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Hillsborough Kills Championship Park Plan

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By Anthony McCartney | The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 3, 2007

Updated: 10/03/2007 02:50 pm

TAMPA - Championship Park is dead.

Commissioners refused to endorse the proposal this afternoon, saying they preferred to divvy the $40 million allocated for the park for other projects.

A last-ditch effort to keep the project alive and further study its viability failed, with no commissioners offering Chairman Jim Norman their support.

The proposal was debated for more than two hours this morning. Commissioners balked at the price and the location of the park. They refused a request by Plant City Mayor Rick Lott to commission another study of the project, get a better sense of its costs and consider moving it to another site in the county.

"The kids lost today," Norman said.

The plan died when there was no second on a motion to keep the project alive. Afterward, in what was defined as simply procedural, the commission voted 7-0 to kill the park plan, including a no vote from Norman.

Norman, after the initial failure of the plan to get a second, criticized his colleagues, saying he didn't understand why in the past they had supported projects such as the Tampa Bay History Center, The Florida Aquarium and Tampa Museum of Art.

"People from Idaho are not going to come here and go to the aquarium, but they'll come here for a ballgame," Norman said.

The question now becomes how to spend the $40 million commissioners set aside for Championship Park in 2005. Commissioner Brian Blair said he wanted the money to be spent on the county's parks, recreation and conservation.

County Administrator Pat Bean said commissioners will have to reallocate the money after holding a public hearing.

Lott had asked commissioners to delay approving Championship Park, saying he realized there were legitimate questions about its viability.

"I would be hard-pressed to ask you to approve this park today," he said.

In that regard, Lott was like many of the speakers who addressed commissioners this morning. But unlike most of the speakers – who asked commissioners to kill the project and move on – Lott asked for another study and more time.

The mayor's comments came after two years of study and lobbying for Championship Park, which first was proposed in 2005 by Hillsborough County Commission chairman Jim Norman.

The complex would have been built on 425 acres in the Cone Ranch area, which is directly north of Plant City in northeast Hillsborough County.

Norman's plan calls for 30 multipurpose fields for soccer, lacrosse and other sports, 12 baseball diamonds and 10 softball fields.

Lott was the designated spokesman of a committee that reviewed Norman's proposal for the park.

Norman listened with his head down as Lott made his request. The park proposal has been criticized for years, and its approval this morning was in doubt. Commissioners Rose Ferlita, Al Higginbotham and Mark Sharpe had indicated in interviews this week that they wouldn't approve the park.

About a dozen speakers made remarks during the commission's public comment segment. Only two urged commissioners to approve the park.

"This is our tax money that you are holding hostage while you try to justify this project," said George Niemann, a Dover activist. "That is not your money to hold."

Other speakers decried the location, saying it would damage the rural northeast community that is crisscrossed by two-lane roads incapable of handling the 100,000 visitors the complex is expected to draw its first year.

"I think it's something that's good for Hillsborough County and for Tampa," said Gerald White, one of the few speakers this morning who supported Championship Park.

White, a power plant operator for Tampa Electric Co. who has four children, said he believed commissioners could overcome obstacles facing the proposal. "It would be just beautiful for the community."

Shortly after 10:30 a.m., the discussion about Championship Park began with a roughly 30-minute speech by Lott.

He gave his firsthand insight into paying and traveling for youth sports. The father of four, Lott said many families wake up before dawn and pay hundreds of dollars to have their children play in youth soccer leagues.

"My passion isn't about this park," Lott said. "My passion is what this park does for families."

A consultant's assessment states that the park would be a success if amenities such as hotels and restaurants were built nearby. The report offers three scenarios for the park: moderate success, a failing project that would lose money for its first five years, and a boom scenario that has Championship Park earning $1.3 million in its first year of operation.

The consultant, Bob Leib, also is making a presentation to commissioners. After he is done, board members are likely to debate Lott's request and decide whether the park deserves the political equivalent of extra innings.

Reporter Anthony McCartney can be reached at (813) 259-7616 or amccartney@tampatrib.com.

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