Pasco Sheriff detectives are currently investigating the shooting death of a construction worker in Estancia while he was working.
According to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office, a call came in at 12:49 p.m.. The PCSO says this appears to be an isolated incident and not a threat to the community.
Pasco Sheriff Chris Nocco will address the media at 3 p.m.
A Tampa man has been arrested and faces charges of premeditated murder and leaving the scene of an accident in the fatal hit-and-run Sunday morning that left a New Tampa man dead and his two young children injured.
According to police, Mikese Morse was arrested and is being held without bail at the Hillsborough County jail.
At a press conference Monday morning, Police Chief Brian Dugan said Morse was seen by another driver traveling westbound on New Tampa Blvd. when his car made a u-turn and then purposefully crossed over the road near Wood Sage Dr. and plowed over Pedro Aguerreberry and his 3- and 8-year-old sons, Lucas and Bennett, who were out riding bikes.
“He accelerated and drove over the victims,” said Tampa Police Chief Brian Dugan. “It was very clear that he had run these people over and knew that he had run them over. He intentionally drove his 2008 red 4-door Dodge…onto the bike path. At no time did he stop to render aid.”
Dugan said police were still unclear why Morse veered onto the bike path. He said what Morse did was “random and purposeful.”
Dugan said the police have had past contact with Morris. On June 12, he walked into one of their district offices exhibiting odd behavior and was Baker Acted that day. He has had a number of minor traffic infractions.
“He is someone who appears to be disturbed,” Dugan said.
Aguerreberry died Sunday night. His boys are expected to make a full recovery.
The site of failed Mexican restaurant Vuelo’s — which was previously Señor T’s, which was previously Romano’s Macaroni Grill — and which has been vacant since May 8 of last year, may soon be showing some signs of life.
According to Curtis Rorebeck, the managing broker at Hybridge, the site, located right on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. just north of the Home Depot, has drawn the interest of a handful of suitors since going dark.
While stopping short of calling a deal imminent to sell to a group that would open a new restaurant at the location, Rorebeck did say there is an offer under review. “We are going through the process,” he said. “We’ve had a lot of interest on that property.”
Rorebeck even said that on more than one occasion since Vuelo’s closed, the property was under contract, but those deals fell through. The current negotiations, however, are “promising,” he says.
While the location has been blamed in years past as not being ideal, it will be across the street from (and a little south of) the new Villages at Hunter’s Lake planned for 2019-20, which will feature the New Tampa Cultural Center, 241 apartments, a “green” grocer and other retail stores.
MORE FOOD, MON: A few steps south Chili’s (next to Oakley’s Grille), the space formerly occupied by Dairy Queen is being renovated and expected to open as a Jamaican restaurant.
NEW TAMPA PIANO & PEDAGOGY’S NEW HOME?: New Tampa Piano & Pedagogy Academy (NTPPA), which is currently operating adjacent to the New Tampa Dance Theatre on Cross Creek Blvd., is expecting to break ground on its own building near the end of the summer.
Just a few steps west of its current location, developer Abhishek Jain has filed for a permit to build a 4,000-sq.-ft. building, 2,810 sq. ft. of which will be the NTPPA’s new home.
Considering the new location is next to a dance studio, music academy and Creative World School, Jain would like to lease the remaining 1,200 sq. ft. to a youth-oriented business, or perhaps a pediatrician.
Jain’s wife Judith is the founder and executive director of the NTPPA.
S.R. 56 BUSY AGAIN: On the north side of S.R. 56 (across from the Tampa Premium Outlets) in the Cypress Creek Town Center Development of Regional Impact (DRI) in Wesley Chapel, things are going to start heating up again, as a flurry of building permits are working their way through Pasco County.
Just this month, permitting requests have been made for the beginnings of a 20,000-sq.-ft. Home Goods store, a 40,565-sq.ft. Burlington Coat Factory, and a 24,254-sq.-ft. Earth Fare, the first green grocer to land in Wesley Chapel (as we reported last issue).
Permits for four shell buildings, ranging between 1,919-sq.-ft. and 3,000-sq.ft., are being processed as well, although no tenants had been publicly named at our press time.
Those buildings could be homes for some businesses that Dilip Kanji, the Impact Properties president and developer of the Hyatt Place Hotel & Convention Center, said previously were on their way. As previously reported by the Neighborhood News, those include Chipotle Mexican Grill, Total Wine & More, Walk-On Bistreaux and Golf Galaxy.
When the Tampa City Council met in early May to debate a rezoning that would allow M/I Homes to proceed with building 700 new homes in K-Bar Ranch, council members got stuck on one major point:
There aren’t enough roads in the area to allow residents to get in and out of their new neighborhood.
Without connections to Pasco County, particularly merging Kinnan St. in New Tampa with Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe, more homes would mean more residents who are essentially trapped with just one road, Kinnan St., out of their neighborhoods.
So the discussion was postponed until June 28 in the hopes that Pasco, with help from a yearlong Wesley Chapel Roadways Connection Study, which was near completion, would provide some answers.
The report is out. And no, it hasn’t.
At a May 29 open house at the Porter campus of Pasco-Hernando State Community College, an executive summary of the report was presented to roughly 75 locals — including politicians on both sides of the argument — but didn’t address actual connections in a way many who attended may have hoped.
How that ends up affecting future development in K-Bar Ranch remains to be seen. The Tampa City Council will take up the debate again June 28. But, any decision they make will have to be made without any promises of any connections between Hillsborough and Pasco counties. And, Pasco is in no rush to make a decision on the issue.
The public comment period about the Roadways Study ends today, and AECOM, the consulting firm that did the study, isn’t scheduled to present them to the Pasco MPO until August. A final study report will be finalized following that meeting, and then Pasco County will run a public opinion poll — basically an up or down vote on each of the connections, as well as combinations of connectors — in September or October.
The Pasco MPO will then meet in October to review the final study and decide what recommendations to make to Pasco’s Board of County Commissioners (BOC). The BOC will have the final say, with no date given for a final vote.
Connecting only Kinnan to Mansfield — the streets still separated by a 30-foot hop-skip-and-a-jump patch of dirt and bushes — without any other connections being made, was not studied.
District 2 commissioner Mike Moore, who represents the Meadow Pointe area, says connecting Meadow Point Blvd. to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy remains his favored option, and is opposed to connecting Kinnan-Mansfield.
“I think some people possibly thought the study would show maybe just a couple of hundred cars a day (added to Mansfield traffic with the connection),” Moore said, “but the study shows obviously that’s not the case. It’s anywhere from 500 to 4,000 (according to traffic projections). If anyone thinks Kinnan-Mansfield can handle 4,000 cars a day, it’s just not reality.”
When it was pointed out to Moore that the gap between 500 and 4,000 is significant, and that 500 cars could be only 250 making round trips, he said “That’s still a lot.”
At the original roadways meeting May 15, 2017, Pasco residents who filled out public comment cards were opposed to the connection, but only by a 37-36 margin.
“Now that we’ve done the study, and people can see the numbers, the true numbers, I have a sneaking suspicion that will change quite a bit,” Moore said.
While extensive, the study included no recommendations. It only went as far as listing positives — alternate routes during accidents, economic benefits, convenient travel to attractions in Hillsborough County, and relieving the traffic of up to 7,000 vehicles per day on Bruce B. Downs (BBD) Blvd. and Cross Creek Blvd. — and negatives, like the increased traffic with minimal congestion relief for Pasco County roads and almost $2-million in additional improvements needed, with connections. The study looked at four alternatives, including a no-build alternative that would put up a gate for emergency vehicles and bicycle and pedestrian accommodations at Kinnan-Mansfield, but no connection for general public use.
Other alternatives studied included:
• Connecting Kinnan-Mansfield and K-Bar Ranch Blvd. to Meadow Pointe;
• Connecting only K-Bar Ranch Blvd to Meadow Pointe Blvd.; and
• Doing all three possible connections: Kinnan-Mansfield, K-Bar Ranch Pkwy.-Meadow Pointe Blvd., and Wyndfields Blvd. to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy.
Tampa’s District 7 councilman Luis Viera, who represents New Tampa, attended the meeting and was disappointed by the lack of specificity in the study. However, he was pleased by the prospect of at least an emergency gate at Kinnan-Mansfield.
Moore said Pasco County proposed one two years ago, and even offered to split the costs, but Tampa rejected it.
“I’m not looking at this from a political perspective,” Viera said. “If we can have a compromise for now, if a gate is built only for first responders, that’s a net positive. We obviously want to go further. That’s getting to first base, and we want a home run. But right now, that would be a net positive for both sides from a safety perspective.”
On Thursday mornings in New Tampa, dozens of women gather together to laugh, read the Bible and share life with each other.
Some are young women.
Others are moms, who may bring their young children to attend their own classes in a nearby room. Still others are grandmothers and even great-grandmothers.
Whether they’re young or old, married or single, parents or not, and whatever their religious preference, all women are invited to join the Tampa Northeast/New Tampa Community Bible Study (CBS) class, says the group’s teaching director, Karis Tiberia.
“We’re there to study the Bible together,” Karis explains. “One of the things I think is special is that we focus on the essentials of the Christian faith, not on denominational distinctions. Whether they attend church or not, everyone is welcome.”
While the focus is on studying the Bible, that’s not all that’s happening in the group.
“We encourage each other, love each other, challenge and take care of each other through all of the ups and downs of life,” Karis says.
The Tampa Northeast/New Tampa CBS class is part of an international organization called Community Bible Study. The group that meets in New Tampa has just completed its third year, with about 75 women registered, and will begin its fourth year this fall.
It meets most Thursday mornings, from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m., at St. James United Methodist Church, 16202 Bruce B. Downs Blvd. While St. James provides meeting space for the group, it is completely independent and supported by other churches, too, such as Grace Episcopal Church, where the group’s Leaders Council meets each week to prepare.
Moms who have children who are in third grade and younger can bring the kids along. Carmellia Loyd is the children/youth director. She says children will be cared for in a loving, fun and safe environment, and all teachers are trained and background checked.
“It’s not childcare,” Carmellia says. “From the time they’re two and older, they’re in programming, learning Bible stories, songs, simple verses, and how to have a relationship with God.”
The group’s leadership team is made up of 15 women, including Karis and Carmellia. When women join CBS, they’re placed into a smaller discussion group, called a “core group.” New this year, one core group will be meeting in the evening to accommodate more women’s schedules.
The first class will be held Thursday, September 6. An Open House will be held on Thursday, August 30, 10 a.m.-11:30 a.m., for people to drop by, find out more about CBS, meet the leaders, pick up a study book and/or register. The group will meet most weeks, except for holidays, and will end on May 9, 2019.
The group will be studying the Book of Matthew. Registration is $35 and children’s registration is $10.
Participants complete a 10-15 minute lesson in their CBS study book each day, then gather for the weekly class, where they sing worship songs, break into discussion groups, and then come back together for a large group teaching, led by Karis.
“Some people gain knowledge by answering questions, others by sharing in discussion, and some by hearing the teaching,” Karis says. “CBS covers all of those ways.”
Carmellia says she has been involved in CBS, which has several groups in the Tampa Bay area, for 18 years.
“The thing I like about it is it is straight Bible study,” says Carmellia. “They ask you questions, you look at the answers in the Bible and discuss it in your small group. It doesn’t matter if someone has known Jesus for six weeks or has been a saint for 60 years — everybody has something to contribute.”
Carla Rybolt is the group’s coordinator, handling logistics, including member registration. She has participated in the New Tampa group since its inception.
“Being in God’s word keeps me closer to God at all times,” Carla adds. “I was in the midst of a terrible storm when I started with CBS and the class led me through a gamut of learning how to completely trust God and let go of all of my anxieties. Through everything that I’ve learned, I’ve been surrounded by amazing women who hold me up.”
Karis agrees. “It’s made a difference as I go through life to have women who I know will be there for me. Aside from the Bible study and how we grow in our faith, I am also personally encouraged by my participation both in the class and as a leader.”
All three women say they love the diversity of the women who attend the group.
“The number one thing I liked about CBS from the beginning is that it’s biblically-based and everybody is welcome. Whether you’re Atheist or Jewish, no one is ever turned away,” says Carla. “Jesus tells us to love one another, and that’s the way it is at CBS.”
Carmellia adds, “It’s for anybody, whether you want to find out what the Bible is all about or have studied it for years. It’s a great place to feel comfortable and not judged.”
Registration is open now. For more information, visit the group’s website at TampaNortheast.CBSclass.org or email Carla Rybolt at CBS.Tampa.Northeast@gmail.com.