Bloomingdale/FishHawk
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August 2017 Volume 16 Issue 8 Ph: 657-2418 1 5
Y E A R S
O F
P U B L I S H I N G
County Changes Direction In Proposed Bloomingdale Parks Improvements
P O S I T I V E
C O M M U N I T Y
N E W S
FishHawk CDDs Continue Merger Talks
By Michelle Caceres
By Tamas Mondovics
posed project was going to expand the tennis courts into a $600,000 tennis center and include racquetball courts, restrooms, shelters and parking. At Bloomingdale East, the project would have A map shows Hillsborough County Parks and Recreation’s originally removed the tenproposed enhancement plan for Bloomingdale East Park. After resi- nis and racquetdents’ input County officials have decided to refine the project or ball courts decide if the project should not move forward. because of the Pointing to unexpected scheduling new tennis center nearby and added a issues and a fair amount of public input $400,000 splash pad, also known as a ahead of an open house format public spray pool area with sprinklers, founmeeting, Hillsborough County Parks tains, nozzles, and other devices or and Recreation officials have changed structures that spray water with little or direction on a proposed improvement no standing water. project of two Bloomingdale area parks. The projects’ estimated total cost is Prior to its cancellation, the meeting $1 million for the splash pad and tennis was scheduled for Tuesday, July 11 center and would have been paid for and was seeking public input on through park impact fees for new conimprovements to Bloomingdale East struction. Park, 3902 Natures Way Blvd. in Booher said that East Valrico, and Bloomingdale West Park, Bloomingdale residents did not want to 3940 Canoga Park Dr. in Brandon. lose the tennis courts prompting the “We have received a lot of input County to reconsider the proposed plan from the community prior to the meetfor both parks. ing indicating that residents were glad Based on public comments and the about improvements to the parks, but engineering analyses and surveys, were not excited about some of the Booher emphasized that Parks and proposed changes,” said County Recreation will refine the project or spokesperson Kyla Booher. decide the project should not move forThe project called for renovating ward. the two parks, which are about half a “We have decided to change direcmile apart on either side of tion and for now looking at a smaller Bloomingdale Avenue. renovation such as repair and resurfacAt Bloomingdale West, the pro-
FH Creek Elem.
Current FishHawk CDD boundary lines mean the fewer residents living in CDD III district pay a larger operation and maintenance assessment than the other two districts. A possible merger of the districts could mean relief for these residents.
The FishHawk Community Development Districts I, II, and III Boards have each started to hold meetings to further talks and analyze the pros and cons of a possible merger. Only FH CDD has currently held a separate workshop but all three have discussed the merger topic in their separate CDD meetings. When the CDD I Board met in June, they identified three potential areas of concern that needed to be resolved, which included removing from CDD III’s books, a $23 million-dollar capital debt in the financials reflected as owed to developer Newland Communities, the desire of the Board members to protect the current capital reserves of each district and how one newly-established CDD Board would be able manage the increased workload of one large district. Currently each district is composed of a five-member Board. Its Board voted four to one to move forward but to address the concerns that were not identified as most critical to them. The other Boards will be scheduling their workshops to identify the areas they are most concerned with as well. Each property owner in FishHawk pays an annual assessment, levied on each year’s property tax bills as non-ad valorem assessment, based on two component costs. One is each District’s debt assessment, that was used to finance the community’s infrastructure and will not be affected by a merger. The other is an annual assessment for operations and maintenance (O & M) of community prop-
erties. FishHawk CDD (1,810 homes) and CDD II (2,551 homes) each pay an operations and maintenance assessment of $808.01 annually. This amount was equalized in 2004 by an inter-local agreement between the two Districts. FishHawk CDD III, with 665 homes, pays an operations and maintenance assessment of $1,413.37. Merging CDD Boards isn’t a new concept. Tampa’s Westchase community, with almost double the number of homes as FishHawk, merged its two CDD Boards in 2011 after more than two years of preparations. District Manager Greg Cox of Rizzetta & Company, a professional community management and consulting firm, said if the FishHawk CDD Boards decide to move forward, the next step would be for each District to have their currently hires independent counsels to work on the merger agreement paperwork, then there would be meetings for each board to review the agreement and any changes they deemed appropriate. After each board is satisfied there would be a vote, then an administrative process. “A CDD merger is not a quick process,” he said. “It could take a year if nothing major stops it.” If one board decides a merge is not for them? The whole process can come to a halt. CDD II will host a meeting on Friday, August 11 to discuss, visit www.rizzetta.com for details.
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LITHIA
Photo submitted by Lilla Bordas
FishHawk Roller Hockey League player David Bordas focused during practice at the his community hockey rink, Hawk Park, 5702 Hawkpark Blvd. in Lithia. A free Clinic and Player Evaluation is scheduled for its fall season (October through mid-December) on Saturday, September 30 at 9 a.m. at Hawk Park.
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