New Townhome Community In Epperson May Get An Elam Rd. Entrance After All

Residents of Abby Brooks Circle (ABC) in the Epperson II CDD met with Pasco Planning Dept. director David Engel (blue suit) and Development Services director David Allen (gray suit) during the May 6 Board of County Commissioners meeting to discuss alternatives to using ABC as the only access point to a new townhome community in the Epperson North CDD.  

Even though the county attorney’s office told Pasco County’s Board of County Commissioners (BCC) on May 6 that there was nothing they could do about Metro Development Group’s plan to put the only entrance to a new townhome community —  located in the Epperson North Community Development District (CDD), through a quiet Epperson II CDD community along Abby Brooks Cir. (ABC) — the residents who live on ABC have been encouraged by the possibility that a possible solution appears to be on the horizon.

As of today, the efforts of ABC residents Candice and Mark Alfieri, Danielle Polovich, Alexandra Lewis, Erin Totaro, the Epperson II CDD Board and many of the 120 total affected families on ABC and Lily Arbor Way — who met twice the week before the May 6 BCC meeting to put together a strategy to protect their quiet neighborhood full of children — seem to have been fruitful, as a Metro spokesperson told the Neighborhood News that the details of an agreement for a possible second entrance to the JK2 townhome community off Elam Rd. is in the works, but is not yet finalized, and released only the following statement:

“Metro has heard the concerns raised by residents regarding access for the Epperson North townhome community, and we want to assure you we are working with local officials to devise the best possible plan for everyone involved. We ask for your patience as we navigate a solution. Metro prioritizes resident safety and neighborhood connectivity. We’re committed to thoughtful planning and collaboration to ensure the long-term success of the Epperson community.”

Abby Brooks Circle (ABC) resident Alexandra Lewis was one of nearly two dozen residents living on ABC in the Epperson II CDD who asked the Pasco Board of County Commissioners for help regarding an approved entrance through their quiet street for a new townhome community in the Epperson North CDD.  

The current plan — which was approved administratively by the county staff using the State of Florida’s new Land Use Equivalency Matrix, without a BCC vote — has Elam Rd. as an emergency-only entrance to the townhome development. 

In other words, the townhome site, which was originally donated to the Pasco County School District for an elementary school, did not need a BCC vote to be rezoned for JK2’s 186 planned townhomes after the School District gave the site back to Metro and said it didn’t plan to build a school on it.

County attorney Jeffrey Steinsnyder told the commissioners on May 6 that there was nothing they could do to change the development plan, but commissioners Jack Mariano, Kathryn Starkey and Lisa Yeager all said that they supported the efforts of the two dozen ABC residents who spoke or planned to speak at that meeting. 

Representatives of the ABC group then met with Pasco Planning Dept. director David Engel and Development Services Dept. director David Allen while the May 6 BCC meeting was still taking place to see if, in reality, anything could be done to keep ABC from being the townhome community’s only (or main) entrance.

A week or so later, even though the future townhome residents currently are still planned to also have access through ABC, the main entrance to the JK2 community could now be shifted to Elam Rd., which is much more capable than ABC of handling the additional (estimated) 1,000 or more trips per day the 186 townhomes are expected to generate. 

Look for another online update as soon as any agreement is finalized, as well as a fully updated story in the June 10 edition of Wesley Chapel Neighborhood News.


Pasco Seeking Park Site In Connected City; Plus, Epperson II Townhome Concerns 

Although the meeting happened a little more than a month ago as you’re receiving this issue, there were two important new pieces of information that came out of the presentations about the 7,800-acre “Connected City” (CC) development made to the Pasco Board of County Commissioners (BCC) by Metro Development Group principal Kartik Goyani and the county staff on Apr. 9. 

The first had to do with the number of single-family entitlements still available in CC. William Vermillion of Pasco’s Planning & Economic Growth department, who oversees MPUDs in Pasco, said that a recent study by the county found that there are still 44% of the single-family detached home entitlements left in CC. 

“Even though you were told a couple of years ago that there were no more single-family (SF) entitlements left,” Vermillion said, “there actually are still about 4,400 remaining [of the 10,583 SF homes originally approved for CC]. We also have about 50% of the multi-family, which includes townhomes and garden-style homes for the higher density areas. We also still have roughly 37% of our commercial left and 75% of the office. And, we have roughly 26% of the land remaining.” 

Dist. 2 Comm. Seth Weightman told me after that meeting that although he was shocked the staff had been giving the commissioners the wrong figure for so long, he didn’t believe the “mistake was intentional on anyone’s part. We’ve had a lot of turnover in our staff.” 

But, had Comm. Weightman known there were still SF entitlements available, would he still have voted to allow other developers within CC to convert their plans from SF to multi-family (MF)? 

“No, I would not have voted to convert them [to MF] had I known the correct figures,” he said, adding that he remembered that one of the conversions he reluctantly voted for, “felt like chewing on a mouthful of sandspurs.” 

The Bigger Issue: Parks 

As for CC’s current Park Service Areas, Vermillion said on Apr. 9 that if you combine “all of the parks in [CC], there are 115 acres of neighborhood parks already built, not inclusive of the planned VOPH (the adjacent Villages of Pasadena Hills development) Superpark or the Wesley Chapel District Park” (neither of which are in CC). 

But, Weightman noted that the 240-acre (previously reported as 300-acre) VOPH Superpark, “isn’t going to be as ‘super’ as we anticipated. We’re going to fall short on a few areas of uses, and, with the age of the people moving to the area growing younger, I really feel we need to revisit the diverting of [CC] funds to the VOPH Superpark.” 

He added, “With the [WC] District Park already at capacity, we need to find a way to have a similar style park within [CC] and whether we reallocate funds from the shortfall that the Superpark is going to have, or we restructure the way that funding mechanism works, I think it needs to be done because [CC] is here today. The youth and their parents are demanding that we have field space now for a variety of sports. The people are here now, so the 40 acres we have in the site we [Pasco] already owns [in CC]
that footprint needs to be doubled and we need to figure out the funding between VOPH and [CC] because something needs to happen sooner than later in the [CC} corridor.” 

Pasco Parks Dept. director Keith Wiley then responded that Comm. Weightman was correct. 

“And, the question is,” Wiley said, “Where should we locate the other park facilities in [CC]? We’d have to ‘swap’ projects in order to have a district park, since a community park doesn’t really get it done. We’d have to decide which of the 21 capital projects identified need to be removed.” 

Board chair & Dist. 3 Comm. Kathryn Starkey said she would like Wiley to look into using the site Pasco owns near the future CC Town Center Hub, either for a land swap or to build a District Park on property that had originally been slated for a utilities maintenance area. 

Wiley added, however, that the county’s Master Parks Plan was done more than a decade ago and could be updated, “rather quickly” to see if there are locations within CC that could accommodate a District Park. At our press time, we had not heard if that update had been completed. 

Dist. 1 Comm. Ron Oakley, whose district includes CC, cautioned, however, that the entire county needs more ball fields, not just the [CC], “and we can’t build more parks without having the money to maintain them.” 

Epperson Ranch II CDD Issues 

On May 1, I attended a meeting of the Epperson Ranch II Community Development District (CDD) Board of Supervisors, which is, “the only CDD in Epperson that has no parks and no amenities whatsoever,” said CDD Board chairman Joseph Murphy (as well as several of the 50 or so Epperson II residents in attendance during the three-hour meeting). 

“And the site in Epperson II that previously was designated as a school site has been rezoned for 186 townhomes and the one entrance and exit for that townhome community is now Abby Brooks Circle (see map), which is a quiet, residential neighborhood that can’t handle the 400 additional vehicles per day from those townhomes. The entrance to that townhome community should be off Elam Rd., which is already a main road through Epperson, and which was designated as the entrance to the school site. But, when the property was converted to townhomes, the Board of County Commissioners agreed to change that to only allow emergency vehicles to access the townhome community using Elam Rd.” 

The Epperson II residents who spoke at that CDD meeting all voiced their displeasure, concern and fear for the safety of their children if the townhome community was able to proceed with the plan to use Abby Brooks Cir. as its only ingress and egress point. Although the next BCC meeting was on May 6, two days after we went to press with this issue, the residents shared with me a resolution drafted by the CDD’s new lawyer, Jere Earlywine of Kutak Rock, which was sent to every commissioner on May 2, asking that the BCC reconsider its decision to not allow regular vehicular access to Elam Rd. and to commission a new traffic study — since the previous study was conducted in 2015, when the townhome site was still a school site. 

The CDD resolution says, “…In order to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the [Epperson II] District and its residents, guests, and constituents, the Board hereby declares its objection to the proposed change of roadway configuration for the Former School Parcel, specifically as it relates to authorizing a single point of ingress and egress to and from the Former School Parcel, and without a primary access from the Former School Parcel to and from Elam Road. The Board hereby directs District Staff to transmit this Resolution to Pasco County, Florida, and respectfully requests that Pasco County take all appropriate action to rectify the improper change of roadway configuration for the Former School Parcel, to conduct and/ or re-conduct a traffic study in order to determine the impact of the anticipated traffic on the existing roadways and residents of Epperson Ranch II CDD, and to modify and/or revoke any development approvals related thereto.” 

The only Epperson II CDD supervisor to vote against drafting and sending the resolution to the BCC was Mike Lawson, who also is the only CDD supervisor who works for Metro. Lawson is the director of operations for the CC developer. 

The BCC didn’t have anything about Epperson II on its May 6 agenda, so no action could be taken, but the residents of Epperson II, particularly those who live on Abby Brook Cir., were planning to show up at that meeting in force to again express their concern, this time to the county commissioners. 

We’ll keep you posted.

 ‘Connected City’ Developer Responds To Critics 

Metro Development Group Principal Kartik Goyani Says The Unique Community’s 50-Year Plan Is Right On Track In Year 8 

 With Wesley Chapel already growing by leaps and bounds, the area known as the Connected City (CC) — conceived by Metro Development Group as a partnership with Pasco County and approved by the State Legislature as a “special planning area” pilot program for the State of Florida — is something completely unique. 

Rather than just another collection of developers building nothing but more of the same subdivisions that Pasco seemingly will continue to approve until there is no more vacant land within the county’s nearly 750 total square miles, Metro Development principal Kartik Goyani says that, when it comes to CC, there is a 50-year plan in place to be more than just another series of individual developments of single-family homes, apartments and retail strip centers. 

Despite what some critics are claiming, Goyani says that CC, — aka the “First Smart Gigabit Community in the U.S.,” which was approved in 2015 and began development with Metro’s Epperson community in 2017 — is only in year eight of that 50-year plan and, in his estimation, the 7,800- acre CC development is indeed proceeding according to plan. 

Before we get into the discussion of what is or isn’t happening in CC, here are some geographical facts, many of which may not be 100% clear from the map (above), which was provided to us by Metro. 

The orange lines on the map indicate the boundaries of what is called CC, of which only the western boundary follows a specific roadway — I-75. 

The northern boundary extends to a little north of S.R. 52 in San Antonio, with several important commercial developments and yet another (as yet unnanounced) AdventHealth hospital to be located in this northernmost section. Goyani says AdventHealth has owned that property since 2019 or 2020. 

Curley Rd. forms most of the CC’s eastern border, although a portion of it extends east of Curley — between Elam Rd. to the north and just north of the eastern portion of Overpass Rd. to the south. It is worth noting that the Watergrass community, which includes property both north and south of that eastern extension of Overpass Rd., is not part of CC. 

And, speaking of Overpass Rd., everything north of it from I-75 to the entrance of Epperson is within the CC boundary, but that boundary also extends south of Overpass to include all of the Epperson development, but not the pre-existing Palm Cove or Bridgewater communities. 

How It All Got Started 

Of course, knowing the boundaries of CC doesn’t really give you any insight into why Metro Development decided to create a massive employment center where people could live, work and play in a portion of Pasco County that was super-rural, not even suburban, when Metro first proposed the idea of the CC to the county and the state in 2014. 

According to Goyani, it all started with internet speed. He says that before the Covid- 19 pandemic hit in 2020, the last economic slowdown was in 2008, but as business started to pick back up in 2009-10, Pasco County’s goal was to transform the county from a sleepy bedroom community, with thousands of residents leaving the county to work in Tampa, into a thriving self-sustaining economic center of its own. 

And, even though other developers may not have been thinking about how to plan for a better future, Goyani says, “We knew from our own experience during the 2008-09 downturn, that before the next downturn hits, we wanted to offer something that it seemed no one else was even interested in — faster internet. So, in 2014, we launched Ultrafi (Metro’s own bundled internet and cable service with ultra-fast internet speeds, up to 10 Gigabits per second) in our Park Creek community in Riverview and planned to include it in Epperson (the first development in CC).” 

He says that “everyone asked us ‘Why are you focusing on something that technology companies should do? No one’s asking us for faster internet, because they only have one connected device at home.” 

Goyani’s response is that, “We knew that to retrofit a community for faster internet would be very expensive. So, we laid fiber lines everywhere that could get insanely fast speeds at prices we all can afford. We talked to Google fiber (which wasn’t interested in Pasco County), AT&T, Verizon…and they all said no one wants faster speeds, so we did it ourselves.” 

He adds, “Could we use technology for the greater good? Could we create a new community from the internet up?” 

In other words, although Metro’s intent, when the CC pilot program was approved by the state in 2015, was to also have the CC connected by walkways and multimodal transportation opportunities, the developer’s primary focus was the internet. “From a fundamental standpoint,” he says, “counties and developers usually focus on the physical infrastructure — roads, water lines, waste water, electrical — because you can’t have a community without those, but no one else was working on the digital infrastructure. That’s how this story ended up evolving.” 

But, speaking of physical infrastructure, Goyani says that when CC began development, no other developers were interested in improving S.R. 52 or creating an Overpass Rd. interchange off I-75. 

“But, by bringing the CC to Pasco, S.R. 52 is now vastly improved and the Overpass Rd. intersection is open, meaning that the physical infrastructure for the CC is now in place. That is a big reason why we have been able to attract so many employment centers to this development.” 

He also notes that while most large-scale developments at that time were offering huge 10,000-20,000-sq.-ft. clubhouses or “amenity centers” that were intended to provide the community’s “social infrastructure,” Metro saw that during the last economic downturn, “people had to decide between being able to afford their mortgage or paying for the maintenance of a 20,000-sq.-ft. clubhouse for the use of the residents only. That just didn’t make sense to me.” 

Goyani says he wanted to create something that could benefit the entire region, “that’s why we put the first Metro LagoonÂź in the U.S. in our Epperson community. Nobody was putting these lagoons in a community. We felt that connecting the digital, physical and social aspects — and the ‘Wow’ factor of the lagoons — would help put Pasco County on the map.” 

He also says that Metro didn’t even own all of Epperson. “We only own the southern half,” he says. “But we did own Mirada, where we put the second CC lagoon amenity (that is roughly twice the size of the lagoon in Epperson, and the largest such lagoon in the U.S.; photo above right).” He also said that the two lagoons in CC have attracted 1.2 million people combined since they opened. 

One of the problems for Goyani and Metro is that the 900-acre Epperson community, with roughly 3,000 residences at buildout, and the 2,000-acre Mirada development with 4,5000 residences, represent less than 40% of the 7,800 acres and only about 20% of the planned residences in the CC, so a lot of the CC plan approved by the state and county is not under Metro’s control. 

Commercial/Health Care 

Putting the number of residences aside, among the things Goyani is most proud of with the CC is the amount of new non-residential square footage that is planned, especially when it comes to health care. 

“Back when we started planning the CC,” Goyani says, “we looked at the amount of new commercial construction for all of Pasco County and I believe the total amount from east to west at that time was only 3000,000 sq. ft. So, as we started planning for the future, the county administrator told us that he wanted to see at least 3 million sq. ft. of commercial over the 50-year plan for the Connected City. Back then, I thought that was unreasonable, with only 300,000 sq. ft. under construction for the whole county, but I agreed that if we’re going to create an economic engine for Pasco, we have to look forward.” 

He adds, “We started talking to the stakeholders in the area and said, ‘This is a 50-year plan and we need to set up large areas where we can get people both living and working and over time, that 50-year goal went from 3 million sq. ft. to 12 million. And, if we could get that done by 2065, everyone would probably be happy, right? But, do you know how many sq. ft. of non-residential is already under development in CC? How does 8 million sq. ft. sound? And, it’s all already approved, having groundbreakings…with real dollars being spent, in 2025.” 

I’ll admit that number shocked me. It includes not only the Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital that just broke ground in the Wildcat-Bailes property in CC’s southwest corner, but also the aforementioned, not-yet-announced AdventHealth hospital just north of S.R. 52, as well as a large BayCare medical office complex that will not only help staff the expandable BayCare Wesley Chapel Hospital a few miles south of CC, but also focus on wellness to help people live healthier and longer. 

Another major commercial project within the CC is the Double Branch/Pasco Town Center, a 965-acre mixed-use project just east of I-75 at S.R. 52 that is already under development that will include up to 4.5 million sq. ft. of industrial space at its build-out. Phase 1 of the project, which is expected to begin delivering finished buildings later this year, includes three industrial buildings totalling nearly 500,000 sq. ft. There also are plans for 1 million sq. ft. of office space, a 1.6.-million-sq.-ft. distribution center and a 400,000-sq.-ft. “cross-dock facility,” which is a logistics hub designed for the rapid transfer of goods to minimize storage time. Double Branch is being developed by Columnar Investments, which also is planning to have 500,000 sq. ft. of retail uses, 3,500 residential units and 200 acres of parks and trails. 

Some of the other privately owned portions of CC also have commercial entitlements (or are asking for them from the county), such as the Abbey Crossings/Park 52 Logistics piece that will bring 500,000 sq. ft. of light industrial uses to north of S.R. 52 and neighborhood commercial and a hotel to south of 52. 

Goyani says that, “Other smart people have seen what we’re doing within the CC boundary, so why not buy land outside of CC for less money and bet on the success of that project in the future? And people quickly gobbled up pieces of that land,” including Target, which bought a large chunk for a distribution center just north of CC. 

The Education Piece 

Also located on the outskirts of CC is the Kirkland Ranch Academy of Innovation (photo), which started in 2022 with a high school and now has grades K-8. Two years earlier, Innovation Preparatory Academy (aka InPrep), a charter school, opened for the 2020-21 school year and Prodigy at Epperson Early Learning Center is now open south of the CC border just south of InPrep. 

“None of the CC land owners were at the table telling the Pasco School District, ‘take my land for a school,’ or ‘take my land for a park,’ Goyani said. “In fact, I was told that those property owners all said ‘No’ and we had no control over that.” 

And, Goyani, who said he comes from a very poor family in India, is a big believer in education. His parents shipped him off to the U.S. with a $500 one-way ticket at age 21 to find a way to pay to get a Master’s degree, which he did, in Construction Management, in the School of Engineering, from prestigious Purdue University, even though, he claims, “I wasn’t really a smart kid. But, I am very passionate about education and my goal is to have one of the best universities in the country, either in CC or in [Metro’s other Pasco development in Land O’Lakes] Angeline (more on Angeline below).” 

Goyani also said that last year, Metro commissioned a study by PFM Financial Advisors LLC out of Orlando, which showed that Pasco County is now “the fastest growing commercial corridor in Florida. There is now 30-plus million sq. ft. of non-residential uses in different stages, which is more than any other county in the state of Florida, and I’m like, ‘Wow, that is exciting. Maybe we’re onto something here. If I were to bet, I’d say we’re going to run out of commercial entitlements throughout the Connected City because I think more is still going to happen, based on the plans.” 

A big part of that 30 million sq. ft. is Angeline, which Goyani says was created as our round two of turning Pasco into an economic engine, with the Moffitt Cancer Center owning 775 acres (to be called Speros FL), with plans to build 16 million sq. ft. of lab, medical offices manufacturing and clinical space that will be twice the size of downtown Tampa. “We also ave a working farm in Angeline that is open to the public, and plans for a 150-acre regional park,” Goyani says. “Instead of only developing for people living in a community, we open important elements of our projects to the public, to create a more regional impact. I don’t know any other developers who do that.” 

But, What About… 

Goyani also is aware that CC as a whole has its detractors, especially the Facebook group known as “Pasco Connected City Residents Group (PCCRG),” which was started by RealtorÂź and CC resident Michael Pultorak, whom we have featured in these pages before. Pultorak’s group quickly built up to 1,600 members, as he and the group members have consistently appeared at Pasco Board of County Commissioners (BCC) and Planning Commission meetings to ask questions and/or complain about the way CC is being developed, even though many of the concerns expressed have been about the development plans of some of the land owners other than Metro in CC. Pultorak has already met with four of the five Pasco commissioners to discuss his concerns, the first three of which below do also revolve around Metro’s portions of the development: 

‱ The open space & recreational areas detailed in the CC Master Plan have been moved to east of Handcart Rd. (outside of the CC boundaries) 

‱ The walking/jogging trails promised to Mirada and Epperson residents were not delivered and the trails were not placed in the engineering plans nor created in the execution of the development 

‱ The innovative lagoons are private and for-profit amenities 

But, Goyani says that between 2015, when the CC was approved by the state, through 2017, when Metro began building Epperson, there were more than a dozen public meetings held with stakeholders and local residents to discuss the CC plan — “Some had upwards of 300 people attending,” Goyani says — and any concerns about the CC plan was taken into account “to plan for a better future.” 

Other concerns of the PCCRG include: 

‱ There are no promised cultural facilities or libraries of any kind planned in CC 

‱ Stormwater concerns at the head of the Cypress Creek watershed with upcoming CC development applications 

‱ King Lake (a 263-acre lake and the largest body of water in CC) flooding issues for current CC residents. (Note – Pultorak says that King Lake has been beyond flood stage since Metro began digging the nearby Epperson lagoon) 

‱ Planned roadways within CC that topographical maps show will be under water 

‱ No schools actually located within the CC boundaries (Goyani says that InPrep and Prodigy actually are within the CC boundaries) 

‱ The large park planned to be within CC has been moved to the adjacent Villages of Pasadena Hills special planning area 

‱ Multi-family apartments and townhomes being approved by the Pasco BCC that are in portions of CC that, according to the Master Plan approved by the state, should not be allowed 

‱ The approved plan for the five Special Planning Area (SPA) Zones within CC has not been adhered to by Pasco, especially with regards to approvals for multi-family apartments 

“We are not against responsible growth & development,” Pultorak says. “However, developers need to be held accountable to the residents of Pasco County to fulfill the promises they make before they take profits and move on or, unexpectedly cause flooding of existing residents and communities. That’s why we formed this group.” 

Where We Are Now 

Many of the concerns outlined above were presented in our recent story (in our Jan. 21 edition) about CC, when the Planning Commission first voted to send the Tall Timbers MPUD on to the BOC for final approval. After giving the nod to Tall Timbers 4-3 on Jan. 9, however, the Planning Commission then voted 6-1 at the same meeting to put a one-year moratorium on all future CC development agreements, site approvals, building permits and zoning changes. 

But, since the Planning Commission is only an advisory panel, the final say on both Tall Timbers and any possible CC moratorium still lies with the BCC. Those votes were originally supposed to be held at the BOC meeting on Feb. 11, but the discussions and votes have now been continued twice — first to Mar. 11 and now until the BCC meeting on Tuesday, May 6. On Apr. 9, however, the county staff was set to provide the CC presentation requested since 2023 by Commissioners Seth Weightman and Board chair Kathryn Starkey. Unfortunately, that workshop took place after we went to press and was not open to public comment. We will update this story with any new information after we attend that meeting. 

Even if the BCC does vote for a CC moratorium, however, it would have pretty much nothing to do with Metro’s ongoing development of Epperson and Mirada, since those communities are both already fully approved with hundreds of residents already living in each and the two lagoons themselves already in place. 

And, while Goyani can’t speak to what the other CC land owners are doing, his primary response to most of the complaints is that, “We are only still in year eight of a 50-year plan. We knew before we started that it would be hard to make everyone happy with this unique development but we believe — and we are proud — that we are helping to put Pasco County on the map with CC.” 

The Lagoon Review: Pricey, But Definitely Worth Checking Out!

Since opening its gates to the public, the Crystal LagoonsÂź amenity at Epperson Ranch has been a hot topic in and around Wesley Chapel.

Depending upon who you listen to, it’s the world’s greatest amenity, or just a glorified community swimming pool; it’s a great day out with the family, or a money pit; it’s just like the beach, or a charmless knockoff.

Nothing seems to fire up the locals more than lagoon talk. And, while we’re not here to settle the debate, after spending a day there with the wife, two teen-age boys and some friends, I can say this: While pricey, it’s definitely worth checking out.

First off, the lagoon is not an amusement park. It isn’t Adventure Island, a comparison some derisively make. It isn’t a river, it isn’t a lake and it isn’t a beach.

If you plan to look at the Crystal Lagoon through any of those prisms, you will be disappointed.

Here, however, is what it is: a pretty cool and unique nearby getaway with sand, palm trees, crystal clean water and enough food, drink, music and activities to entertain your family for most of a full day.

If you live in Epperson, congratulations. It is a fantastic amenity, and for $25 a month, I say it’s well worth it. It’s a slam dunk, really, unless you’re one of the residents unhappy that the public is taking up some of that beach space, but someone has to pay for the lagoon maintenance until many more of the 4,000 planned homes in Epperson are built and occupied.

If you don’t live in Epperson, your perspective may differ (but remember, it wasn’t built for you).

It is $25 per person to visit, but only $5 if you go with a resident (so make some friends while you’re there!).

The $25 gets you in the door and, if you get there early enough, a spot on the beach, as well as access to the swimming areas of the lagoon. 

We heard no complaints about the refreshingly chilly water — now that the summer weather is turning all of our smaller pools into oversized bath tubs — but we did hear a few requests for more, or larger, swimming areas. Parts of the lagoon are roped off for the water obstacle course known as Wibit, and to make room for paddleboarders and kayakers to make their way around the lagoon. The swimming areas did seem a bit small, but that probably all depends upon the size of the crowds the day you visit.

The water is everything developers said it would be — clean, clear and refreshing. The beach area was filled with folks relaxing in chairs, enjoying a beverage and working on their tans. Because the surrounding areas aren’t fully landscaped, the lagoon can feel a bit sterile, but there were a lot of happy faces and energy in the crowds. You may miss the expanse, the salty air and the waves lapping at your feet while walking in the cool sand along the shore of an actual beach, but otherwise, the lagoon does a pretty good impression. 

We did wish there was more shade, but personal umbrellas are not allowed. If you can’t find a seat with some respite from the sun, there are shaded areas — in what is called “premium seating” — a few steps away from the beach that will cost you $12 for two chairs and an umbrella, and $20 for four chairs and an umbrella. It’s a gorgeous area, and is a purchase we agreed will be well worth it on our next visit. 

The a la carte pricing at the lagoon — yes, even for residents, although they get a discount — can make for an expensive day, and some will find it annoying.

The slide will cost you $10 for the day, not a bad deal for those who plan on using it over and over. A rock wall, which wasn’t open the day we went, costs the same. And the Wibit, which was a huge hit with the teenage boys and everyone else who tried it, is available for $10 for a 45-minute session. 

You can buy all three together for $20, which will save you some money, but you might want to skip the rock wall and save your money for an extra session on the Wibit, pictured here (left).

Kayaks and paddleboards are available to rent for $10 an hour. Those who are serious about each might want to skip both — there’s none of the waves, scenery and wildlife that makes saltwater or whitewater kayaking and paddleboarding fun — but it’s great for those who don’t often get the chance and the always-calm waters make it ideal for first-timers. 

For example, we have friends who will spend seven hours on Crystal River paddleboarding, and we told them the lagoon might not be for them. But another friend, who is convinced alligators, sharks and snakes will devour her and her family if she joins us on a river one weekend, went to the lagoon a week later on our recommendation and rented a paddleboard and kayak and absolutely loved it, with plans to return every chance they get this summer.

The lagoon does not allow outside food, although you can bring your own water. We brought a large thermos, but were shocked to see bottles of water on sale for only $1. There also were $5 mimosa and bloody Mary specials, beers were between $4-$6 and things like hot dogs ($3) and nachos ($4) were very reasonably priced. 

Tampa Sammich, one of the popular food trucks that rotate in and out at the lagoon, was selling Cuban sandwiches — and they were quite tasty — and other grilled sandwiches for $9, grilled cheese and chicken wraps for $6, and canned and bottled sodas for only $2.

Perhaps we have been scarred by the ridiculous prices at concession stands at sporting events — raise your hand if you’ve ever bought a $15 beer — but we found the food and drink at the lagoon to be a bargain, and certainly much cheaper than we anticipated.

The lagoon also has a stage for live bands and DJs, although nothing was playing the day we attended, and a shaded, sunken bar that also offers not only reasonably priced drinks but also great respite from the heat.

One minor nit: the artificial green grass in parts of the lagoon gets amazingly hot, so watch your step. We learned our lesson when starting a game of cornhole. 

So, is the lagoon pricey? A little. A family of four that decides to partake in all or most of the activities, and then grab lunch, will spend at least $200. That’s an expensive day trip. 

But, bypassing the 45-minute drive to one of our Bay-area beaches, missing the traffic and parking hunt and not having to lug your chair and cooler across the sand might make it a more convenient option at times.

The lagoon may never replace the beach, or a river or lake, or Adventure Island, but it’s not trying for that anyway.

It is what it has been advertised as — a first-of-its-kind-in-the-U.S. amenity designed to sell thousands of homes and keep those local residents entertained.

Is it worth a visit? You bet, if just to say you’ve been to the lagoon.

We have. And, as everyone in our group agreed — we’ll be back.

The Lagoon Is Open To Everyone, But Not Forever

Aquatic activities, sandy beaches and the crystal clear water of the Crystal LagoonsÂź amenity by Metro Lagoons at Epperson are available (at a discount) to the public for a limited time.

One of the most asked —  if not the most asked — questions in Wesley Chapel has an answer, and it is yes.

Or more accurately: YES!

The  Crystal LagoonsÂź amenity by Metro Lagoons at Epperson (off Curley Rd.) is open, and you can use it, too.

At least for now.

The first of its kind in the United States, the first shining jewel of Metro Development Group’s Connected City project, is already drawing huge crowds to its crystal clear water, sandy beach and variety of activities.

For a limited time, the public is welcome to attend for $20 per person, up from $10 in early April. The discounted rate will be in effect through Memorial Day, when it goes up to $25 per person.

The lagoon has been allowing a limited number of non-Epperson residents in each day since April 8, and tickets are available while they last at LagoonInformation.com.

If you don’t pre-order and decide to just show up, you run the risk of being shut out. According to Eric Wahlbeck, the managing director of Metro Lagoons, there have already been sellouts on almost every day with good weather, with more to come as summer rolls in.

“It’s been awesome to watch,” he says.

The lagoon is letting in 200-300 non-residents a day, and drawing nearly 2,000 visitors (including Epperson residents) on busy days, Wahlbeck added.

“It’s limited, so we can control the numbers for our residents,” he said, “but so far, it has been hugely popular. This is only a test market, so we are still trying to see what the facility can handle while affording the residents their space.”

In time, the lagoon will be limited to residents only, who pay a $25 a month fee per household to use the facility. Until Epperson is built out, the admission of non-residents will help supplement the costs of maintaining the lagoon.

Epperson currently has 1,200 residents (in 350 homes), with another 165 homes currently under contract or being built, which will bring the resident count to 1,800 within six months.

So far, those living in Epperson don’t seem to have a problem sharing their most desirable amenity. Wahlbeck says he hasn’t had to sort out any problems involving non-residents so far.

“There was a lot of fear in the beginning,” he says. “But, since we started it, it has gone really well. We have made sure to make sure it’s not a free-for-all. And there will be plenty of resident-only parties.”

Please note that the lagoon doesn’t allow any outside food, drink or coolers inside, nor are guests or residents allowed to bring their own chairs. Wahlbeck says the lagoon has more than 600 lounge chairs, a grab-and-go cafĂ© for food, as well as a rotating schedule of food trucks, a bar that serves beer and liquor, kayaks and paddleboards for rent and, well, the clearest water around, thanks to a patented water-filtration process that uses up to 100 times less chemicals that a conventional swimming pool and 30 times less water than a golf course.

While not completely ready to open at our press time, Wahlbeck even hinted that the much-anticipated swim-up bar and tiki hut could be ready to go as this issue hits your mailboxes.

“There’s no reason to bring anything, we’ve got you covered,” he says. “Well, you might want to bring a few bucks.”

The lagoon pavilion area also boasts what Wahlbeck says is a “really cool” 18-foot by 12-foot LED screen above its stage, which will be used for viewing sporting events, like the Kentucky Derby, and even television shows like “Jeopardy” — he says some residents are organizing a Tuesday night “Jeopardy” watch party.

There also are activities scheduled every weekend. Last Sunday, the lagoon held a cornhole tournament, there is a Kentucky Derby party planned and there’s always plenty of music. There also are aquatic activities planned, and the lagoon has a giant inflatable water slide like the one at the Tradewinds Resort on St. Pete Beach.

“It’s the same idea as Disney resorts,” he says. “You come for the water, but there are plenty of activities to take part in as well.”

Although it has had a few starts and stops due to permitting and other issues, the lagoon is now pretty much 100-percent functional.

Following a few grand openings, as well as its share of controversy, Wahlbeck says the lagoon has evolved into everything Metro said it would be when it first introduced the concept back in 2014.

If you want to check it out, hurry over to LagoonInformation.com and get your tickets now!

Crystal LagoonsÂź Amenity In Epperson Opening This Month?

Beaches, crystal clear water and cabanas are some of the highlighted features of the soon-to-open Crystal LagoonsÂź amenity in the Epperson community off Curley Rd. (Photos: Gavin Olsen)

Metro Development Group says its widely-anticipated, first-of-its-kind in the U.S. Crystal LagoonsÂź amenity should finally be available to residents of the Epperson community in August, although work will continue through the summer.

The general public will have to wait a little bit longer, but will be allowed in for reduced rates once the gates open.

According to Eric Wahlbeck, the 200 or so residents already living in Epperson will get first dibs to enjoy an amenity that features crystal clear water, sandy man-made beaches, recreational aquatic activities and pool-side bars and cabanas, but has been maligned this summer because of an issue with permitting that stalled construction and made some residents unhappy.

“For the first two weeks following the opening date, admission will be exclusively for Epperson Resident Members, and a limited number of resident guests,” Wahlbeck said. “After the initial two-week period, the lagoon will open to the public by making a limited number of tickets available to non-residents for a short-term discounted rate of $10 per person.”

Once that term, which is likely to be determined by demand, expires, tickets for the public to enjoy the lagoon will cost $25 per person per day.

Pricing was an issue for some residents and potential residents, some of whom chose to get out of their contracts.

Meanwhile, current residents — many of whom remain stalwart supporters of Metro — were told they would enjoy discount prices to use lagoon amenities like kayak and paddleboard rentals, but the discounts will be phased out over three years and could end up costing larger families thousands of dollars a year to be able to access all of the lagoon’s features.

Metro also had to suspend construction when it was discovered in May that 19 buildings at the lagoon had been built without proper permits.

“We have secured all relevant permits necessary to complete work and are currently testing and adjusting the mechanical systems,” Wahlbeck says.

The lagoon, beaches, the giant inflatable waterslide (the same slide as at the Tradewinds Resort on St. Pete Beach) and bar areas are all expected to open as part of the first phase. Wahlbeck says the lagoon will be “fully open, pending any unforeseen issues,” following the late summer 2018 opening. Other features will open as soon as they are completed in later phases.

Wahlbeck says in addition to the roughly 200 residents currently living in Epperson, another 150 future residents are currently under contract.

“Yes, people remain excited about the Lagoon and the Epperson community is tracking to become one of the fastest-selling communities in the Tampa Bay area — something that in part we attribute to the ‘Lagoon Effect,’” he said.