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Seffner Library's Story Begins

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By YVETTE C. HAMMETT, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 13, 2008

SEFFNER - After years of wrangling over the future of a strip of vacant land near Lopez Elementary School, the property soon will become home to the new Seffner-Mango library.

Hillsborough County officials will break ground on the building at 10 a.m. Thursday. It should be ready to open by the end of the year.

"Without a doubt, this will be a wonderful focal point for the community," said County Commission chairman Ken Hagan.

Hagan helped secure $5 million in the county budget in 2006 to purchase the 10-acre parcel on Kingsway Road between Old Hillsborough Avenue and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard. Money was also set aside for books.

Hagan said he will be back before the commission in April to seek funding for development of a passive park around the library. At that time, the commission will consider how to reallocate $40 million previously earmarked for the derailed Championship Park project north of Plant City.

The money comes from the Community Investment Tax, a half-cent sales tax approved by voters in 1996 that has paid for numerous capital projects over the years. Commissioners are considering allocating the $40 million for parks throughout Hillsborough County.

Seffner area residents are excited to be getting "a real library," said Charmaine Andrews, president of Friends of the Seffner-Mango Library.

"If you are familiar with most storefront shopping centers, you walk in the front and out the back, and that's what our library is now," she said. The library is in a storefront next to Wal-Mart on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

"The majority of people who went there for book use weren't prone to peruse the stacks," she said, because there weren't many stacks to peruse. "The majority of users were computer users.

"It's going to be a totally different atmosphere and library in general," Andrews said. "We won't increase staff or hours right away because of the county budget cuts, but the collection will be much larger. The money for that was set aside before the budget cuts."

Andrews said she is excited for the community because libraries offer so much, especially to those who can't travel far from home.

"Libraries open up such a world for children and adults alike. I believe in reading, and I've been a reader all my life," she said. "We just feel like even if you can't get out and see the world, you can see it through the pages and videos and all the things the library offers."

A library was not the first plan for the property north of Lopez Elementary. Years ago, the community fought against a plan to build a county water plant there. Residents also rejected plans in 1991 that would have converted the land into a park.

Then, in 2004, the community fought off a plan to turn the property into a 90,000-square-foot, three-structure regional traffic management complex.

The community wanted something on the property that would not disrupt the neighborhood, said Terry Flott, president of the Seffner Community Alliance.

"We just wanted to make sure that whatever went there was less intrusive," Flott said. "Some people would have liked to see it remain open land, but that ain't happening."

Reporter Yvette C. Hammett can be reached at (813) 657-4532 or at yhammett@tampatrib.com.

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