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A patriotic affair
It’s not a Lutz Fourth of July parade without antique fire trucks. To see more pictures from Fourth of July weekend, turn to pages 16 and 17.
Little Women take home big service awards B.C. MANION/STAFF PHOTO
Learning Gate Community School has gained approval for using buildings located at 207 Lutz Lake Fern Road to house its seventh-and eighth-graders. Even though that hurdle has been cleared, no details are available yet on when or whether the school will make the move to the site.
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Learning Gate Community School has received Hillsborough County’s blessing to locate its classes for seventh- and eighthgraders in the former Hand-in-Hand Academy building near downtown Lutz. Land use hearing officer James Scarola approved Learning Gate’s request to use the location at 207 Lutz Lake Fern Road for its middle school-level students. The approval, issued June 29, limits the enrollment, however, at the Lutz Lake Fern Road location to 205 students. That’s 45 fewer students than the school initially requested.The school agreed to reduce its request after Mike White, president of the Lutz Citizens Coalition, objected to the higher number. At a June 2 public hearing, White told Scarola the site was not conducive for that many students.White also said the community has no problems with the school, simply with the proposed enrollment, ac-
mmurillo@lakerlutznews.com
cording to the hearing officer’s June 29 ruling. During a recent interview,White said the school also agreed to sign a private agreement with the Lutz Citizens Coalition pledging that it would never ask for a variance to allow more students at the site. The 4-acre site previously had been approved for 175 kindergarten through fifth-grade students. Of those, up to 85 were allowed to be in child care. The property, which is included in Hillsborough County’s Landmark and Historic Archeological Resources Inventory, contains a church that was built in the 1940s and two educational buildings that were constructed during the 1960s. No additions or expansions are requested in Learning Gate’s application. The county’s transportation department reviewed the request and concluded the school will not impact traffic on nearby roads. The school is expected to generate
The Little Women aren’t so little anymore when it comes to statewide awards. The GFWC Little Women of Lutz, a club for girls ages 12 through 18 sponsored by the GWFC Lutz-Land O’ Lakes Woman’s Club, earned multiple awards at their Juniorette Annual State Meeting in Lakeland. The event, held June 12-14, is an annual gathering of Florida’s General Federation of Women’s Clubs Junior Clubs. The Lutz group earned four first-place awards and five second-place awards for its work in the community, taking home Club of the Year honors. In addition, the Little Women won for the second consecutive year the Marcia Bright Award, given to the club that interacts most with its GFWC Woman’s Club sponsor. Club advisor Janet Hardy said her first interactions with the Little Women of Lutz revealed how organized they were. “I went to one of their board meetings, and was just shocked at how many events they had scheduled,” she said.“It was really amazing. It really impressed me, honestly.” While the club collected many awards in the span of a couple of days, they represent a year’s worth of work in the community, both with their sponsors and on their own. In addition to helping clean up Lutz Lake Fern Road three times a year, the Little Women collect books to be placed at laundromats, play bingo at the Baldomero Lopez
See SITE, page 14
See AWARDS, page 14
County approves middle school site for Learning Gate By B.C. Manion
By Michael Murillo