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Residents Didn't Count On Sights, Sounds Of Football

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By RONNIE BLAIR, The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 28, 2007

LAND O' LAKES - Ann Marie Brown never asked for a reserved seat to football games and band practices at Sunlake High School.

She just wanted a new house in the Concord Station development off State Road 54. When she and her husband, Rodney, were offered discounts and incentives if they bought immediately, they jumped at the deal.

After the Browns moved in, though, they learned two schools were being built on the 80 acres behind their house and the football field would lie just beyond their backyard.

Now, more than a year later, Sunlake High and Charles S. Rushe Middle are open and Ann Marie Brown said she has become more familiar than she would like with the sight of stadium lights and the sounds of horns, drums and the public-address system.

The middle school plays football on Tuesday nights. The high school plays on Friday nights. The teams and the high school band hold afternoon practices on the fields, which also are used for physical education classes.

'We were not told the schools were going to be so close to our homes,' Brown said. 'We are smack dab at the athletic field.'

Brown and Diane Culkin, one of her neighbors on Merseyside Loop, said the noise and lack of privacy robbed them of the sanctuary their homes should provide. They want the developer, Lennar, or the Pasco County school district to do something to buffer the noise and give them privacy.

The two women also said Lennar misled them about the proximity of the schools when they purchased their houses.

'I think they pulled one over on quite a few of the homeowners,' Brown said.

Site Plan Showed Location

An official with Lennar disputes that, saying in a statement there were 'adequate disclosures' about the location of the schools, which were planned long before any houses were built.

A community site plan on display in the sales office showed the schools' location, said Mark Metheny, president of Lennar's North Tampa Homebuilding Division.

'In addition to this, prior to the sales of the homes most impacted by the high school, the school itself was actually under construction,' Metheny said.

Still, Metheny said the company is looking into the complaints.

'We are working one on one with each customer's particular situation,' he said. 'Unfortunately, we did not choose the location of the stadium.'

He said it's uncertain whether a solution can be found, but the company is 'working with school officials to help reduce the noise generated by the stadium.'

Despite the problems, Metheny said Lennar has always felt and continues to feel the schools are one of the best features of the community.

Brown and Culkin dispute some of Metheny's points. They say that on the site plan the schools appeared to be closer to State Road 54 than they are.

Both women moved into their houses in July 2006. Culkin, who lives a few houses down from Brown, said construction equipment was just beginning to move onto the school property and construction hadn't begun.

She said when she purchased her home, a sales representative told her the land was being cleared for a community clubhouse and she liked the idea of being near the clubhouse.
Culkin said she doesn't understand why zoning would be approved that places houses in such proximity to school athletic fields.

'Whoever zoned this, I'd like to have their head on the chopping block,' Culkin said.

She said she has yet to see any evidence anyone is addressing the problems, which have become a regular topic at meetings of the homeowners association.

'They say, 'We will talk to the schools,' but no one's doing anything,' Culkin said.

'There Is No Barrier That Will Help'

Ray Gadd, an assistant superintendent with the Pasco County school district, said little can be done to solve the noise and lights problem.

'There is no barrier that will help,' Gadd said. 'If you put up an 8-foot wall, it won't block the noise. It won't block the lights.'

It's not unusual for neighbors to complain about noise, lights and traffic a high school brings to a community. The school district has dealt in the past with complaints from homeowners whose houses border athletic fields at schools such as Wiregrass Ranch High and Wesley Chapel High.

Gadd said there's a distinct difference in this case, though, because the school district bought the land in Concord Station about four years ago, before any houses had been built.

The school site was part of the Concord Station development order from the beginning, Gadd said. Originally, the district planned a high school and elementary school on the property, but later changed that to a high school and middle school.

In the future, Gadd said the district plans to put up signs when it buys property so it's clear a school is destined to be built on the land.

Meanwhile, Brown and Culkin said everyone seems to be putting the onus back on them, implying they should have known about the schools or done a better job finding out.

'I paid $280,000 for this house,' Culkin said. 'When I'm paying almost $300,000 for a new home, I didn't expect this.'

Reporter Ronnie Blair can be reached at (813) 948-4218 or rblair@tampatrib.com.

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