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5 probable new neighbors cause a stir
By BILL COATS
© St. Petersburg Times, LUTZ -- Joe Stropp thinks mentally retarded people ought to have a nice place to live, but not as close to other houses as they're going to be on his street, Wilson Circle. Richard Lilliston thinks they ought to live as normally as they are able, and as naturally among non-retarded people as they can -- and someday will. For now, Stropp and Lilliston are in conflict. Stropp said he and 95 percent of his neighbors oppose the arrival of five retarded people at a 28-year-old house on their lakefront street. He hopes the neighbors will organize a petition drive aimed at the Hillsborough County Commission. Lilliston, chief executive of the Hillsborough Association for Retarded Citizens, plans for the new residents to move into the house by Nov. 15. Florida law supports him. It provides that the home, if properly licensed, must be treated by local government like a standard single-family home. Lilliston said the five people are mentally -- and in some cases, physically -- disabled. They aren't classified as having behavioral problems. They will leave most days to attend school or HARC programs. The Wilson Circle house likely will be their home for the rest of their lives, he said. The issue drew about 30 Wilson Circle residents to a tense meeting nine days ago with Lilliston and two colleagues. Lilliston, after 25 years of caring for retarded people, didn't expect to convert many critics. "I have never left a community meeting and had the community be nice about what I do and what I say," he said last week. After Lilliston left the Wilson Circle meeting, two neighbors emotionally defended retarded people's rights. But many remained uncomfortable. "In all honesty, I think people feel better about living with these residents," said Pam Mizerany, who hosted the meeting on her large screened porch. "But I think they felt worse about HARC and its administration." The afternoon of the meeting, HARC's president was dismayed to discover that no building permit had been obtained for renovations at the house, even though they had been under way for more than a month. The president, Harry Heumann, is a principal planner in the Hillsborough County government who supervises technicians relative to building permits. That raised suspicions. "It's very surprising to me for someone who works for building code enforcement to have people come in here for a month or a month and a half and not have a building permit," said Don Tetidrick, who lives across the street from the house. But Heumann and Lilliston said they expected the contractor to obtain the permit, and he finally did so last Monday. "I'm totally at fault," said Ricky Champoux, senior manager for New Millenium Construction Inc., which was hired to enlarge a bathroom for wheelchair accessibility, among other renovations at the house. Champoux said he fired an assistant who should have obtained the permit and who had "dropped the ball" on previous tasks. Denise Layne, president of the Lutz Civic Association, moderated the meeting at the neighbors' request. Layne, who was familiar with HARC through previous civic support, praised the 48-year-old organization but criticized HARC for moving onto Wilson Circle silently. "Ninety percent of this could have been avoided if HARC had just come in or written a letter saying, 'We're going to be coming in; we want to be a good neighbor,' " she said. Lilliston responded: A normal home buyer isn't expected to do that; why should HARC be? Heumann said he plans to raise the question at HARC's monthly board meeting Monday. Lilliston said he won't make any recommendation about it. "My board's going to have a lively discussion about this," he said. -- Bill Coats can be reached at (813) 226-3469 or coats@sptimes.com.
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