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Meeting Covers Area's Future

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE

dlwhite@tampatrib.com

Published: March 11, 2009

BRANDON - Residents interested in glimpsing Brandon's future are invited to an open house on the Brandon Community Plan from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. March 26 at the Brandon Regional Service Center, 311 Pauls Drive.

During the open house, members of the volunteer steering committee and county planners who have been developing the Brandon Community Plan since August 2007 will give residents an overview and seek feedback on what they've accomplished so far in putting together a document to guide Brandon's future development.

About a dozen die-hard volunteers have faithfully attended the monthly steering committee meetings for the past year and a half, providing their thoughts on everything from road improvements to minimum lot sizes to the location of development hubs. The study area includes parts of Brandon north and south of State Road 60, including Bloomingdale.

Early on in the process, the group agreed that its goal was to preserve the community's small-town atmosphere while embracing opportunities for natural, business and cultural growth.

Topping the committee's list of goals is establishing a transportation system in Brandon that will serve local and regional needs.
Bloomingdale East resident and financial planner George May, who served on the transportation subcommittee, said he particularly was interested in anticipating future growth to avoid the road congestion Brandon is experiencing today.

Among the problems his subcommittee pinpointed was the lack of north-south transportation corridors. The subcommittee recommended that the county look into widening Parsons Avenue from State Road 60 north to Interstate 4.

Steve Feigenbaum of the Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority was on hand at the March 2 steering committee meeting to address HART's plans to improve bus transportation in the Brandon area, another priority of the transportation subcommittee.

"We recognize that Brandon is an underserved area, and we hope to correct that problem," Feigenbaum said. He said HART plans to beef up service in the Brandon area, adding a bus hub with several new routes that will pick up riders in their neighborhoods and take them to Brandon's central business district, where they can go directly to their jobs or catch express routes into downtown Tampa or MacDill Air Force Base.

The idea is to keep as many cars off the road as possible.

Currently, HART's central focus in the Brandon area is its Park and Ride location at Westfield Brandon mall. Feigenbaum said HART is looking at new locations, including the parking lot at Falkenburg Road and Causeway Boulevard that was built for a shopping center that never came to light and the Brandon Main Street area.

"Our major hurdle is the cost of the land," he said. "Then, we have to get the money for additional buses."

HART will get 29 new buses as a result of President Barack Obama's economic stimulus package. However, these will replace existing buses in the HART fleet, Feigenbaum said. HART would have to come up with additional funds for new buses to add service.

"When we finally come up with a location for the hub, we will need to redesign our services for Brandon. We already have the funding to do that," he said.
Transportation subcommittee member Miller Dowdy recommended that the Brandon plan also include a paragraph advocating a light rail station somewhere around State Road 60. Even though construction may be 20 years away, having it stipulated in the plan will ensure that Brandon is considered for a station when the time comes to fund the project, he said.

Brandon resident Vivian Bacca, who heads the land-use and design guidelines subcommittee, is continuing to hash out specific terms in the plan with county planner William Lamboy. However, among the priorities of her committee is the preservation of the community's rural character, including maintaining large-lot developments.

For information, contact Lamboy at (813) 276-8337 or lamboyw@hillsboroughcounty .org.

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

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