The last time New Tampa had its own bagel place, it was called The Ultimate Bagel, which closed its location in Tampa Palms about 20 years ago.
In other words, the people in the community just south of Wesley Chapel have been waiting quite a while for a true New York-stye bagel place to open in zip code 33647.
Well, the wait it over, as Jeff Cofini (left in photo) and his nephew Nick Cignarella have opened Zio’s New York Bagel & Deli in the Pebble Creek Collection (at 19651 BBD Blvd.) and yes, the bagels are legit!
My fried egg, bacon and cheese (photo left) on a sesame bagel was outstanding and Zio’s has not only your favorite bagel varieties, but also everything cheddar, cheddar bacon (with real strips of bacon baked in) and more.
Breakfast, including freshly-made omelets, is available all day, but don’t forget the Boar’s Head meat-and-cheese sandwiches, like The Melvin (below, left) with pastrami,, corned beef, melted Swiss & cole slaw.
For info, call (813) 388-9498 or visit “Zio’s New York Bagel & Deli” on Facebook. — GN, photos by Charmaine George & GN
There was an unintended mistake in the introduction I wrote in the previous version of this story that appeared in the June 27 edition (Vol. 31, Issue #13) of New Tampa Neighborhood News. I apologize for any confusion or inconvenience the error may have caused. Below is the corrected copy. Please also note that I have added below the date and time of the Hillsborough County Commission meeting where the commissioners are scheduled to vote on the proposed zoning change:
Some Pebble Creek residents have fought hard against the closing of the community’s open-to-the-public golf club and the potential redevelopment of the golf course property that would replace the currently vacant golf course land with additional homes. The judge in the tortious interference lawsuit between golf course owner Bill Place and his Ace Golf vs. Leslie Green of the Save Pebble Creek Group had not yet rendered a decision in that case. However, the redevelopment plan presented by GL Homes — which is planning to purchase the vacated golf course property from Ace Golf — has been approved by a Hillsborough County zoning hearing master and is expected to be put to a vote before the County Commission on Tuesday, July 18, at 9 a.m. Until then, below are the arguments for and against GL Homes’ redevelopment plans, presented by the two sides of the ongoing redevelopment dispute. — GN
Why GL Homes’ Redevelopment Plan Is Good For Us
Re: An Open Letter to All of Our Fellow Residents of Pebble Creek
My wife, Lynn, our two sons, and I are proud residents of Pebble Creek. We serve the community in various ways, such as participating on the HOA Board and multiple committees and working on our Neighborhood Watch program.
For over a year, many of us in the neighborhood have been collaborating with GL Homes on its plans to transform the Pebble Creek Golf Course into an upscale single-family home community. Our goal is to protect our community’s property values by replacing the eyesore in our backyard with an aesthetically pleasing, low-density residential development. Throughout the process, GL Homes listened to our numerous requests and constantly revised their plans.
Like many of my neighbors, I believe we now have a plan that will positively impact the quality of life for everyone in Pebble Creek for years to come. I was pleased — and not surprised — that the plan received recent approval from P&Z (Planning & Zoning) and the County Staff.
On Tuesday, July 18, at 9 a.m., GL Homes will go before the County Commission and ask for final approval of its plans. We invite you to join us in protecting Pebble Creek and sharing your voice that day.
Why should you support this plan? Here are some facts:
• Pebble Creek Golf Course will not reopen. It was a neighborhood golf course that was not supported by the neighborhood. An expert shared with us a 2023 study that indicates a golf course like Pebble Creek needs a minimum of 150 neighborhood members to survive. At the time of its closing, there were only 13 members from the Pebble Creek community! I think it’s time to acknowledge that golf is no longer as popular here — and throughout the country — as it once was, and we should focus on other ways to improve our neighborhood.
• Our property values will be positively impacted by being adjacent to a community with a beautiful entry, landscaping, and all detached single-family homes with sales expected to average in the mid $600,000s. It’s certainly better than a closed, dilapidated golf course that creates safety issues and fosters uncertainty in potential buyers’ minds.
• All new development creates traffic. However, I appreciate GL Homes’ efforts to mitigate this impact by negotiating with the County to have one community entrance instead of two. That will significantly reduce congestion and mitigate traffic flow on our roads.
• The golf course is an excellent site to redevelop, and the GL Homes plan will create a healthier neighborhood environment, ecological system, and wildlife habitat. Of course, GL will have to work hand in hand with the FDEP (Florida Department of Environmental Protection) to ensure that redevelopment is done properly and in compliance with all regulations.
I truly believe that years from now we will look back on July 18th as a landmark day for Pebble Creek. Stand up and protect your property values. Visit http://pebblecreekfacts.com for more information on the hearing and ways to send your support directly to the Commission. — Lance Ignatowicz
Why GL Homes’ Redevelopment Plan Is Wrong For Us
Pebble Creek as we know it is in danger of drastic changes. Save Pebble Creek is not just me, but many residents and volunteers who believe that adding more houses to Pebble Creek will adversely affect our quality of life.
We are far from the minority, as evidenced by the letter writing and petition turned in to the county. By our analysis of the letters of concern we found just hours before the zoning board hearing, a whopping 74% of the people that wrote are opposed.
Pebble Creek is an older, well-established neighborhood. Many of us fear the remediation of the soil, the construction period, the increased density and the impact all this will have.
Pebble Creek is already the most densely populated neighborhood in New Tampa. A simple view of maps on your phone reveals this obvious fact. The proposed community may be less dense than the surrounding area but placed in the middle of it increases the density of the entire area. The traffic congestion at our exits can only increase. We fear that this will overburden our existing fire and emergency medical services and our schools.
To pave over the golf course and place homes on it will destroy the community’s main green space.
Why, if we cannot use the green space currently would we still want to keep it? We have an abundance of wildlife here on the course and it would greatly be impacted by the disruption from construction vehicles and noise, the loss of their land to homes with fences and or enclosures, and adding of paved roads. We have blue herons, egrets, spoonbills, sandhill cranes and turtles, to name a few of the creatures that may choose to leave. See pictures by Larry Feldman at SavePebbleCreek.com.
Replacing “old growth trees” that have canopied limbs and leaves with palm trees will eliminate nesting habitats for birds, squirrels, raccoons, etc.
Years of construction noise and dust will affect the surrounding communities as well. The soil samples are not adequate and a soil remediation plan has not been approved. Soil blending, where contaminated soil is mixed with clean soil, was not recommend. See Emma Symborski’s impassioned and informative speech at the zoning meeting on SavePebbleCreek.com or on YouTube.
It is important that this land is not rezoned to allow for further building. Then, hopefully, a more favorable use of the land could be agreed-upon and pursued. The golf course can be brought back. In fact, a golf course close by was reopened after years of being closed. Golf is far from a dying sport.
NGF (the National Golf Foundation) states that 25.6 million Americans over 6 years old played on a golf course and another 15.5 million participated in off-course activities like driving ranges and golf entertainment venues like Topgolf in 2022. The NGF also says that there has been a 40% increase in potential golfers over the past 5 years.
So, I call on all the surrounding communities Hunters Green, Heritage Isles, Cross Creek, Live Oak, Grand Hampton, Arbor Green, West Meadows, Richmond Place and Cory Lake Isles to help Pebble Creek. You will be affected, too. ABC Action News said that slow EMS response times may have to do with our congested roads. You can help by calling the commissioners and telling them that you oppose Agenda Item #23-013.2
Our band of community volunteers is up against a big corporate builder with lots of funds, a law firm to represent them at the hearings and a PR firm for their marketing. We welcome the community to join us and help. Together we can Save Pebble Creek!
If you’d like to volunteer, contact: savepebblecreek@yahoo.com. To contribute to our GoFundMe campaign, visit https://GoFundme/626e151. Need a ride or can provide one to the hearing on July 18? Please contact Mike at: pcchamp15@outlook.com — Leslie Green
Zio’s owners Jeff Cofini (left) & Nick Cignarella.
Mark your calendars now because on Wednesday morning, June 21, Jeff Cofini & Nick Cignarella are excited to welcome you to Zio’s New York Bagel & Deli Co. in the Pebble Creek Collection at 19651 BBD Blvd. Pick up a dozen bagels or try the authentic fried egg, bacon & cheese bagel sandwiches! Great Gavina gourmet coffee, plus freshly sliced Boar’s Head meats & cheeses & more, too!
Zio’s cream cheese on everything bagelZio’s bacon, egg & cheese
Although a few had already left by the time this picture was taken, the Save Pebble Creek group, led by Leslie Green (in peach), had more than 50 Pebble Creek residents make the trip to downtown Tampa for a hearing in front of a judge regarding the lawsuit filed by Pebble Creek Golf Club owner Bill Place and his ACE Golf against Green. (Photo provided by Leslie Green)
Although no decision was reached and there was no word as to when Judge Christopher C. Nash of Hillsborough County’s 13th Judicial Circuit Court would render a decision, the ongoing legal battle between defendant Leslie Green of the Save Pebble Creek group and Pebble Creek Golf Club owners Bill Place and his ACE Golf has had its first day in court.
As we reported last issue, Place’s suit says that Green has defamed him and interfered with his ability to sell the shuttered golf course to developer GL Homes, which has filed plans with Hillsborough County to build 251 homes on 149-acre site. Green, who filed a countersuit in May 2022, is now seeking to have Place’s original suit dismissed under Florida’s Anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) statute.
After hearing more than two hours of testimony on both sides of the issue on March 8, Judge Nash said he needed “more time” to consider both sides of the argument, although no timeline was given for the judge to render a decision in the case.
Despite Place’s claims in his lawsuit that Green has engaged in “a campaign of harassment and dissemination of blatant falsehoods,” she said after the hearing, “Everything I’ve said is the truth. It (Place’s lawsuit) is meant to silence me and everyone else who fears being sued as well.”
At our press time, Judge Nash had still not rendered his decision, but Green explained that if he rules in Place’s favor and dismisses Green’s claims that the suit violates the anti-SLAPP statute in Florida, a trial to determine whether or not Green did defame and interfere with Place’s right to sell or develop his property would still have to follow.
However, if the Judge rules in favor of Green and dismisses Place’s lawsuit, the Save Pebble Creek group could continue its efforts to prevent the former golf course from being redeveloped.
“We believe that adding more houses to Pebble Creek will adversely affect our quality of life,” Green said.
And, despite Place’s claims that those who support Green, a 30-year Pebble Creek resident, and her cause are nothing but a “vocal minority” of Pebble Creek residents, she said, “We literally have had hundreds of our neighbors who have signed our petitions and tell us that they support our efforts, which are continuing. We continue to host peaceful demonstrations and have a lot of people waving signs that we want to save our community.”
She added that Place’s ongoing efforts to stop the Save Pebble Creek group has definitely made it harder for the group to recruit additional people, “But, we’re not giving up. It’s been an expensive fight for me, but I know we’re in the right.”
The group’s website SavePebbleCreek.com and its Facebook page post updates on its upcoming events and also relates stories of other golf course communities that have successfully fought redevelopment, including Walden Lake Golf Club in Plant City and Bardmoor Golf & Tennis Club in Seminole.
The area in red is the former Pebble Creek Golf Club, which will be redeveloped by GL Homes and become home to 251 single-family dwellings and other amenities, if property owner Bill Place gets his way. (NN Map: Charmaine George)
GL Homes has officially teed off with its plans to redevelop the Pebble Creek Golf Club (PCGC).
The home builder has filed plans with Hillsborough County to amend the golf course property’s zoning and redevelop the 149 acres following months of meetings with residents — including, most recently, a door-to-door campaign — in their efforts to convince Pebble Creek residents that its plans are best for the community.
Even so, GL Homes faced resistance from a group of homeowners trying to stop them.
Although there are still a handful of steps along the way, including more meetings with the public, a vote on the proposed project by the Hillsborough County Board of Commissioners (BCC) could come as soon as July 18.
PCGC owner Bill Place, whose company is Ace Golf, made it clear in a letter to Pebble Creek residents that redevelopment was the only choice.
Bill Place
He wrote to residents in a two-and-a-half-page letter that it would never reopen as a golf course due to the “declining economics” of golf, and that the county would never purchase the property to turn into a park because it doesn’t have the money.
He said his first choice, and by far the one he felt was best for the community, was the plan submitted by GL Homes to the county. Those plans include a gated, 251-unit single-family detached residential development, with an amenity center and four acres of passive and active park space throughout the development.
He said if that plan is not approved, then residents will be stuck with a “vacant, overgrown, fenced-in property for potentially many years to come (like Walden Lake) and another plan by a lesser builder without the many guarantees and concessions made in GL Homes’ plan.”
Place told residents in the letter that he has solicited input from the community’s two homeowners associations (HOAs) and neighbors, and has agreed to certain requests — such as limiting density to about 250 units (although nearly 600 are allowed), enhancing existing wetlands, adding recreational amenities and also requiring the developer to make any road improvements needed to offset the number of new homes.
Place, who recently had a chain-link fence installed around the golf course due to what he claims is rampant vandalism, also took some shots at the Save Pebble Creek group and others that are opposed to redevelopment.
“There is a vocal group that would have you believe that a vacant, overgrown, vandalized 150-acre property with a chain-link fence around it is better for your property values than GL Homes’ redevelopment plan,” Place wrote. “And, they would have you believe that, as the owner of the property, I will simply relinquish it to any buyer for a park or revived golf course. I will not, as both are not realistic options. I will simply hold the property for as many years as it takes for the existing entitlements and property rights to be recognized by a governing authority.”
Place said the letter was written to combat what he says is misinformation that has been spread about his intentions.
Before shutting down, PCGC was the oldest golf course in New Tampa, opening in 1967. Place bought the 6,436-yard semi-private golf course in 2005. He has said that since the 2008 recession, he had been unable to make much money from it. When he shut PCGC down for good on July 31, 2021, he said there were only a dozen golf members.
Place had been seeking buyers for the property before he shuttered it, and at least four other developers had explored purchasing the course before ultimately declining.
The county staff will examine the GL Homes plan and reply with comments, suggestions and possibly revisions. Jake Cremer, a land-use attorney for Stearns Weaver Miller law, who is representing the developer, said he expects the first hearing will be May 15 before the zoning hearing master, who will listen to both sides and make a recommendation to the BCC.
Pebble Creek Golf Club owner Bill Place recently had a chain link fence installed around the defunct golf course to prevent vandalism. It didn’t help when it came to the former golf club’s marquee. He says the chain link fence could become permanent if the county doesn’t approve GL Homes’ redevelopment plan.
Cremer says GL Homes has gone above and beyond the normal efforts of developers in trying to bring the existing Pebble Creek community on board with the plans. The home builder is close to wrapping up its door-to-door campaign, with the goal of reaching all 1,350 homes in Pebble Creek.
The larger Pebble Creek HOA represents 1,050 homes and has participated in meetings with GL Homes; the smaller Pebble Creek Village HomeOwners Association (PCV HOA), which represents 303 homes, remains opposed to redevelopment and has declined all meetings.
One of the PCV HOA members, Leslie Green, is the person who started the Save Pebble Creek Facebook page and helped organize a number of protests. Despite the efforts of GL Homes, Green remains unconvinced.
“All the same issues we’ve had from the start are still there,” Green says. “Our quality of life will be impacted. The construction will take three years, the loss of wildlife and green spaces is terrible, and this area just can’t handle any more traffic.”
Green says that most of the residents that she has spoken with are opposed to redevelopment
However, Cremer says GL Homes is not finding that to be the case.
“What we’re finding is that, like a lot of these more controversial projects, there’s a very vocal minority that’s opposed,” Cremer says. “And, there’s a similar number of people that really like the idea. They’re just tired of having 18 months of a defunct golf course in their back yards, with no way to use that or enjoy the property. And then, there’s a lot of people in the middle that have been, from what I understand, very, very open to talking and haven’t necessarily made their minds up yet.”
Pebble Creek was zoned PD (Planned Development), and the 149 acres in question was zoned as a golf course. The developers will try and get that designation removed.
The county’s current comprehensive plan, established in 1989, classifies the Pebble Creek property in the RES-4 Future Land category, which caps development at a maximum of four homes per acre, meaning that as many as 600 homes would be permitted. GL Homes, as one of its concessions to current residents, it says, only intends to build 251, or less than half of that total.
Place still has a soil issue to contend with as the redevelopment process plays out. Contaminants were discovered in the golf course’s soil in 2019, and Place says he recently received approval from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection to submit a cleanup plan. He expects that plan to be submitted in roughly 30 days, with six months needed for the cleanup.
“Things are happening,” Place says. “I think we are taking steps in the right direction with all of this.”
