 |
||||||||
 |
||||||||
|
||||||||
|
Residents confront church plan
By BILL COATS © St. Petersburg Times, published February 20, 2001 LUTZ -- For 32 years, Oscar and Sue Singleton have lived on one of the shadiest lanes in north Hillsborough County, the end of Crystal Lake Road. Last week, they envisioned the future: the biggest church in the Tampa Bay area 700 feet away, crowning the northwestern end of Lake Reinheimer. "Why in the world, with all that acreage," asked Oscar Singleton, 68, "would you build that big monstrous building so close to my front door?" Carson Wright, the architect representing Idlewild Baptist Church, didn't directly answer. But he pledged that Idlewild will supplement a row of trees running down Geraci Road, between the Singletons' 1.5-acre homestead and Idlewild's 144-acre future campus. "We intend to go and screen that off so it looks as natural as it can be," Wright told the Singletons. "I doubt you'll be able to see our project." The occasion was Idlewild's first public meeting in Lutz, where the church is proposing the biggest change to the local, semirural landscape since U.S. 41 was six-laned three years ago. The forum was the monthly meeting of the Lutz Civic Association, renowned for its tenacious fights against overdevelopment and the traffic it brings. Generally, Lutz's leaders prefer Idlewild to townhouses or a crowded subdivision, which previously were proposed for the same property. But Idlewild's 5,600-seat sanctuary, if built today, would be the third-largest Baptist church in Florida. Additionally, its renderings depict four Bible-study wings, eight ball fields and grassy parking stretching to every corner of the campus. Of Idlewild's 7,500 members, about 4,000 attend a worship service each weekend. "This is not a little country church," said Carolyn Meeker, the civic association's treasurer. "This is a massive, massive operation." Jeff Means, another civic association board member, asked about light pollution. "It's like having a high school if you're going to have recreation at night," he said. Other members derided Idlewild for referring to the area in a video as "north Tampa" instead of Lutz. In response to a series of environmental questions, Wright pledged that the campus would have a peppering of foliage similar to Idlewild's current home on Bearss Avenue. But a plant expert in the room pointed out that many of those plants aren't native to Florida, but to South China. A beleaguered Wright gazed into the distance. "South China," he muttered. After the meeting, Wright said he wasn't surprised by his reception. He said that the church would work with the residents. "How could I come here and glorify God and not be concerned about them?" Wright acknowledged the residents' greatest concern was "traffic, traffic, traffic." Idlewild draws members regionally, and nearly all arriving from the north or west would use the Dale Mabry entrance. But for those arriving from the south, including Interstate 275, the shortest route would include Van Dyke and two other two-lane roads through Lutz. "I don't see how that many people are going to flow in there without big backups," complained Sue Singleton. Wright said answers to traffic questions would be elusive until Idlewild worked out its first phase and traffic studies. Discussion also focused on the Singletons' curving, two-lane road, Crystal Lake. Idlewild's new road from Dale Mabry would link up with Crystal Lake, potentially creating Lutz's most seamless connection east to U.S. 41. Meeker urged Wright to make the road private and close it when the church doesn't need it. Mrs. Singleton complained, "When that's open, it'll be . . .," and her husband finished the thought: " ... a straight shot."
 © 2006 • All Rights Reserved • Tampa Bay Times
490 First Avenue South • St. Petersburg, FL 33701 • 727-893-8111 
|
From today's Pasco Times |
