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Planning the future may mean compromise
By JACKIE RIPLEY, Times Staff Writer TOWN 'N COUNTRY -- Community planners and residents have taken on the task of transforming this eclectic community of single-family and multifamily homes into a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood, a Hyde Park west, so to speak. But not everyone in this northwest neighborhood aspires to be like their neighbors to the south. "We are blue collar out here," said Stan Krick, longtime resident and civic activist. "Hyde Park? No way are we going to do it." Town 'N Country is the latest neighborhood scheduled to undergo community-based planning, a process initiated by county commissioners in 1998 to give residents a greater voice in development and redevelopment affecting their neighborhoods. About 40 years old, Town 'N Country has a multicultural population with an eclectic mix of single-family and multifamily homes, apartments and retail. Key to the community plan, to be complete this summer, is a town center that would include a library, senior center and Head Start facility along Paula and Ambassador drives. And while many, including most of the Town 'N Country Alliance, are in favor of the plan, some, such as civic activist Sue Hale, fear a town center at that spot would cost Town 'N Country one of its few remaining green spaces. "Investigate other sites," Hale said. "Forget about the library site." Westgate Library, which is scheduled for expansion in 2004; an adjoining playground, basketball courts, soccer field and picnic areas now occupy the site. Krick and Hale -- who say they are not against the senior center, just its location -- suggest building the center on county land next to the Hillsborough County Maintenance Unit at Shelton Road near Linebaugh Ave. "There are five mobile home parks in the area that have lots of senior citizens in them," Krick said. "It would be an asset to go over there and do that." Or, Krick suggested, locate the senior center in the abandoned Scotty's building on W Hillsborough Avenue. "I don't think everybody has looked at other places," Krick said. "There's land available, let's use it. We don't need to use every piece of property available in the county." Marcie Stenmark, a senior county planner, said the library site was proposed by the community-based planning working committee, which "believes the senior center should go in this location and would be a wonderful addition to the core area." Stenmark said surveys indicate residents find the park unattractive, and that Town 'N Country needs more attractions that are accessible on walking paths. "We haven't made any public comment on it," said Joyce Smith, president of the Town 'N Country Alliance. But "we have a lot of community members that feel (the library site) would enhance the quality of life in Town 'N Country." The idea of locating a senior center at the library site also appeals to Myra Price, the county's director of aging services. "It would be very good to have three; library, Head Start and aging in a town center centrally located," Price said. The planning process is ongoing, with a public meeting expected in early March. - Jackie Ripley can be reached at (813) 269-5308 or ripley@sptimes.com.
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