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Brandon, Seffner Nearing Compromise

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By TOM BRENNAN, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 5, 2008

Updated: 01/03/2008 04:11 pm

SEFFNER - A figurative backyard brawl between some Seffner and Brandon residents may have a peaceful resolution.

The dust-up sprang from a border clash as residents of both areas began formulating their community plans, long-term guidelines meant to shape communities as they develop.

People in Seffner and Bandon wanted to claim the area south of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Windhorst Road.

Representatives of steering committees for both plans got together Dec. 20 to determine whether they can hash out a compromise.

It seemed doubtful at first.

"I don't want the Brandon Chamber of Commerce or Joe Blow Brandon, particularly if they live south of State Road 60, having any control over our plan," said Terry Flott, president of the Seffner Community Alliance.

The Brandon group was initially as adamant.

"Brandon voted they aren't going to give an inch," Richard Rios, a Brandon committee delegate, said of his group's instructions on the negotiations.

But after hours of bluff, bluster, posturing and threats, both sides got down to seeing whether a compromise could be reached.

The key was allowing the area historically identified as Seffner to be part of the community plan. The bulk of the area platted as Seffner in 1885, including the Seffner Elementary school, was in the Brandon planning area.

Sitting with massive maps and colored highlighters, representatives of both groups traced a line they thought each side could live with. The compromise left parts of Seffner south of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard in that group's community plan.

The full steering committees for both plans must ratify the compromise.

"This is something we can take back and attempt to sell," Rios said. "But giving up any property is going to be a sell."

Joe Prokop, who lives in the disputed area and was one of the most vocal advocates of changing boundaries, was happy with the result.

"My main fight was to get the things named Seffner in Seffner," he said.

Flott and others were suspicious of Brandon resident's interest in the area, even though county planners drew the boundaries.

"These people want to control everything," Flott said.

Rios and the other Brandon representatives said there is a faction in their larger group that believes more area means more people, which equals more political clout when it comes to getting money from the county commission.

The Brandon group had proposed creating a larger Central Hillsborough Community Plan encompassing Brandon, Seffner, Valrico and Bloomingdale.

Members said that would enable residents to deal with large community issues comprehensively, including roads, transportation and drainage. They said each neighborhood could have its portion of the larger plan that would allow residents to outline their needs and desires.

But county planners said they do not have the staff to take on an additional community plan, and doing so would only delay a resolution to the boundary dispute.

"You eventually would have to draw lines, so the question really doesn't go away," said John Healey, the planner overseeing the Seffner plan.

The natural intermingling of the various communities was shown by who was sitting on each side of the negotiating table.

Rios lives in Valrico but is part of the Brandon planning effort. Kelly Turley lives in Seffner but has a business in Brandon. There were other cross-connections within the groups, too.

"We drive the same roads, shop at the same shops," Prokop said. "Your problems are our problems."

Reporter Tom Brennan can be reached at (813) 657-4528 or tbrennan@tampatrib.com.

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