Presenting: The ‘Neighborhood Newsmakers’ Podcast!

My B.S. degree in Broadcast News from the University of Florida never did much for me in terms of jobs in the broadcast field. 

Oh, I had my own radio and TV advertising agency before I purchased this publication, and I had my own “The Leisure Man” radio show on two stations in Westchester County, NY, right before I moved to Florida. I even attempted to sell a “Ring Magazine TV Show” with myself and my former editor at Ring Randy Gordon as co-hosts to NBC-TV in the mid-1980s. My ultimate goal after college was always to provide programming for radio and TV, but when those opportunities didn’t come for me, I did the next best thing I could to support my family — I bought the Neighborhood News — and the rest, as they say, is history. 

But, that itch to do something in the realm of broadcasting never waned for me. Back in 2018, we were one of only 23 U.S. and 86 worldwide news media outlets to receive an investment of capital from Google to expand our online news and we did just that — churning out two videos per week for most of 2019. But, when Google didn’t renew that grant, I never reached my goal at that time of having an ongoing news “channel” on Google-owned YouTube. 

So since then, my itch to provide broadcast programming, in addition to what we do every two weeks in print and provide every day online, has continued to go mostly unscratched. 

Until now, that is. When North Tampa Bay Chamber president Hope Kennedy invited me to be the first-ever guest on her new “Chamber Chatter” podcast (as we reported a few months ago), I got so broadcast-itchy that I felt like I needed “an ocean of Calamine lotion.” I asked Hope if the amazing Emorys Rock Realty podcast studio at the NTBC’s new office in The Shops at Wiregrass was available for others to produce their own podcasts and when she said it was, the idea for my new “Neighborhood Newsmakers” podcast was born. 

My intent with the podcast is to supplement what we do in these pages and online with longer-form interview opportunities with the people making news in and around New Tampa and Wesley Chapel. I hope to feature elected officials, governmental staffers, developers and anyone else making news in our community. And yes, we may also include some dining segments on the podcast. So, you can expect more than just one-on-one interviews on many episodes. And, you can see all of the released episodes on our “Neighborhood News” Facebook page. 

Episode 1 featured Live Oak Preserve residents Jason and his son Karson Centeno, who were two of the nine locals I selected from around 50 applicants to judge our “Neighborhood News Chicken Tenders Contest,” where PDQ won for Favorite Mild and Chick-fil-A won for Favorite Spicy Tenders. 

Jason, Karson and I had a few laughs about the format of the tenders contest and about what future tasting contests the Neighborhood News could sponsor — from tacos to pizza, Cuban sandwiches and more. The episode has had over 1,200 views. I’ll keep you posted about future podcast episodes. 

The second episode we recorded is with Michael Pultorak (left photo), the local RealtorÂź and organizer of the Pasco Connected City Residents Group on Facebook and who has become a strong voice on behalf of those residents at Pasco government meetings.

But, I held off on releasing Episode 2 until after Episode 3, because it was an interview with New Tampa residents Kathy and Jamie Miller, the mom and sister of the late former USF football player Joel Miller, the young man assaulted by coach Jim Leavitt who passed away after becoming known for getting Leavitt fired. 

Leavitt is somehow still scheduled to be inducted into the USF Athletic Hall of Fame on Oct. 2, so I released Episode 3 out of order (top photo), in an effort to get USF to change its decision about inducting the fired former coach. I hope you’ll watch the episode, too, and sign Kathy and Jamie’s petition on Change.org. 

Will Historic Flooding From Milton Impact Pasco’s Future Land Use Decisions? 

Pasco Officials Hear About Flooding Woes & Fears From Local Residents During Nov. 7 Planning Commission Meeting 

By JOEL PROVENZANO & GARY NAGER 

Now that Hurricane Milton has long since passed, is more of this type of major flooding in Pasco County’s future? Wesley Chapel residents are among those who fear the worst if county officials continue to allow additional unfettered major development. (Photo by Joel Provenzano)

In light of the historic flooding that took place this year, following multiple tropical systems that criss-crossed our area — but especially from Hurricane Milton last month — many Pasco County residents have taken to social media and even to governmental meetings to voice their concerns about how they believe the rapid growth of the county has led, whether in-part or in-whole, to these flooding problems. 

Most have voiced generalized concerns, like, “If the county keeps allowing the building of new homes and apartments, where will all the water go?,” while others pointed out that this year’s unprecedented and all-time-record-setting rainfall was bound to cause issues no matter how the land is or is not developed. 

The latter group’s point at least appears to be somewhat backed-up by the fact that large sections of rural counties in central Florida — far away from any recent major development — are STILL underwater, more than a month after Milton passed through. 

But, now that this flooding did occur, is there room for change in Pasco’s approach to new development? These are the questions being asked by local residents. 

Changes to policy and perception can be slow with government. Typically, a few good case examples will help to move the needle toward finding solutions and possible compromises. 

Pasco residents may have gotten their first real good crack at this process recently, with a proposed development called the Tall Timbers MPUD (Master-Planned Unit Development) positioned just south of Mirada, off of rural Tyndall Rd., on the “outskirts” of Wesley Chapel. 

The owner of this pristine 38-acre site (Xtreme Team 41, LLC), which is currently zoned Agricultural, is requesting to rezone the property, located within the “Connected City” MPUD area, to allow for 180,000 sq. ft. of commercial and 380 multi-family units (which the plan shows as townhomes). 

On Nov. 7, the Pasco County Planning Commission held a public hearing for this rezoning case, giving residents an opportunity to speak, and they definitely took advantage. Out of a handful of passionate speakers — both before and after the agenda item was presented — one person really stood out as the main objector, with some well-crafted and researched arguments — Michael Pultorak. 

Pultorak (photo) is a RealtorÂź who lives just down the street from the proposed development on Kenton Rd., in an area of rural residential lots. His main concern was flooding and he had plenty of visuals to back-up this concerns before Tall Timbers was even discussed. 

“I’m speaking here for all the residents of Pasco County,” he said. “The thousands of flooded-out residents on the east side of the county.” 

Pultorak added, ““The problem is that this area is the most sensitive piece of the Connected City. “Everything that has purple lines on it (graphic right) was flooded,” Pultorak said as he showed the commission a map with marks indicating how the subject property and the property immediately to the south were affected by the recent storms. 

“All of the commercial in this proposed development is supposed to be on the south side of that red line on this (below) photo. The red line is where the road is going to go. The 106,000 square feet of commercial is all in what flooded. This is an issue now like it never has been before because of the media and because of emotions. We don’t want to stop development, we don’t want to stop future neighbors from moving in. But, we need your help before any more developments are allowed to come in, increase density, change comprehensive views, or get elements of the current plans approved to make it cheaper or faster [for them] to build. Please meet us in the middle and protect us, your current residents, thank you,” to which the audience applauded. 

Professional engineer Jon Moody, one of the Planning Commission’s main speakers, said that the county already has stormwater regulations “up to the 100-year flood” in its Land Development code, and that, “Florida has some of the most stringent water regulations of any state in the country.” 

Pultorak responded that the King Lake drainage basin, next to his house and Kenton Rd., was a primary concern because the water has nowhere to go. 

“This is frustrating for us because the argument is always that the county is following state building codes,” Pultorak said. “But state building codes are a minimum. Pasco County is a higher risk flood area because this was all cattle pastures and now we’re putting high-density developments on these pastures. So, when we cover the surface with non-permeable roofs, foundations, driveways and roads and shed water into retention ponds, there’s a capacity limit and developers have refused to exceed that minimum to protect their neighbors from the 100-year storm during the wet season.” 

Moody answered, “We are all very concerned about the flooding that occurred because of back-to-back hurricanes, but what type of plan do you envision or would like to see? I practice stormwater for a living and we follow those regulations. What level is enough protection? The state may look at its regulations and say that maybe looking at a 24-hour event isn’t enough. In my own experience, one day isn’t usually the problem. It’s when you have three or four days of rain in a row. Unfortunately, what we saw with Milton were rainfall amounts that came in an extremely short time. Heavy rain is usually 12 inches in a 24-hour period, but with Milton we had 16-18 inches of rainfall in some areas in a 4-6-hour period. That’s an unprecedented event that no one could have contemplated. But, what level of protection is it that you think we need?” 

Pultorak thanked Moody for being reasonable and constructive, “In contrast to some of your predecessors who have asked me where I got my civil engineering degree. I don’t have one, but I do have three Master’s and a Ph.D. in common sense at this point. Common sense tells me that when the environment is changing, that however we’ve been looking at things, we should consider sliding that scale and make improvements if we have proof that what we are having developments abide by is now threatening our current county. My neighbors here were flooded with two days of rain before the hurricane hit. So, maybe we need to reevaluate the standards we hold new developments to. Because currently, with what we’re using, they’re flooding out their neighbors. So, can we maybe tap the brakes on some development and figure out how to protect our current residents.” 

Moody responded, “I don’t think there are easy answers. Are there things we can do to reduce stormwater runoff? Sure. Maybe we can require less impervious surface and more green space.” 

Pultorak also said that there have been so many individual approvals on portions of the Connected City that the county and developers may have lost sight of that project as a whole. 

“I think it’s long past time to have a public workshop on the Connected City,” he said, “because, when that project was originally brought to Pasco, it was supposed to be a community that would make Lake Jovita jealous. But, I’m watching and I’m seeing a heck of a lot of warehouses and light industrial in these zoning amendments and warehouses don’t look to me like the South Tampa ‘vibe’ we were promised. When the Connected City turns into 2 million sq. ft. of distribution space, it doesn’t bring to mind the South Tampa vibe that was going to make Lake Jovita jealous.” 

Pultorak had a chance to come back later in the meeting and present his specific observations about the proposed Tall Timbers development. 

He displayed aerial images of the subject development property which he said were taken the morning of the meeting, that clearly showed the 38-acre parcel still holding significant amounts of water (that wasn’t clearly visible from the road). 

Pultorak also showed topographic (topo) maps indicating on the property where the multiple existing (historic) lakes and wetlands were located and noting how the development showed a commercial building over one of the existing ponds (which he says have expanded since the storms) and potential parking over other wetland areas, an issue that he said is likely to affect the natural flood plain that serves the surrounding properties, including his. 

He noted that the site plan also proposed two very large retention ponds (totaling 9.5 acres) in areas where two existing ponds were, and two parks (green space) totaling 1.7 acres, in addition to the townhomes and commercial. 

Pultorak stated that perhaps the best use for the entire property would be for it to be used as green space for the Connected City. The Planning Commission members echoed his concerns about the wetland impacts (as well as the need for a comprehensive Connected City public hearing) and asked county staff if a building was not placed over the wetland (to avoid impacts) would it still meet the conditions of the binding site plan? 

In light of the drainage concerns and outstanding questions, a proposal was put forth to continue the meeting to Thursday, December 12, and before adjourning, the commission asked for an engineer (representing the development) to come to the next meeting to explain how the potential impacts to the flood plain could be addressed. The continuance passed unanimously.