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Brandon Residents Want John Moore Road To Remain 2 Lanes

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 27, 2009

BRANDON - Preserving the community's character was foremost on the minds of residents attending an open house of the Brandon Community Plan last night.

More than 100 people stopped into the Brandon Regional Service Center for a glimpse of what the Brandon Community Plan steering committee had developed during its 18 months working on the proposed guide for the community's future.

Many came after reading that the steering committee was proposing widening Parsons Avenue/John Moore Road from Bloomingdale Avenue north to Interstate 4 to create another north-south transportation corridor through Brandon.

For Elena Lemar, a resident of the Gallery Gardens community off two-lane John Moore Road, widening the road would destroy a major part of Brandon's character.

Lemar lives in a neighborhood of 1- to 3-acre lots where many of the residents have horses. Lemar herself has two horses.

"The other day I was cleaning my horse stalls and a fox trotted in front of me," she said. "There is a lot of woods and natural habitat in that area. Widening the road would ruin it."

Her mother, Susan Lemar, a 17-year Gallery Gardens resident, said she moved there for the rural atmosphere and doesn't see why it can't be preserved despite Brandon's growth.

"We want to keep this area just like it is," she said.

"It's a special area," agreed neighbor Fran Durrance, who also raises horses on her property. "It's definitely rural in nature and widening John Moore would change all that."

Roz and Mark Creager are in the process of remodeling a 35-year-old home in that area. Roz Creager said they chose to remodel rather than buy a new home because they loved the large lots and oak tree-lined streets along John Moore Road.

"It's an extremely unique pocket in the Brandon area," she said. "Widening the road would bring in commercial growth and destroy the character of the area."

Steering committee member Lisa Rodriguez not only agrees, she believes now is the time for the community to take steps to preserve green space. She points to a wooded piece of property on the northwest corner of Parsons Avenue and Lumsden Road zoned for a medical complex, saying it would be an ideal location for a community park because it's the location where Brandon's annual Fourth of July parade traditionally begins.

"Brandon needs to set aside green space, a space large enough for community events like art shows," she said. "We shouldn't have to end our Fourth of July parade in a Publix parking lot."

The residents approved of the steering committee's suggestion that the county purchase parcels between parks and conservation areas to create a wildlife corridor through Brandon. Although Brandon doesn't have any significant wildlife habitats as far as conservationists are concerned, said steering committee member Vivian Bacca, residents continually commented on the number of fox, sandhill cranes, gopher tortoises, otters and other critters living in the community that needed protection.

In a previous community she lived in, Elena Lemar said wildlife tunnels were constructed beneath roads so wildlife could migrate from one area to another without having to risk getting hit by cars. She suggested that the county consider adding similar tunnels when constructing new roads in the area.

The meeting also attracted a contingent of residents from Riverview and FishHawk Ranch alarmed at the committee's suggestion that the county remove Bloomingdale Avenue from the county's truck route plan and put the designation on Boyette Road and FishHawk Boulevard when those roads are widened.

"Don't try to take your truck traffic and shove it off on Riverview," Boyette Spring resident Dave Kulow told committee members. He noted there are 12 schools and preschools located or planned along Boyette and FishHawk.

"No other county road has that kind of concentration of schools," he said. "Making it a truck route would be a disaster."

Lifelong Brandon residents Julia Moseley and Dick Stowers stopped by to see what's in store for the community they've lived in since most of the roads were merely dirt trails.

"I think it's 50 years too late," said Stowers. "We should have done this a long time ago."

Moseley noted that her own community of Limona wasn't even acknowledged in the plan. She said she'd also like more attention paid to preserving historic cemeteries and the environmentally sensitive Delaney Creek watershed.

"But there are many good ideas here," she said. "I think we owe this committee our debt of thankfulness for all their hard work."

Once completed and approved by the Hillsborough County Commission, the Brandon Community Plan will be incorporated into the county's land-use plan used to make land-use and zoning decisions.

An overview of the plan is available at www.hccommunityplanning.com/brandoncommunity/.

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524.

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