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Growth comes admid debate

A controversy over renaming a street lingered in Zephyrhills at a time when development continued to surge.

By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published December 30, 2005

ZEPHYRHILLS - The city elected new leadership in 2005 in the form of an 18-year-old college student, and development continued at a rapid clip.

But remnants of the long, bitter fight over renaming a street lingered.

Danny Burgess, a Zephyrhills native attending the University of South Florida, upset incumbent Celia Graham in the race for Seat 5 on the City Council in April. Burgess, who also is active in local Republican circles, campaigned on growth issues but publicly denounced Graham's support of renaming Sixth Avenue after the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during her term.

The controversy, which began in 2003, also re-emerged in the form of a revised ordinance making road renamings much more difficult. Tense debates over the ordinance showed that divisions remain.

The city moved forward on numerous development projects, including two large-scale ones along Eiland Boulevard, Gore's Dairy on U.S. 301 and Rucks' Dairy south of town. With townhomes proposed in many of the new developments, officials fashioned new standards for design and construction, a guideline for development never before needed in Zephyrhills.

On the east end of the city, leaders in April met with residents of the Otis Moody neighborhood, a long-depressed area. Residents there, most of them African-American, expressed concerns over higher taxes and utility rates if their neighborhood were to be annexed into the city. With no decisions made, the idea fell off the radar, though several residents said they still hoped to pursue the possibility.

Rancher Robert Thomas, whose land includes Crystal Springs Preserve, unveiled plans to develop part of his 14,000-acre ranch along the Pasco-Hillsborough line. The upscale community is a joint venture with Sierra Properties, developer of Avila in Lutz.

In January, the Police Department tracked down the suspect in the city's first double-murder case in recent memory: Kyle Aric Thomas.

Police found the bodies of his father, Craig Thomas, 54, and Irene Rita Martin, 45, in their Lawanda Loop double-wide mobile home on Jan. 4 and believe they could have been there for up to eight days.

The victims' heroin-addicted son was tracked to Georgia and arrested by local police while on the phone with Zephyrhills police. He was returned to Pasco County in April and charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He has pleaded not guilty, and the state has not yet announced whether it will seek the death penalty.

A nonprofit, wooden-bat baseball league started play during the summer. The Florida Collegiate Summer League expanded into Zephyrhills and fielded the Snappers at Zephyrhills High School, charging no admission for fans. The team went on to win the league championship.

In November, airport manager Jim Werme resigned under pressure. City Manager Steve Spina said he asked Werme, who ran the city's airport for 10 years, to step down because of conflicts with other staff members, careless work habits and questionable ethics.

[Last modified December 30, 2005, 00:57:15]