The connection of Kinnan St. in K-Bar Ranch to Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe continues to be a problem, according to some area residents.
A number of emails sent to Pasco County District 2 Commissioner Mike Moore suggest that far too many cars have been making their way around the barrier, which is a mechanical arm designed to only let first responders and emergency vehicles through.
As a result, Pasco County is taking action. Moore says the county will be installing security cameras and additional barriers to prevent any more cars from sneaking through the small opening.
Chris Dillinger, a member of the Meadow Pointe II CDD, says he also has heard the complaints, including by some who feel the connection is the first step towards opening the connected roads to all traffic. But, he says as long as Pasco County controls the gate, which is part of the agreement with Hillsborough County, which constructed the connection, he is confident the roads will remain closed and adjustments will be made to stop cars from circumventing the barriers.
After years of debate over connecting the roads, it was finally decided last year to make a connection that would only be accessible by law enforcement, fire and other emergency vehicles, and to police it with a barrier gate arm. New, wider bike paths and sidewalks also were added to the connection for cyclists and pedestrians.
However, those wider paths are being used by cars, according to critics.
The Neighborhood News has received some emails making the same charge. As a result, we visited the connection, and witnessed a small black car slipping through the bike path on the east side of the gate, where a generous gap exists (photo), and crossing from New Tampa into Wesley Chapel.
You can see by looking at the picture above that there is still room for smaller cars to get through, although it is a fairly tight fit.
“While there are supposedly things in place to prevent traffic from entering the road…especially on the Mansfield side, it is not effective,” one emailer who did not want to be identified told us. “Those of us who use it for walking, running and cycling were so excited that we would not have to be exposed to a lot of fumes from vehicles. But, no matter what time I walk in that area, there are always vehicles that enter from Kinnan and Mansfield. There are vehicles that, from the Mansfield side, can successfully drive slowly and carefully through there…and there are enough violators for me to be concerned. This road is not closed to traffic; it’s being used more frequently than you know.”
Commissioner Moore contacted both Ken Hagan, the Hillsborough County Commissioner for District 2 which includes Kinnan St., and District 7 Tampa City Council member Luis Viera, who represents the New Tampa area that includes K-Bar Ranch.
“The gate is a good idea,” Viera says. “It helps emergency vehicles and first responders get through and it will save lives. Let’s hope we don’t let a few people ruin that.”
This is the view from the end of Kinnan St., which runs north from Cross Creek Blvd. Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe is on the other side of the barrier, about 40 feet away. (Photo: John C. Cotey)
Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan, who has tried to get Kinnan St. in New Tampa connected with Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe II — the infamous Kinnan-Mansfield connection — for more than a decade, may finally get his wish.
Well, partially, anyway.
While Pasco County is firmly committed to not connecting the two roads to general traffic, it has expressed a willingness to connect them for fire rescue and other emergency vehicles. With no other options remaining, Hagan — who represents New Tampa as part of Hillsborough’s District 2 —thinks it’s time to make a deal.
At a Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) meeting last month, Hagan introduced a motion to direct the county staff to meet with their Pasco counterparts to forge an interlocal agreement authorizing the Kinnan-Mansfield connection, for public safety purposes, to finally become a real thing.
The two sides were expected to meet last week.
Ken Hagan
“I basically introduced the item because I have been trying to make this connection for well over a decade now and, unfortunately, Pasco has steadfastly refused,” Hagan says. “While they have not completely seen the light, this is certainly a step in the right direction.”
If a deal is struck, the roads will be connected, and an entry-and-exit bar will be installed to keep vehicular traffic out. The two counties also will be connected at Kinnan-Mansfield by pathways for pedestrians and bicyclists.
Residents of Meadow Pointe II have fought the connection because they say it would add too much traffic to Mansfield Blvd., which is home to community entrances and area schools.
Proponents of connecting the roads have argued that it would be good for local businesses and residents and would help ease traffic in the area, while also benefiting fire rescue and emergency medical services, as the two counties have a mutual aid agreement.
Currently, roughly 30 feet of overgrown grass and bushes — and a good deal of junk that has been dumped in the area — is all that separates the two roads, which were never connected when Kinnan St. was completed in 2007.
Since then, the counties have bickered on numerous occasions over whether or not the roads should be connected.
In 2015, then-District 7 Tampa City Council member Lisa Montelione re-ignited the debate after K-Bar Ranch resident Otto Schloeter severely burned his arm and did not receive medical attention for 45 minutes, after his call was bounced between the two counties before a crew was finally dispatched. Because the roads weren’t connected, Montelione argued, it took emergency medical services twice as long as it should have to reach Schloeter.
Luis Viera, who replaced Montelione on the City Council, picked up the fight, but also to no avail.
Pasco County commissioned an engineering firm to study potential connections between the K-Bar Ranch area and Pasco County.
In June, Pasco’s Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) voted unanimously to recommend connections to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. in New Tampa’s K-Bar Ranch community at Meadow Pointe and Wyndfields Blvds., while also recommending the first responders connection at Kinnan-Mansfield.
Pasco County’s commissioners have yet to vote on it.
“Is it what we wanted in full? No,’ says Viera, who has been busy holding meetings hoping to resolve the impasse. “But, does it address our public safety concerns? Yes.”
Viera says he had conversations recently with residents of K-Bar Ranch, which is building 400 more homes but still only has one way, Kinnan St., to exit K-Bar to the west.
“They seem supportive,” Viera says.
Hagan said it is his understanding that Pasco will vote for the public safety connection.
Hagan secured $250,000 from the county in September of 2017 for what he hoped would be a connection open to everyone.
That money is still available to build the public safety connection.
This is the view from the end of Kinnan St., which runs north from Cross Creek Blvd. Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe is on the other side of the barrier, about 40 feet away. (Photo: John C. Cotey)
The decades-old debate over connecting Kinnan St. in New Tampa to Mansfield Blvd. in Wesley Chapel appears to have, pardon the pun, reached the end of the road.
After years of meetings and studies and community activism, the Pasco Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) sided with the Meadow Pointe residents who claim that connecting the roads would put their children’s safety at risk.
On June 11, the Pasco MPO voted unanimously to forward their recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners that Wesley Chapel be connected to New Tampa’s growing K-Bar Ranch community via two roads further to the east of Kinnan-Mansfield (neither has been completed) — Meadow Pointe Blvd. and Wyndfields Blvd., both of which would eventually connect to K-Bar Ranch Blvd. (at different locations).
But, Mansfield Blvd. and Kinnan St. will not be connected for area commuters.
“Everybody that came today spoke against opening up Kinnan and Mansfield,” said Pasco District 2 Commissioner Mike Moore, who represents the Meadow Pointe area, at the June 11 Pasco MPO meeting. “There was one person who was in favor of it, and he lives in New Tampa.”
Hunter’s Green resident Dr. Jim Davison was the person who spoke in favor of connecting Kinnan-Mansfield.
The final vote to settle the roadways question was expected to be held In August, in Dade City.
Considering that all five members on the Pasco BOC also are on the MPO Board that voted unanimously in favor of making only two of the three connections that were considered, it is almost certain to pass.
Hillsborough County District 2 commissioner Ken Hagan and District 7 Tampa City Councilman Luis Viera, both of whom have fought for the connection for years, expressed disappointment and frustration over the Pasco MPO’s decision.
Hagan called it “extremely parochial and irrational.”
However, both New Tampa representatives took some solace in the fact that the famed 40-foot patch of dirt, weeds and trees (and often, garbage and abandoned furniture) separating the roads may be paved over, connecting the roads for use by emergency service vehicles — with a mechanical traffic arm keeping local traffic out — as well as providing a path for bikers and pedestrians.
Public safety was one of the primary reasons both Hagan and Viera had fought for the connection.
“I’m pleased that Pasco County is finally recognizing the significant public safety concerns with Kinnan-Mansfield remaining closed,” Hagan said. “I think this is a necessary first step, and we will live to fight another day.”
Davison was less pleased with the concession for emergency vehicle access. A longtime traffic activist and emergency room physician, Davison said that most people come to the hospital emergency room by private vehicle, not an ambulance, and those people will still face a longer trip to get care.
“Connecting Kinnan and Mansfield is in the public good,” Dr. Davison said.
After years of political arguments and one costly study, Pasco’s MPO turned to its residents to help render a decision.
The MPO was presented with the results from its recent online Pasco Resident Survey, which asked which of four options for connecting Meadow Pointe to New Tampa were preferred.
Meghan McKinney of the consulting firm AECOM, which conducted the initial Wesley Chapel Roadway Connections study which produced the choices for the online survey, said the total number of eligible respondents was 1,180.
The option most favored by those polled online was Option 2, which asked if respondents favored connecting only Meadow Pointe Blvd. to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy.
Nearly 68 percent responded yes, with 32 percent saying no.
The MPO, however, voted unanimously to forward the second-most popular option, Option 3 — connecting both the Meadow Pointe Blvd. Extension and Wyndfields Blvd. to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. — which 66 percent favored.
Connecting only Kinnan-Mansfield was never an option — nor was it an option that was studied in the year-long Roadways Connections Study commissioned by the county — but the controversial connection was included with the other roads in both Option 1 and Option 4. Option 1, which asked if residents would be in favor of connecting Kinnan to Mansfield as well as the Meadow Pointe Blvd. Extension to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy., received a “yes” vote by 54 percent of respondents.
The least popular option from the survey results was No. 4, which would have connected Mansfield Blvd., the Meadow Pointe Blvd. Extension and Wyndfields Blvd. — in other words, all three potential connections to the New Tampa area. Even so, a majority of those responding, 52 percent, still voted in favor of that option as well.
Dr. Valerie Mainguy, a Meadow Pointe resident who works at St. Mark the Evangelist Catholic Church on Cross Creek Blvd., suggested that those numbers were tainted. She told the board she was privy to a “huge initiative” by New Tampa residents to use Pasco addresses and names to skew the results to get Kinnan-Mansfield connected
She said the “fraud” that happened is well known and public knowledge, although she offered no proof of it.
A majority of those saying no to any connections involving Mansfield Blvd. came from those who live along the road. They were signified by red dots on a map showing where the respondents resided.
“The ones that would utilize that connection don’t want that connection,” Moore said.
Those who showed up to the MPO meeting spoke against adding any more traffic to Mansfield Blvd.
“I’m a red dot because I’m the father of two boys that ride their bikes up and down (Mansfield) every day to go to school,” said Meadow Pointe II resident Brad Jorgensen.
Like many of those opposed to connecting Kinnan St. to Mansfield Blvd., Jorgensen cited the safety of children in the neighborhoods along the road.
“This is about not turning our neighborhood into alternate Bruce B. Downs,” Jorgensen said.
The long-simmering debate over whether or not Kinnan St. in New Tampa and Mansfield Blvd. in Wesley Chapel should have the 30-foot gap between the two roads paved over and connected may be on life support.
At least that’s the way it felt on Dec. 13 at the Pasco Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) meeting in Dade City, where there was zero support for connecting the two roads.
It looks like, frankly, it might literally be the end of the road for Kinnan.
Meadow Pointe resident Richard Traugt told Pasco’s MPO that connecting Kinnan St. to Mansfield Blvd. “would be insane.”
With a few dozen Meadow Pointe residents in the audience, the MPO was briefed on the Wesley Chapel Roadways Study — which had been presented to the public in a workshop back in May. The study, while coming to no conclusions, looked at multiple options for connecting Wesley Chapel and New Tampa at the Hillsborough-Pasco county line.
The briefing, delivered by Meghan McKinney of the consulting firm AECOM, was followed by District 2 Pasco County Commissioner Mike Moore delivering what may well be the eulogy for Kinnan-Mansfield.
“Connecting Mansfield and Kinnan makes no sense for Pasco County residents,” Moore said. “It will only help the people in the developments in Hillsborough County just over the border. There are things (Hillsborough County) could have done in the past, like opening up Live Oak (Blvd.), but they got into a battle between Hillsborough and the City of Tampa. They could have opened that up, (but) didn’t do it. Now they want to put the burden on us? Shame on them.”
Moore’s remarks were greeted with loud applause from the residents in attendance, eight of whom signed up to speak to the MPO, which is comprised of the five Pasco commissioners, city council members from Zephyrhills and New Port Richey, and the mayors of Port Richey and Dade City.
Mike Moore, left, is a vocal critic of connecting Kinnan St. and Mansfield Blvd.
Residents told the MPO that opening up Mansfield Blvd. to traffic from New Tampa, namely from new homes in K-Bar Ranch, would be a disaster. The 450-page report, using traffic projections for the year 2040, suggested the connection would add as many as 4,000 cars to Mansfield, a two-lane road — which many in attendance claimed cannot be widened, even though there has never been any proof of that claim presented by county staffers — running north to S.R. 56.
“It would destroy the flavor of the community me and my neighbors bought into…and it would lower property values,” said Michael Kaufman, who also was critical of the City of Tampa’s decision this summer to approve 700 more homes in K-Bar Ranch, which backs up against the southern end of Meadow Pointe.
“They (Tampa) are creating a problem; it’s not up to us to fix it,” he added.
This photo taken by a drone shows the 60-foot gap between Kinnan St. (on the bottom) and Mansfield Blvd. Hillsborough and Pasco counties are stalemated on the issue but continue to discuss connecting the two roads.
Mansfield Blvd. runs past an elementary, middle and high school, Pasco-Hernando State College and entrances to a handful of Meadow Pointe II communities. The safety of students attending those schools was the concern echoed by most.
“It would be insane,” said Richard Traugt. “I’m against it for safety purposes alone.”
“There is grave concern among Pasco County residents that this would have a severe and negative impact on the quality of life and safety,” said Chris Dillinger. “It is easy to dismiss our fears as whiny and the over-reactive opinion of a small group of residents, but this notion is especially convenient for those would benefit from accessing the short cut through our neighborhood.”
At this point, the debate over Kinnan-Mansfield may no longer raging, but other options to make connections remain viable and even had the lukewarm approval of some of the residents in attendance. Connecting Meadow Pointe Blvd. to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy., as well as Wyndfields Blvd. to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy., or even both, appeared to be palatable choices.
Tampa and Hillsborough County have argued to connect all three.
“I’ve heard nothing positive about Mansfield Blvd. being opened, period,” said Pasco’s Dist. 5 commissioner Jack Mariano. “Connecting to Meadow Pointe Blvd. is the most sensible one. If Hillsborough is blocking that, we’ve got a problem. We need to have a strong discussion with them.”
Mariano joined Moore, Dade City mayor Camille Hernandez and Zephyrhills City council member Lance Smith in siding with the residents in attendance. Pasco commissioners Ron Oakley (District 1) and Kathryn Starkey (District 3) left after the presentation and before public comment, without offering their opinions, and three other MPO members did not attend.
McKinney said Pasco will conduct a public opinion poll in February, with basically yes or no votes on the various connections. A standalone option for making the Kinnan-Mansfield connection will not be on the survey, but it will be included as part of the multiple connections options. Those results will be passed on to the MPO, who will then make a recommendation to Pasco’s commissioners.
Following a few months in stagnation, the long-running debate about which, if any, roadway connections to make between the southern portion of Wesley Chapel and New Tampa’s K-Bar Ranch area will be renewed Dec. 13 when Pasco County’s Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) meets in Dade City.
At the scheduled Pasco MPO meeting, its nine Board members will be presented a scaled-down version of the findings of the Wesley Chapel Roadways Study, which was presented to roughly 75 local residents on May 29.
Ali Atefi, Pasco County’s transportation engineer, said originally the MPO was supposed to receive the report, compiled by consulting firm AECOM, in August, but a crowded agenda forced it to be postponed until next month.
Once the MPO is presented the findings of the study, a citizen survey will be scheduled, likely for early spring.
The online survey will be for Pasco County residents only, and will present the options for yes or no votes for various connections.
The study looked at four potential solutions to connecting Wesley Chapel and K-Bar Ranch:
(1) connecting Kinnan St. in New Tampa with Mansfield Blvd. in Meadow Pointe and K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. to Meadow Pointe Blvd.
(2) connecting only K-Bar Ranch Pkwy. to Meadow Pointe Blvd.
(3) doing all of the possible connections: Kinnan-Mansfield, K-Bar Ranch Pkwy.-Meadow Pointe Blvd., and Wyndfields Blvd. to K-Bar Ranch Pkwy.
All three proposed connections, which are shown with red circles on the map above, have been in the county’s Long Range Transportation Plan (LRTP) for many years.
There was also a fourth option — a no-build option — that would put up a gate for emergency vehicles, which was very popular among constituents on both sides of the county line, and bicycle and pedestrian accommodations at Kinnan-Mansfield, but no motor vehicle connection for general public use.
Connecting Kinnan to Mansfield — with those two streets still separated by a 30-foot-or-so patch of dirt and bushes and whose linking has been a point of great contention between the two counties — was considered an alternative, but only in conjunction with the other connections
The Roadways Study report states that Kinnan-Mansfield was not evaluated as a standalone connection.
When presented this information, members of the public had a month to weigh in with their opinions, either with forms at the workshop or online. The responses, all of which were reviewed by the Neighborhood News, don’t offer many surprises.
There were 12 forms filled out at the May presentation, with only one in favor of the Kinnan-Mansfield connection.
Of the 175 emails we reviewed, 100 of them were actually forwarded responses from a Change.org petition.
Among the remaining 75 emails, there were a number of duplicates, but 36 emails were clearly opposed to connecting Kinnan-Mansfield (though many were open to other connections) and six emails were in favor of connecting the two roads. Of course, these are the Pasco County responses only.
Since the Wesley Chapel Roadways Study was finalized, the City of Tampa approved a rezoning that will permit M/I Homes to proceed with building 700 new homes in K-Bar Ranch, which borders Meadow Pointe directly to the south.
The Pasco MPO is expected to make its recommendation in May, which would then place the final decision in the hands of the Pasco Board of County Commissioners for a potential vote in the summer.
