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JANUARY 6, 2016
Park master plan meetings on tap By Kevin Weiss
Park master plan meetings
kweiss@lakerlutznews.com
Hillsborough County’s Conservation and Environmental Lands Management department will host a series of meetings during the next 2½ months to provide information to residents about the county’s regional park system, and gather input for a master plan. The public meetings will take place at 10 locations, with the first on Jan. 9 at the Upper Tampa Bay Park on Double Branch Road. All meetings will take place on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to11:30 a.m. The meetings will provide an overview of the conservation department’s duties, outline recreational opportunities in the area and explain the master planning process in detail. Department officials also will field questions. When the master plan is finished, it is ex-
Hillsborough County’s Conservation and Environmental Lands Management department will have a series of public meetings to help develop the county’s master plan for parks and conservation. The meetings will be on Saturdays, from 10 a.m. to 11: 30 a.m. PHOTOS COURTESY OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY
The public meetings will provide information about the regional park system and will gather resident feedback to help create a master plan.
pected to include specific recommendations on policies, procedures and practices relating to natural resource management, faSee PARK, page 11A
Meetings in the general vicinity include: • Jan. 9: Upper Tampa Bay Park, 8001 Double Branch Road in Tampa • March 5: Upper Tampa Bay Trail, 9201 W. Waters Ave., Tampa • March 12: Lake Rogers (meeting will include Lake Park): 9586 N. Mobley Road in Odessa
For a complete list of meetings, visit HillsboroughCounty.org/Conservation.
Lutz church hits three-quarter century mark
Most of the people at that first service were members of the family, Fletcher recalled. The church met at Fletcher’s grandparents’ home until its first wooden building was erected. That church was later expanded, and over the years, a larger church and a By B.C. Manion Fellowship Hall were bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com built on the grounds, There was just a smattering of businesses and an office and stualong U.S. 41, when the Rev. Heard T. dent building were Burnette began the First Baptist Church of constructed across the street. Lutz, in the community north of Tampa. Now, as the The first meeting was in the home of J. B. and Maude Laurence, which was on the church prepares to ground where Lutz Elementary School now celebrate its 75th anniversary, it’s inviting sits. Joan Fletcher recalls the church’s first anyone who has ever meeting, held in the living room of her grand- been a part of the church to come to parents’ home. “I was a little kid. We were excited,” the celebrations. Fletcher said. “We all spent the night at grandma’s house, so we’d be sure to be there.” See CHURCH, page 11A
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March 3 –13, 2016 • Plant City, FL
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A look at the First Baptist Church of Lutz during its early days. This is the original wooden church, after it was expanded.
Above, Members of the First Baptist Church of Lutz used to be baptized in lakes. This shot was taken of a group being baptized in Lake Keen. The edges of the photograph are charred, because the photo was salvaged after Joan Fletcher’s house burned down.
Resident crusades for safety wall on I-75 By Kathy Steele
ksteele@lakerlutznews.com
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Construction dust, giant cranes and truck traffic are an everyday inconvenience near Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club. Road crews are busy expanding the interchange at Interstate 75 and State Road 52 from County Road 54 to Hernando County. The three-year project is slated for completion in 2017, and is meant to improve traffic flow by widening I-75 from four lanes to six lanes, with three lanes in each direction. State Road 52 also will be widened to six lanes. There will be frontage roads north and south of State Road 52, west of I-75. Sidewalks and bicycle lanes also will be installed. But, what John Hart sees and hears from his backyard in Tampa Golf & Country Club he perceives as trouble. He’s worried about a steady flow of cars and 18-wheelers delivering nonstop noise and rattling the foundation of his home. And, in a worst-case scenario, he’s concerned about an overturned semitrailer crashing into his backyard. The retired Rhode Island cop has been on a three-year crusade on behalf of his community to improve conditions. “We’re looking for a safety wall,” Hart said.“I want to see the wall out there. I want to see people protected.” State highway officials maintain that a study completed prior to construction did not justify a wall based on noise levels. And the road design, they say, meets national safety standards. The entrance into the age 55 and older community is off State Road 52, within a few yards of the highway ramps. Hart wants the sound and safety barrier installed along the approximately two-mile outer boundary of his neighborhood paralleling I-75. Currently, a row of pine trees and a vinyl fence are the only defenses against
KATHY STEELE/STAFF PHOTO
John Hart points out a chipped window at his home in Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club. He believes that vibrations coming from truck traffic on Interstate 75 cause damage to both his home and his neighbors’ homes.
noise, or worse, an out-of-control vehicle, just 300 feet or so from a row of homes backing up to the interstate. Hart has repeatedly raised his concerns with the Florida Department of Transportation. He isn’t a man who gives up, even though Hart acknowledges that some by now — even within his community — probably wish he would concede it’s a lost cause. Hart points to a recent accident as evidence that a safety wall is needed. On Dec. 11, north of the interchange project, a dump truck in the southbound lane of I-75 blew a tire. A chain reaction accident occurred, involving another dump truck, a van, a semitrailer and a pickup truck. The driver with the blown tire died and another person suffered serious injuries, according to media reports. The van ended up on the outside shoul-
der of the highway. Hart worries that someday a semitrailer could roll across the road into his backyard. “It would take out this house,” he said. State department of transportation spokesman John McShaffrey said the state agency can’t design roads for unexpected tire blowouts. But, he added, “We don’t compromise (safety).” Construction projects aimed at improvements for the community can be a tough sell sometimes, he added. “One thing to keep in mind is that improvements are needed for the greater good and the motoring public,” McShaffrey said. “We have to look at the greater good.” In this instance, Tampa Bay Golf & Country Club was in early stages of development when the project was designed, with 10 or fewer homes built. “The interstate was here first,” See SAFETY, page 11A