Letters to the Editors

Carenno property is best place to locate new community center

To the Editor:

© St. Petersburg Times, published May 14, 2000

Let's see if we can't put a little more meat on the bones of Tim Grant's piece in the May 12 North of Tampa.

Last fall, the Carrollwood Area Association of Neighborhoods (CAAN) recommended that the county purchase three properties off Lowell Road, the core being the Carenno 31-acre site that we suggested for the community center. That property is indeed "magnificent green space" and a "peaceful oasis right in the middle of suburbia." In fact, it is the only green space of that sort remaining in greater Carrollwood.

The other two recommended properties (the 15-acre Billingsley site adjoining Carenno on the east and a small parcel adjoining Billingsley on the east, leading to Casey Road) were brought into the mix for two reasons. There was thought that the Billingsley property might provide easier (and less expensive) access to the buildable 20-odd acres of Carenno property. Second, having the Billingsley and smaller property to the east may have made it possible to provide a second access road from Casey Road.

Only when the CAAN community center working group was able to actually walk the Billingsley property in late April did we realize it was so badly damaged by years of dumping. We promptly withdrew that part of the CAAN recommendation by letter to parks and recreation department director Ed Radice.

Now let's consider why CAAN continues to believe the Carenno property is the best site:

First, the core constituency for the community center are the roughly 20,000 people living between Ehrlich Road to the north, Dale Mabry Highway to the east, Lynn-Turner Road to the west and the CSX railroad to the south. Unlike all other suggested sites, the Carenno property lies in the exact geographic center of this area.

The Carenno property can be reached by foot or bicycle by many who live in the core area -- a feature that is desirable in itself and also minimizes car traffic to and from the community center. No other site can claim this advantage.

Our vision of a community center is not simply of bricks and mortar but of a place where green space is functionally integrated with man-made structures. We sense that some, including members of the county staff, fail to understand this concept and instead focus exclusively on the bricks and mortar dimension. In our view, only the Carenno property offers full scope for the integrated indoor/outdoor concept.

We visited numerous community centers throughout the Tampa Bay area. Invariably, people told us that no matter how much space you start out with, it'll never be enough as time passes. So, while it may be true that the 20-odd buildable Carenno acres may be more than we need for a 20,000-square-foot building and associated parking space, that property also offers space for future expansion.

We learned through Grant's piece that the county staff was, in addition to the Carenno property and the Carrollwood Village Golf and Tennis Club's proposal, considering four other community center sites.

One of those sites, that belonging to one of the Carrollwood Village homeowner associations at the corner of S Village Drive and W Village Drive, is not for sale and probably could not be sold.

The 11-acre Linebaugh-Gunn site is on the outer edge of our constituent area, not remotely accessible for most, except by automobile. Much the same can be said of the Golf and Tennis Club site. The county water department 5-acre site off of S Village Drive (between the Park Place retirement home and the Towers condos) was rejected years ago by county staff and the community.

For all of these reasons, CAAN believes the Carenno property is the best site for a greater Carrollwood area community center.
-- John R. Miley
vice president, Carrollwood Village
Homeowners Association Phase II

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