into the community demonstrates that while APW is designed to be self-contained, that doesn’t mean isolating the community from non-residents, according to APG senior VP Ross Halle.

“We don’t believe in separating people and things by walls,” Halle says. “We see our community as serving a much larger population than just the people who live there.”

To learn more about the homes and lifestyle offered by Avalon Park West, visit AvalonParkWest.com, see the ad on pg 15 of this issue or call 783-1515. The new information center, which should be open in December, will be located at 33613 S.R. 54. To attend a public event, go to the clubhouse area at 5227 Autumn Ridge. Dr.

WCCC Earns ‘Certified+’ Designation

The Florida Association of Chamber Professionals (FACP) had confirmed what local businesses already know:

The Greater Wesley Chapel Chamber of Commerce (WCCC) does a pretty darned good job.

The FACP gave the WCCC a “Certified Plus” Chamber of Commerce designation at it’s annual conference in Orlando Sept. 28-29.

“It was great news,’’ says WCCC CEO Hope Allen. “It’s something we have definitely been shooting for.”

Being Certified Plus means the WCCC scored better than an 86 on its certification program, which took a year to put together. More than 300 pages long, it includes items like a particular chamber’s strategic planning, procedural information, membership growth and plans for transitioning from operating as a non-profit to a regular, for-profit business.

“The Certified Chamber of Commerce program sets standards within the industry and recognizes chambers that have met those standards while offering guidelines for those to improve their effectiveness,” said Tammy C. Bracewell, the FACP  president. “In many ways, it is like the Good Housekeeping seal of approval for a chamber of commerce.”

The WCCC was one of only five chambers to receive the Certified Plus Chamber status this year, joining the Melbourne Regional Chamber, the Charlotte County Chamber, the Bay County Chamber and the Ocala/Marion County Chamber.

The WCCC was the only one in the group that achieved that honored status with their inaugural application.

There are 250 chambers of commerce in Florida, and only 14 currently have Certified Plus Chamber designation, including the Greater Tampa and Brandon chambers.

The WCCC currently has 545 members, and is having its best year to date. Since last year, the WCCC has added 72 new members.

Allen and her two-person staff have helped grow the Chamber while also promoting the Wesley Chapel area. The WCCC gives monthly economic updates to its members via an economic development briefing at Pebble Creek Golf Club and also hosts dozens of free ribbon-cutting and networking events and mixers each year, a monthly business breakfast, a “Lunch & Learn” program, and last week, the Chamber hosted a “Get Down to Business Expo & Lunch” at Saddlebrook Resort off S.R. 54, featuring guest speaker and Business Executive Coach Jayne Jenkins.

For more information about the WCCC, visit WesleyChapelChamber.com, call 994-8534, or see the story on the following page.

Florida Orthopaedic Institute Celebrates One Year In Wesley Chapel!

With 26 years of experience treating patients throughout the Tampa Bay area, the doctors and staff at Florida Orthopaedic Institute are excited about the one-year anniversary of their newest office, located in the Shoppes of Wesley Chapel on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd., directly across from Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC).

The Wesley Chapel office is helping Florida Orthopaedic Institute meet the increasing demand for specialized orthopaedic care that can help residents of Pasco County and nearby communities stay active.

The Board-certified doctors and surgeons at Florida Orthopaedic Institute have been recognized globally for their expertise. Headquartered in North Tampa, the Wesley Chapel office is the tenth for the practice, which now serves patients in or near Bloomingdale, Brandon, Citrus Park, Northdale, Oak Hill/Brooksville, Palm Harbor, South Tampa, Sun City Center, Temple Terrace and Wesley Chapel/New Tampa.

The Wesley Chapel office offers physician services, physical therapy and X-rays. Additionally, three Board-certified physicians are on staff:

• Christopher Baker, M.D., a fellowship-trained specialist in sports medicine and shoulder reconstruction;

• Brian Palumbo, M.D., who specializes in hip and knee replacement surgery, with a focus on diagnosing and treating hip and knee arthritis, and

• Timothy Epting, D.O., who focuses on injuries and disorders of the foot and ankle and general orthopaedic conditions.

In order to maintain the highest level of orthopaedic skill, Florida Orthopaedic Institute only employs doctors who have fellowship training.

“This additional training is just part of what sets us apart,” says Dr. Baker, “especially when the sophisticated work of joints is involved. In order to keep our patients active, the precision of the treatment is paramount to success.”

Dr. Baker has been with Florida Orthopaedic Institute for three years and has practiced in the area for six. He graduated cum laude with his M.D. degree from the University of Florida in Gainesville and completed his residency in Orthopaedic Surgery at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. His fellowship at the Steadman Hawkins Clinic of the Carolinas (in Spartanburg, SC) gave him an extra year of study in sports medicine and shoulder reconstruction, making him the only fellowship-trained shoulder specialist in eastern Pasco County.

He also has been very influential in high school athletics, since he assisted in opening the sports medicine programs at Wesley Chapel and Zephyrhills high schools. Dr. Baker also treats professional athletes and has served as the orthopaedic & sports medicine physician for the Tampa Bay Storm Arena Football League team.

In addition to caring for athletes, he also treats patients who have shoulder pain stemming from aging or injury. Many patients avoid shoulder treatment because they are afraid they will need surgery or because of the misconception that pain is a normal part of aging, but Dr. Baker always informs his patients about all available alternatives.

“There are a lot of options other than surgery, like physical therapy or cortisone injections,’’ he says. “Our mission is to do what is best for the individual patient.”

Even when surgery is necessary, Dr. Baker says he does not go straight to invasive surgical techniques. He uses the latest technologies and says that many repairs are done with an arthroscope to minimize incisions, pain and recovery time. The other doctors at Florida Orthopaedic Institute, like Dr. Palumbo, also believe that minimizing surgical trauma and muscle damage should be a high priority for any surgeon.

Speaking of Dr. Palumbo, he served in the Special Operations Command for the U.S. Air Force. He later earned his M.D. degree from the University of South Florida in Tampa, where he also served as a resident in USF’s Department of Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine. After that, he attended Harvard Medical School’s Hip & Knee reconstruction surgical fellowship for one year at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, MA.

Dr. Palumbo specializes in hip and knee arthritis management, joint replacement surgery and the treatment of failed or painful hip and knee joint replacements. He is Board-certified by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, a member of the American Association of Hip & Knee Surgeons, and serves as an assistant professor for the University of South Florida’s Orthopaedic Residency Program.

There are several unique aspects to Dr. Palumbo’s orthopaedic practice. He is a proponent of the direct anterior approach (DAA) or frontal approach for hip replacements. He says this technique minimizes surgical trauma and allows for faster recovery and decreased pain. He explains that, “Rather than cutting through or damaging muscles, (with the DAA approach) you’re simply spreading certain muscles to the side, using their natural tissue planes. It’s like opening a window versus breaking through it.”

His approach to joint replacement surgery also includes a technique for total knee replacements called Kinematic Knee Alignment. This technique is unique in that the goal of the surgery is to restore the natural position and dynamics of the knee joint, rather than implanting it in an alignment that the surgeon believes is correct.

“Conventional total knee arthroplasty implants the knee where the surgeon thinks it belongs, while kinematic alignment attempts to implant the knee replacement in a way that attempts to replicate (that) knee before he or she had arthritis,” he states. 

Dr. Palumbo also is an advocate for partial (rather than total) knee replacements whenever possible. He feels that sparing hip and knee joint muscles and preserving bone (when possible) can lead to improved and faster recovery and long-term outcomes.

He also firmly believes in the importance of fellowship-trained, specialized surgeons. “The added training and expertise this provides allows us to care for complex failed and painful joint replacement issues,” he says. “Approximately 30 percent of joint replacements I perform are re-do replacements for old or failed joint replacements.”

Educating patients is a core philosophy at the Florida Orthopaedic Institute, whose surgeons encourage patients to seek out options to ensure that they are getting a doctor who is experienced in treating their particular type of injury.

Dr. Epting (below) is a foot and ankle specialist who is Board-certified in orthopaedic surgery, with fellowship training from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Prior to joining the Florida Orthopaedic Institute team, Dr. Epting served three years as an attending orthopaedic surgeon at the Naval Hospital in Jacksonville, FL. He also served as an orthopaedic surgeon in Operation Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan and was awarded the Meritorious Service Medal in 2010. “My military experience and fellowship training allow me to explore all options for my patients so they can receive the best possible care,” he says.

Dr. Epting treat sports injuries (fractures, ligament and tendon injuries) of the ankle and foot, as well as arthritis (fusions and ankle replacements) and foot and ankle deformities. He utilizes non-surgical measures (bracing and physical therapy) as well as surgical repair, arthroscopy, and reconstruction when appropriate.   

For more info, stop in at Florida Orthopaedic Institute’s Wesley Chapel office at 2653 BBD, visit FloridaOrtho.com or see pg. 5. The Wesley Chapel location is open Mon.-Fri., 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Call (800) FL-ORTHO for appointments. — Submitted to & edited by Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News.

Dreaming Of A White Christmas? VIP Pest Control Can Blanket Your Lawn In ‘Snow!’

vippest1
VIP Pest Control owner Vicki Hutto (with her pomeranians Chloe, left, and Bailey) can promise you a White Christmas this year.

On Thanksgiving night, when Meadow Pointe resident Vicki Hutto has her yard set up for Christmas and flips the switch to light the decorations for the first time this season, not only will her lawn be ornamented with reindeer and snowmen, but also with a white sparkle that is reminiscent of northern winters. She’ll have a dusting of “snow” on her lawn, thanks to a service now being offered by her company, VIP Pest Control.

Vicki is both the owner and operator of VIP Pest Control, which is celebrating its tenth year in business in New Tampa, Wesley Chapel and surrounding areas in Pasco and Hillsborough counties. While the company’s specialty is keeping homes, businesses and lawns free from nuisance animals and insects (including termites, mosquitoes, ants, roaches, bed bugs and more), Vicki has developed a creative way to help those who have been dreaming of a white Christmas experience it here in Florida.

vipsnowThe VIP Pest Control lawn care technicians will actually paint your lawn white, providing the perfect backdrop for seasonal decorations. “We even figured out a way to make it sparkle, if you want,” says Vicki.

Vicki recalls an elderly customer who wanted snow in her yard, like she had up north, “and she sang Christmas songs from her wheelchair while she watched her lawn being painted,” she says. Vicki tells of another customer who wanted to propose marriage with a white Christmas backdrop. Now, Vicki is offering a way to make that happen, too.

“We use an organic paint that is kid- and pet-friendly,” she explains. “Dogs can play on it and kids can sit on it for pictures.”

How does it work? “We spray the lawn three times, so that all sides of each blade of grass are completely covered. It won’t rub off, wash off, or wear off, but it is removed after about three grass clippings.” She says that since grass is dormant in the winter, that usually takes about three months.

Especially for northerners who may miss the white beauty of winter, but not the cold, Vicki says, “Here’s your white Christmas.”

For videos that show the treatment being applied, and the results of one home’s snow application, visit VIPPestControlLLC.com/snow.

Green Lawns, Too!

Year-’round, the team at VIP Pest Control works to keep lawns pest-free, which helps them stay green and healthy. In the winter, when grass is dormant, you may have brown patches that take time to correct. VIP Pest Control offers a service to paint your lawn green until the brown patches grow back healthy. If your homeowners association requires you to have a green lawn, call VIP Pest Control to learn about painting it green for the winter.

Like all of VIP Pest Control’s treatments, the green lawn treatment also is environmentally friendly and can be used on lawns where both pets and kids play.

In Your Home…

This is the time of year when VIP Pest Control gets many calls about roaches and rodents, especially as people get boxes out of their attics with holiday decorations for Thanksgiving and Christmas.

“If you see signs of rodents (such as droppings or noises), call us right away,” says Vicki. “Rodents can be dangerous, because they can chew through wires and actually set your whole house on fire.”

Vicki says people often see roaches, especially palmetto bugs, which like to live in cardboard, and German roaches, which can be transported into your home as eggs on boxes delivered by shipping companies.

“German roaches are the ones that will make you sick,” she says. “They’re much smaller than the big palmetto bugs, but they carry diseases.”

And, while termites don’t typically swarm in winter, Vicki says that all Floridians need to be aware that both drywood and subterranean termites can cause damage to your home year-’round. With the drywood termites, sometimes people get a “false swarm.” When you turn on your heat, termites may think it’s swarm season and fly out of the walls of your home to mate. There’s nothing “false” about what they do to your home behind those walls, though.

“When that swarm is gone and you no longer see them, you still have termites,” Vicki explains. “They eat the wood of your home 24 hours a day, and there’s nothing you can do to get rid of them yourself. You really have to call a professional.”

When a VIP Pest Control technician comes out to your home to inspect for termites, they’ll help you determine what conditions in and around your house might lead to termites. For example, termites have easy access to your home when you have mulch up against your house, tree branches or plants that touch your house, or wood-to-ground contact. Hutto says you can help keep termites away from your home by reducing these “conducive conditions.”

When Vicki established VIP in 2006, she says it was her goal to provide a higher level of customer service than other local companies. She says she chose to name her business “VIP” to indicate that to her, customers are, “Very Important People.”

That’s why, for example, you’ll always talk with a live person when you call VIP’s office.  “We give our customers personal attention,” explains Vicki. “No two people are alike, and no two houses are alike.”

Same-day service is often available, especially if you have a serious issue that needs immediate attention. “If you call us in the morning,” says Vicki, “we can usually work you in that day.”

One of the company’s VIP customers is April Saland, who called Vicki when she discovered flying insects in her home.

“VIP came right out and told me I had subterranean termites,” says Saland. “It was a horrible issue, but Vicki held my hand and walked me through the process. She was awesome, and made us comfortable knowing she could save our home.”

VIP Pest Control is located at 119 Flagship Dr., in Lutz. It is open Mon.-Fri., 8:30 a.m.–5:30 p.m. For info, visit VIPPestControlLLC.com or call 234-8888. Also, check out VIP Pest Control on Episode 1 of WCNT-tv on YouTube.

‘That’s A Wrap’ — Schneider’s 1st CineFlix Film Fest Was Fun For Everyone!

full-cineflix-team-garyI can’t even begin to tell you how much fun I had the week of Oct. 31-Nov. 3 at the Cobb Grove 16 theater, as actor/director John Schneider brought his first CineFlix Independent Film Festival to Wesley Chapel.

First of all, Schneider and his producer Alicia Allain of Maven Entertainment were on site all week and five of the 22 films featured in the festival were films they produced together. In addition, Schneider and several of the other filmmakers with films being shown during the festival also were at the theater to answer questions at virtually every showing.

Best of all, I felt honored and privileged to have gotten the opportunity to interview — for WCNT-tv (Wesley Chapel & New Tampa Television) — Schneider and his fellow filmmakers Edo Natasha and Quantae Love of “Popolo” and Trent Dion Soto of “Among the Discarded” before the festival started. Schneider said that he has had enough of still being best known for his most famous starring role as Bo Duke in “The Dukes of Hazzard,” despite also having starred as Superman’s father on “Smallville,” and the fact he currently is starring in Tyler Perry’s popular “The Haves and the Have Nots” on the Oprah Winfrey Network. His twice-flooded John Schneider Studios in Louisiana was the setting for most of his films, although many of the other entries in the festival — including “Popolo” and “Among the Discarded” — were filmed elsewhere.

john-solo-stillNo matter where they were shot, however, Schneider and Allain’s first-of-its-kind independent film festival, which gave these indie filmmakers not only a showcase for their work, but also gives them a cut of the festival’s sales proceeds, was a blast.

I’m not going to lie that the theaters were packed for the festival, but those of us who did attend any of the 22 films did not go home disappointed.

Of the films I saw, my favorite was Schneider’s own legal thriller “Inadmissible,” where he plays a hard-smoking, hard-drinking District Attorney named Bryce Danos who is trying to put away the son of a major mob figure. It’s definitely an exciting, edge-of-your-seat adventure and Schneider appreciated it when I said Danos could kick the butt of Tom Cruise’s Jack Reacher character.

I did also love “Popolo,” which is the story of a former soldier who opens a martial arts school in Hawaii who ends up fighting not only racial prejudice (“Popolo” is a kind of berry in Hawaii that turns black, as well as a racial slur used by some Hawaiian people) but another former soldier turned ruthless mercenary.

inadmissable-titleAlthough Soto’s “Discarded” is a documentary that was shot entirely with a $300 GoPro camera, it is a moving film chronicling the 30 days Soto spent among the homeless people living on Skid Row in Los Angeles.

I also enjoyed Schneider’s “Hate Crime,” about a gay man who kills his lover, and although the story was a little gory for my taste, Schneider’s “Anderson Bench” is a dark, grisly comedy reminiscent of the ‘80s cult classic “Eating Raoul.”

Considering that I had to work, I couldn’t see all of the films during the festival, but the good news is that virtually all of them will be available in Digital on Demand format beginning sometime around Thanksgiving. I wish the films would have been shown in one of the Cinebistro theaters at The Grove 16, but the event was still very entertaining, so I hope Schneider and Allain will be encouraged enough to want to bring the festival back next year.

As for Schneider still being pigeonholed as Bo Duke, I have to agree with what he said during our WCNT interview: “That’s like a guy curing cancer but people knowing him for a great term paper he wrote in 1978.”

For more information about the films at the festival, visit CineFlixFest.com. And, check out all nine of my short interview segments with Schneider, Soto, Natasha and Love at WCNT-tv on YouTube.