After failing to convince Pasco County commissioners to accept one of their proposed projects in Seven Oaks, SD Wesley Chapel and Stock Development, LLC, are appealing the decision under the state’s Land Use and Environmental Resolution Act.
At the Feb. 22 Pasco Board of County Commissioners (BCC) meeting, county attorney Jeffrey Steinsnyder told commissioners that SD Wesley Chapel and Stock Development are claiming the 3-2 vote against their project was “unreasonable and unduly burdensome.”
Steinsnyder said the appeal was rare. “It’s been a while since we had one,” he said.
SD Wesley Chapel and Stock Development LLC want to rezone a 10-acre parcel (S-19) at the southern portion of Seven Oaks (just north of S.R. 56; see map above) currently zoned for commercial and retail so it can build a high-end 320-unit apartment complex as part of a vertical mixed-use development.
The proposed apartment complex would include a pool, a dog park and open space for gatherings in the southern portion of the complex.
Steinsnyder said the developers and county have agreed to meet with a special magistrate, David Mechanik, who is a Florida Supreme Court-certified mediator.
While a site for that meeting hasn’t been chosen, the public is invited to attend, especially those who are affected by the proposed development. If a resolution can be reached, another public hearing would be held and the BOCC would have to vote on the project again.
Pasco’s Planning Commission originally voted down the plan to rezone the 86,000 square feet of retail and office space in September due to a number of concerns.
After the developers amended their original plan, the BCC voted 3-2 against it at the Jan. 11 meeting, with District 2 commissioner and Seven Oaks resident Mike Moore joining District 1 commissioner Ron Oakley and commissioner Jack Mariano of District 5 in opposition.
The Seven Oaks application was submitted prior to the BCC’s current apartment moratorium.
At the exceptionally long Jan. 11 meeting, dozens of Seven Oaks residents showed up to speak against the project.
Gary Lemberg, the president of the Seven Oaks Property Owners Association, told commissioners at that meeting that he hadn’t talked to a single Seven Oaks resident that favored the project. “Our board is definitely against it,” he said.
The arguments against the project varied, from traffic concerns on Ancient Oaks Blvd. (a major north-south route through Seven Oaks) to the effects on school capacity to general compatibility.
Opponents of the project, including attorney Chelsea Waller-Douthard of Waller Law, mentioned the number of apartment complexes already in that area.
Windsor Club at Seven Oaks to the east has 240 units on 14.7 acres, and the Colonial Grand at Seven Oaks rental community to the west has 318 units on 20 acres.
In addition, the Enclave at Wesley Chapel has 312 units on 43 acres, and Bonterra Parc has 264 units on 26.3 units. Both are located across the street from Seven Oaks, on the south side of S.R. 56.
The proposed project “is double the density of any apartment community in Seven Oaks, and two-and-a-half times the density of other apartments in the area,” Waller-Douthard said, adding that it was more of a fit for South Tampa or Orlando than Wesley Chapel.
I have known Steve Falabella for more than a decade, since he first co-opened 900º Woodfired Pizza in the Shops at Wiregrass in 2011. Today, not only are Steve and his wife Micaela the sole owners of 900º Woodfired, they also opened (in 2021) two new restaurants, which are located next to each other in The Village at The Grove at Wesley Chapel — Falabella Family Bistro and 900º New York Pizza.
We’ve been telling you about all three of these outstanding eateries, not only in Dining Feature stories but also in our annual Reader Dining Survey and Gary’s Favorites features, where Falabella Bistro finished as the #3 Favorite restaurant with me and #4 Favorite Restaurant with our readers for 2021, and both 900º Woodfired and 900º New York finished in the top-6 for Favorite Pizza with both yours truly and our readers — for good reason.
But, no matter how nice a guy and well-liked Steve, his family and crew may be, if his places were all just so-so, they wouldn’t finish as high in our annual rankings. But, the fact is that this native New Yorker whose family roots can be traced to Italia knows great Italian food and he definitely has brought that knowledge to his Bistro and pizza places. Only quality ingredients are used, and it shows, at all three local Falabella-owned restaurants.
OK, Let’s Start With The ‘Za
Steve’s 900º Woodfired pizza may also offer traditional Neapolitan-style wood-burning oven pizza as well as New York style, but he only offers the NY-style at his pizzeria at The Grove.
But, that’s just fine with yours truly, as I have always preferred NY-style, which also has a thin crust, but with a little more crust on the outside ring, made in a traditional pizza oven on what is known in the biz as a pizza “stone.” I also have always enjoyed the thicker-crust, square Sicilian-style pizza, which is another long-time favorite of mine at both of Steve’s pizza places.
Meat lovers pizza
In fact, while I usually order fresh round pies with pepperoni and sweet Italian sausage (or just plain cheese), I also am a big fan of the Meat Lovers pizza shown above. But, Steve says that one of his most popular by-the-slice options is what he calls his Carmine pizza, which is a square pie with a slightly different crust than his Sicilian pizza. The Carmine is covered in “baby” pepperoni and a zingier almost-Grandma’s-style sauce, as the pizza made famous by Carmine Gangone of Carmine & Sons Pizzeria in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, NY.
“Carmine and I are friends from Brooklyn and he showed me how to make his most famous pizza,” Steve says. “That’s why I named it The Carmine. We only sell it by the slice, and it takes two hours to make one pan of it. It always sells out almost right away.”
And of course, 900º NY Pizza also serves a wide variety of other pizzas — from 12” and 18” pies with your choice of toppings to Keto-style; low-carb options made with a cheese crust in 12” or 16” sizes; gluten-free 10” personal pizzas made with a cauliflower crust; and about 20 different Specialty Pizzas, from his version of Grandma’s pizza to barbecue chicken pizza with white sauce, Calabrese (with spicy Calabrese salami, Ortolano (with cherry tomatoes, eggplant, zucchini, artichokes and no sauce) and many more. There’s even “Pizza Metro” party pizzas (36” x 18”) that serve 10-12 people, make-it-yourself pizza kits (which were super-popular during Covid) and of course, an always-changing variety of NY- and Sicilian-style pizzas sold by the slice.
Calzones, Appetizers & More!
But, what if you’re in the mood for something other than pizza? Steve’s got you covered at 900º NY Pizza, too. There are delicious salads, like the grilled chicken Caesar shown on this page, Mediterranea (with romaine, kalamata olives and feta cheese) and more.
Garlic knots
For other starters, 900º NY Pizza also has a great Caprese (with fresh mozzarella and slice tomatoes), bruschetta, mozzarella sticks, fried calamari and delicious oven-baked wings (naked or with your choice of BBQ, Buffalo Hot or garlic parmesan sauce), plus some of the best garlic knots in town. There also are deep fried calzones called panzerotto, fried cheese ravioli and traditional Italian Arancini (rice balls).
I’m personally not the biggest fan of calzones, but if you are, people rave about them at 900º NY Pizza. You can choose from a base calzone with shredded mozzarella, to classic (mozzarella, fresh ricotta and ham), Americano (with pepperoni and Italian sausage) and a vegetarian style “Farcito,” with spinach, black olives and tomato.
And, don’t sleep on the hot subs at 900º NY Pizza, either. Both the chicken and meatball parm subs are served on crisp crust sub rolls with mozzarella and tomato sauce. They’re also delicious.
Pasta, Everyone?
In addition to the pizzas, my other favorite reasons to visit either of Steve’s 900º locations are the delicious pastas.
From specialty baked pastas, like the lasagne, ricotta or blue crab-filled ravioli, baked ziti or the excellent chicken parm entrée (top right photo on this page) served with a side of spaghetti or penne in tomato sauce, to delicioso create-your-own pastas with your choice of pomodoro (homemade tomato), alla vodka, Bolognese (meat), Alfredo (cream) or Pesto (with basil, pine nuts, grated parmesan and olive oil), you really can’t go wrong.
I’m not usually the biggest Alfredo fan, but the fettuccine Alfredo with grilled chicken (pictured) is as good as I’ve had in our area — super-creamy, but not overly heavy.
My favorite pasta is still the pesto “Genovese” style, to which I add not only grilled chicken, but also some sautéed fresh spinach.
There’s also an affordable kids menu with everything from chicken fingers to spaghetti or penne with meatballs, meat sauce, butter or pomodoro, four pieces of fried ravioli or a kids-cut pizza slice (all just $4.95-$5.95).
And, while I don’t usually save room for dessert at 900º NY Pizza, a variety of delicious options is available — from pizza Nutella (a 12” pizza crust covered with Nutella hazelnut spread and dusted with powdered sugar), which also is available topped with strawberries and bananas. There also are Nutella knots (deep-fried dough draped with Nutella and topped with powdered sugar), plus a variety of real Italian ice flavors.
For those who want an adult beverage with their meal, 900º NY Pizza has pinot grigio (white) or cabernet blend (red) wines by the glass, 20-oz. Peroni Italian beer on draft, a variety of other domestic and imported beers, plus White Claw hard seltzers.
900º NY Pizza (6027 Wesley Grove Blvd.) opens every day at 11 a.m. and is open until 9 p.m. Mon.-Thur., 10 p.m. on Sat. & 8 p.m. on Sun. Dine-in, pick-up and delivery (through Uber Eats, Door Dash & ezCater) are available. For info, call (813) 406-4500 or visit 900degreeswoodfirepizza.com, which also has info about 900º Woodfired.
Unfortunately, Doug Wall didn’t live long enough to see his vision of a New Tampa cultural or arts center come to fruition, but those who remember his impact on the local arts scene say his contributions shouldn’t be forgotten.
The founder of the New Tampa Players (NTP), a local acting troupe, Wall succumbed to cancer in 2017. But, in a recent letter to the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners, District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera urged the board to give Wall “a place of named honor” in the New Tampa Performing Arts Center, which is currently under construction in the Hunter’s Lake area off Bruce B. Downs Blvd. and is expected to be completed later this year.
“He came to New Tampa long before we became a booming suburban area,” Viera wrote. “He quickly became the backbone for the performing arts scene in New Tampa….Mr. Wall was here as one of the early pioneers of (zip code) 33647. He needs to be honored on this building.”
Others, like former Hunter’s Green resident and former State Rep. Shawn Harrison and his wife Susan, also support recognizing Wall.
Wall founded NTP and held its first event, a membership gala, in June 2002, and began auditions for its first production “They’re Playing Our Song” the next month, with plans to perform it later that year and Hunter’s Green and Tampa Palms Country Clubs.
For two decades, he fought to help make the Performing Arts Center a reality, while putting on productions and holding youth theater camps in the area.
Nora Paine, the producing artistic director for the NTP, says it would be a fitting honor to include Wall in his long-hoped-for dream.
“Community performing arts in New Tampa are Doug Wall’s legacy,” she said. “Starting in 2002, he set in motion and promoted the efforts that have finally come to fruition in the New Tampa Performing Arts Center…We miss Doug every day, and we are proud to continue his legacy at New Tampa Players.”
When K-Bar Ranch resident Pauline Sturtevant lived in California, she would drive 30 minutes, sometimes more, to the nearest all-abilities park for her son Caleb, who has Downs Syndrome.
It was the only place she could find with swings that were designed to hold his neck up properly, slides with higher sides to prevent him from falling off, or even a ramp to accommodate Caleb’s still-developing walking skills.
Caleb is 17 now, and while he may be too old for it, Pauline Sturtevant is thrilled that other parents will have a similar park closer to their homes in New Tampa.
“It’s important, you just don’t realize how much,” she said. ‘‘For the parents to feel like someone took the time to think about (a project like this), to make sure their kids were included and had a place to go, was super important.”
On Feb. 14, ground was broken at the New Tampa Community Park on the City of Tampa’s first disability and sensory-friendly playground.
District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera, who championed the New Tampa All Abilities Playground almost immediately after being elected in 2016, echoed Pauline Sturtevant’s message at the groundbreaking.
Tampa City Council member Luis Viera
Mayor Jane Castor
Nora PaIne (NT Players Club Penguin Project President)
Phyllis Guthman, Disability Resource Hub Founder
Parks and Rec Director Sherisha Hills
Zach Mueller
Congresswoman Kathy Castor
“You are not alone,” Viera told the crowd, which included members of the New Tampa Players’ Penguin Project, a theatre program for children and young adults with special needs. “You have friends, you have family, you have people who have been through this many many years before…and you have the City of Tampa having your back and making sure everyone has a place at the table.”
The 10,000-sq.-ft. park will cost roughly $2 million — paid for by city money and American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) federal funding — and will include multiple play pieces that are wheelchair-accessible, a sensory area geared towards children with autism and other sensory or cognitive challenges, a new art mural based on a “Fantastic Florida Nature” theme, and more.
At the groundbreaking, City of Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said that the park will have “16 different opportunities involving all of the sensory abilities in that park. It will be fantastic.”
Mayor Castor said the importance of parks in the development of a number of skills in children is sometimes taken for granted.
Making the city’s parks more accessible to everyone is a movement she strongly supports.
“I feel everything starts at parks and recreation, out on those fields,” Castor said. “That’s where children learn the life skills, that’s where they make lifelong friendships, and that’s where healthy skills and attitudes are developed. It all starts with ‘Hey, you wanna play?’”
For children with special needs, regular playgrounds can be a haven for emotional discomfort and even injuries, and it is easy for them to shrink away in fear. Pauline Sturtevant says it always pained her to see special needs children sitting on the sidelines at most other parks, and “developing a mentality that they are different and should be in a different place.”
Now, they will have their own place.
“The families are excited,” said Melissa Ewen, the director of fellowship and special connections, a special needs ministry at St. James United Methodist Church, also located in Tampa Palms. “Most of the ones I talk to have older high school or adult-aged family members, but for them it’s a sigh of relief. They know the challenges they faced; others won’t have to.”
A splash pad, pickleball courts and hiking trails are just some of the amenities that could be available to New Tampa residents by the end of this year, or early next year.
According to District 2 Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan, the county is ready to move ahead on a new park for the Branchton area off Morris Bridge Rd. south of Cross Creek Blvd. Hagan says the county staff is ready to submit plans for the park’s permitting.
“Ideally, after that’s approved, we should be able to have a groundbreaking out there probably in the April-May range,” Commissioner Hagan says.
If that happens, Branchton Regional Park will likely be completed sometime in early 2023, although Hagan says he is hoping the park can be finished by the end of 2022, if the summer weather and supply chains cooperate.
The park will replace the current Branchton Park, which sits on the southwest corner of Morris Bridge Rd. and Cross Creek Blvd. While the current park has an outdoor basketball court, playground and trails, it only has parking for roughly 10 cars and no bathrooms.
A Little History
In 2017, the county acquired four parcels of land totaling an additional 10 acres just south of the existing Branchton Park. The newly acquired land will be home to the new park, which will be developed in two phases.
Branchton Park
The first phase of construction includes 130 parking spots, walking trails, two dog parks, restrooms, shelters, four pickleball courts and a multipurpose court that can be configured as two basketball or two volleyball courts, according to a conceptual site plan provided last year.
The separate dog parks for small and large dogs will include shelters, benches, dog agility equipment, water and wash stations.
The new park also will include a playground and a splash pad.
Hagan says he has already secured the $6.1 million to construct the first phase in previous county budgets.
He added that he also has talked with Hillsborough County Sheriff Chad Chronister about building a mini-substation at the park, and that Chronister was in favor of that possibility.
“He likes the idea,” Hagan says. “I spoke to him about it and we agree that it would help increase the Sheriff’s Office’s presence around the park and also increase its presence throughout New Tampa.”
Although nothing has been formalized, Hagan also says that there also has been continuing conversation with private sector companies about a possible public-private partnership (PPP) about a zip line or “challenge” course for the park, perhaps in Phase 2.
The county already has completed the public survey portion of the project. Last year, nearly 500 people responded online to a survey with their requests for what they would like to see the park include. Many of the residents’ choices are included in the plans, according to the county’s website.
Plans to build some kind of new park in the Branchton area have circulated in Hillsborough County for years, going as far back as 2005 when the county had plans to build an athletic complex south of the existing Branchton Park. Those plans, however, never materialized.
As for that old Branchton Park, it will remain intact for the most part, but Hagan envisions re-developing it into a business center that could include a sports bar and other restaurants.
