There are many things keeping the 60-foot patch of dirt and grass separating Kinnan St. and Mansfield Blvd. concrete-free, but Hillsborough County District 5 Commissioner Ken Hagan wants to make sure money is no longer one of them.
Comm. Hagan proposed adding $250,000 to the county budget on Sept. 14 to be used for a potential Kinnan-Mansfield connection, which the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners approved, potentially removing one of the roadblocks to resolving the long-standing dispute between Pasco, Hillsborough and the City of Tampa.
Hagan says he has been told there have been recent meetings between Hillsborough and Pasco County’s MPO, and a traffic study Pasco commissioned to evaluate a number of connections between the two counties is expected to be finalized in November.
“At this point, we are waiting for their traffic analysis to come back,’’ Hagan said. “Then, we will reach out to Pasco County administrators and see if we can finally break this stalemate.”
Kinnan St., which runs north from Cross Creek Blvd. to the Hillsborough/Pasco county line, is located mostly in the county, although it does turn slightly west and into the City of Tampa boundaries as it nears Mansfield — where the barricades currently stand.
Both Tampa and Hillsborough County have worked on the issue over the years, but recently the city has declined all requests from Pasco involving putting up any money related to traffic studies or potential construction of the connection.
“I know the City of Tampa staff is unwilling to invest anything to make it work,” Hagan says. “I didn’t want the cost to hold us back, so we put the $250,000 in the budget to make the connection. I didn’t want money to be a deterrent or in any way delay making the connection.”
The money, Hagan said, it to be used for the actual construction of the connection.
The Kinnan-Mansfield link is seen as an important connection to help alleviate traffic on Bruce B. Downs Blvd. for drivers from both counties, particularly those driving between the residential communities in both New Tampa and Wesley Chapel.
It would also serve as an economic stimulant, Hagan says, as well as assist in public safety efforts in an area where hundreds of new homes are approved to be built in K-Bar Ranch, which is entirely within the city limits.
“I know firsthand, from living in Cross Creek, the frustration of being essentially landlocked,” says the former resident of the Creekwood subdivision of Cross Creek, just two miles from the unconnected roads.
Hagan, the longest-serving current commissioner in Hillsborough County, now in his 15th year, is no stranger to the dispute between Pasco and Hillsborough over the two roads.
As the commissioner in District 2 (which includes Cross Creek, Pebble Creek, Live Oak and many of the communities located in the city in New Tampa) from 2002-10, Hagan has been involved in dozens of discussions about connecting the two roads.
“We were told that once Wiregrass was fully connected to the north, Pasco would authorize the connection,’’ Hagan says. He said he grew so frustrated during negotiations that, at one point, he threatened to put a toll booth on Bruce B. Downs at the county line.
“I got a lot of very, very favorable response from New Tampa, and a very very hateful response from Pasco County,” Hagan says.
Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera, who represents New Tampa as part of the city’s District 7, has been a vocal cheerleader for the connection. Viera has called Hagan’s move a “game-changer.”
“I’m glad the county took this step,’’ Viera says. “Pasco has its position, we have had ours, but now, this could potentially change things with the involvement of the money. It’s a very positive step.”
Regardless, residents on the Mansfield side of the debate, as well as their local county commissioner, have remained cool to the idea because of fears that the two-lane road cannot handle additional traffic and that the location of elementary, middle and high schools, as well as Pasco Hernando State College (PHSC)’s Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch, all along Mansfield is a safety hazard.
“The study will probably come back late fall or into winter,’’ Pasco County District 2 commissioner Mike Moore said. “There’s not much more I can add.”
Comm. Moore said the money appropriated for Kinnan-Mansfield wouldn’t have any effect on the decision by his county. He says many of his constituents in Meadow Pointe, particularly Meadow Pointe II & III, do not want Mansfield and Kinnan hooked up, even though it’s been in Pasco’s long-range transportation plan since Meadow Pointe was first developed in the early 1990s.
Based on feedback his office has received, Moore puts the percentage of those opposed at 70-80 percent.
At a public meeting hosted by Pasco County planners at PHSC in April, three potential connections were discussed —Kinnan-Mansfield, extending the existing Meadow Pointe Blvd. to the proposed K-Bar Ranch Blvd. and extending Wyndfields Blvd. to both K-Bar Ranch Blvd. and to Morris Bridge Rd.
While Dennis Smith, the chairman of the Meadow Pointe I CDD, said he wanted to see the connection made, others did not. The proposed extension of Meadow Point Blvd., two miles further east, had wider support, Moore said.
“Right now, in my mind, Meadow Pointe Blvd. would be an excellent location,’’ Moore said. “There is little to no objection to it.”
However, Hagan made it clear the $250,000 the county has allocated is only for the Kinnan-Mansfield connection, not any other connector roads Pasco County may request instead. Multiple connections could be an option.
“We always talk about regional connectivity,” Hagan says, “and we have (other) connections between the two counties. It’s just absurd this road hasn’t been connected all these years.”
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