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Without a permanent spot, club will move
By TIM GRANT, Times Staff Writer TAMPA -- An after-school program that sparked fierce debate among residents in Plantation of Carrollwood will be moved out of the community at the end of this school year. The Boys & Girls Club of Tampa Bay will end its three-year partnership with Plantation on May 30, largely because neighbors voted last year against a permanent facility in the neighborhood. "When the vote didn't pass last summer, we had to look for another solution," said Roy Opfer, president of the Boys & Girls Club. Opfer said the Boys & Girls Club summer program is moving to Cannella Elementary School. The private nonprofit group is negotiating to buy land at an undisclosed site in Carrollwood to erect a permanent building, he said. "I do feel a lot of remorse that we could not work out a solution to keep the program here," said Plantation property manager Tom Jones, who played a key role in its establishment. The Plantation Boys & Girls Club issue was at the heart of a bitter debate last year that divided the community and prompted one group of residents who opposed it to try to take over the homeowners board. Residents in the northwest Hillsborough community voted twice on the issue before it was resolved. The first vote, in November 2000, passed by a wide margin. But it was thrown out when an attorney said that some proxies were improperly cast. The second vote, in June, did not win a two-thirds majority. The Boys & Girls Club has operated for three years out of one large portable building near the recreational facilities in Plantation's common area. The Boys & Girls Club had proposed erecting the permanent building with donated funds and leasing it back from Plantation for 30 years. The building would have belonged to Plantation and residents would have had access when it was not being used for club activities. David Cutting, a Plantation resident who led the crusade against the Boys & Girls Club building, said he is satisfied with the decision to locate the building elsewhere. "If we had not acted back when we did, there would be a big building there with a big parking lot," Cutting said. "The people of Plantation would not have a park as we know it now." -- Tim Grant can be reached at 269-5311 or at grant@sptimes.com.
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