Weather | Sports | Forums | Comics | Classifieds | Calendar | Movies
© St. Petersburg Times, published January 22, 2003
ZEPHYRHILLS -- City officials have been working for the past year on developing a quaint downtown district, bustling with shoppers and businesses.
But the first meeting of the city's Downtown Redevelopment Committee on Tuesday revealed there are many challenges to achieving that goal.
Building codes, traffic management and refitting existing buildings are a few of the issues members raised.
City Council member Lance Smith showed the group pictures of downtowns in places such as Celebration near Orlando and Hale Plantation in Gainesville to give them an idea of what Zephyrhills can look like. But in those places, Smith said, developers were starting from scratch.
"Our job is harder because we have old buildings that would have to be fitted," Smith said.
The committee is composed of a banker, a real estate agent, a developer, an engineer, a resident and city staff. City planner Todd Vande Berg wants the group to work toward carrying out the downtown master plan that was developed last year, while keeping an eye on sprawl.
"Traditionally, as communities have begun to grow, they've kind of lost focus," he said.
Vande Berg said Zephyrhills can tap into the growth that's spilling over from Tampa without losing its identity.
"There's going to be a need for people to come in and experience the small-town atmosphere," he said.