Lutz News-Lutz/Odessa-June 30, 2021

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Gas station rezoning request delayed

By B.C. Manion bcmanion@lakerlutznews.com

A rezoning request that would clear the way for a gas station, car wash and convenience store in Lutz has been delayed — again. The issue was set to be heard on June 14, but has been pushed back until Aug. 16 to allow the applicant to make a correction

on the site plan for the project. Cami Corbett, with the law firm of Hill Ward Henderson, represents the applicant RKM Development. “We realized late last week that we had an error on our site plan, with respect to screening along U.S. 41 and that is a change that by code must be made prior to the site plan deadline,” Corbett said. The applicant failed to meet the dead-

line, necessitating a continuance, she explained. “We are also hoping to have an opportunity to meet with some of the members of the community who have filed letters of opposition in the last couple of weeks. They came in sort of in the last two weeks and we haven’t had time to meet with See REZONING, page 11A

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The second annual Juneteenth Family Day Celebration in Wesley Chapel’s Union Park community brought on added significance. Just days prior to the weekend event, the U.S. Senate passed legislation declaring June 19 a federal holiday, and then President Joe Biden signed it into law. The groundbreaking development brought extra spark to all involved, event organizer Melissa Akers-Atkins acknowledged. “We were very excited,”Akers-Atkins recently told The Laker/Lutz News. “It happened Thursday, so we were excited that Saturday we were able to announce that and celebrate it again, even more. It was just a little different you know.” The event was held to commemorate the day – June 19, 1865 – when the last enslaved Blacks, in Galveston, Texas, learned that the Emancipation Proclamation had See JUNETEENTH, page 11A

Pasco Tax Collector’s Office adjusting to newfound growth By Kevin Weiss kweiss@lakerlutznews.com

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Faraasha Bell Fonoti, 14, and NeVaeh Akers-Atkins, 13, both of Wesley Chapel, receive a round of applause that left them delighted after performing a step dance, which requires the shoes on the pavement to be the percussion aspects of the dance. Derived from African and slave dances, stepping or step dance is energetic and expressive.

Pasco County Tax Collector Mike Fasano has personally witnessed how the area where he grew up and now governs has evolved over the past several decades. Case in point:When Fasano moved with his family to the Holiday area some 50 years ago as a 12-year-old boy, he recalls seeing signage advertising homes selling for just $6,999. That’s quite the far cry from today, with billboards promoting $300,000 to $500,000 residences along State Road 52 and 54. “It’s just absolutely amazing where we’ve come over time,” said Fasano, speaking during an East Pasco Networking Group breakfast meeting earlier this month, at IHOP in Dade City. The area’s reputation also is changing, Fasano said. “Pasco has changed over time, not only politically, but also as far as the businesses in Pasco County. “We’re no longer the stepchild to Pinellas and Hillsborough (counties), if you will. We’re now looked at as a leading community, and you can see it, especially in the Wesley chapel area, the Land O’ Lakes area,” he said. The emerging growth in Pasco and surrounding Tampa Bay area is being felt at the local tax collector’s office, too. Fasano said the agency sees roughly 60,000 in-person customers per week across its five branch offices — in Dade City, Gulf Harbors, Land O’ Lakes, New Port Richey,Wesley Chapel — not including addi-

tional services handled via phone, mail or website. This is up from around 40,000 customers per week at only four branches when Fasano first was appointed to the role in 2013 by then Florida Gov. Rick Scott, and following 18 years served as a legislator in the Florida House and Senate. Anticipating a forthcoming population boost, the agency swiftly opened a new branch near Wesley Chapel back in August 2014, in Compark 75 at 4610 Pet Lane, just off Wesley Chapel Boulevard. When it first opened, the office in southeast Pasco was serving just 50 customers per day, Fasano said. It’s now averaging anywhere from 600 to 800 customers daily, and is the tax collector’s second-busiest office, he said. With that, the agency also is considering opening up yet another office somewhere along State Road 54 or State Road 52 near the Suncoast Parkway “because that area is growing,” said Fasano. “All you need to do is drive up, especially (State Road) 54, it’s luxury apartment complex after luxury apartment complex — a lot of them are younger families needing services, driver’s licenses, (because) they’re moving in from out of state,” he explained. Busy offices are not just a byproduct of the county’s residential and business growth, however. Some partly is due to word spreading that the Pasco Tax Collector doesn’t require appointments for service (except for road tests) and also welcomes out-of-county residents from surrounding Hernando, Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

Helping non-Pasco residents mitigates financial losses the agency takes on handling motor vehicle-related services, Fasano said, noting it’s Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles that takes in most of those fees, and not the county. The blanket, come-all service is something Fasano takes pride in — noting tax collectors in adjacent counties oftentimes require appointments two or three weeks in advance, while only serving their respective county residents. “We welcome everyone,” Fasano said, proudly. “We have people that come up from Hillsborough County, pleading us, ‘Please don’t change it, please don’t change it,’ because they come up there, and wait maybe 30 minutes, 40 minutes or 45 minutes, and they’re able to get the service. It’s either wait 35 or 45 minutes, or you wait three weeks with Hillsborough County to get an appointment.” Conversely, Fasano pointed out even the Hillsborough County Tax Collector’s Office (and its eight branches) appreciates Pasco shouldering the workload. “Hillsborough County loves us,” Fasano said. “They’re happy that we’re taking their customers because it’s less people that have to make these appointments and yell at them down there. “They, in fact, say to people,‘Hey look, if you need something done right now, go up to Pasco.’” The Pasco Tax Collector is open all five days a week from 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., while See TAX, page 11A


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