2011: The Year in Review

The year 2011 offered abundant evidence that Westchase was thriving entering its third decade – and that its leaders were now at peace with themselves.

The year proved an important and historic one for the Westchase community. With the community celebrating its 20th birthday, 2011 was notable for the political harmony and goodwill evident across all three of Westchase’s major governing bodies.

The year witnessed an amiable merger of the two Westchase Community Development Districts (CDDs) into a single district representing all of Westchase for the first time. Celebrating its birthday, the Westchase Community Association (WCA) established new, popular social events for the first time in nearly a decade. The association’s Movie in The Park series – as well as a concert and a community-wide birthday festival in West Park Village – showed that the association and its partners can play an important social role outside of maintaining the appearance of the community’s homes.

The beginning of 2011 brought a new but familiar face back to the WCA offices. After the previous November’s dismissal of WCA Manager MaryJo LoCascio, former Assistant Manager Debbie Sainz returned to take charge. While the change in leadership prompted a political kerfuffle late in 2010, 2011 provided a marked contrast with the peaceful cooperation and the lack of conflict within both the WCA board and the Westchase Voting Members (VMs).

The new year, however, began with a minor crackdown of sorts. Concerned with safety issues related to traffic congestion during the previous fall’s garage sale, WCA President Joaquin Arrillaga requested residents who sell food at the garage sales and those who were using the sales for charity drives to suspend their activities. Failure to do so, he warned, would trigger the WCA board to end the events. The March and October sales, however, went off without incident and it looked as if the tradition was safe.

After approving a new mailbox design for Wycliff, VMs agreed to keep the WCA’s Documents Review Committee intact and charged it with compiling suggested changes to Westchase’s rules for approval at year’s end.

Addressing a board vacancy caused by the previous December’s resignation of Jean Keelan, WCA directors turned to a board veteran, Harbor Links’ resident Nancy Sells.

In January Westchase’s two CDDs wrestled with wetland issues. They agreed to move forward with wetland clean-up requested by residents Cavendish Drive in West Park Village. Supervisors, however, were updated by CDD Attorney Erin Larrinaga on the draft of a wetlands maintenance agreement with the Westchase Golf Club. That agreement would make possible the transfer of an undevelopable parcel of land north of The Shires from Newland Properties, the successor to Westchase’s developer. The month also saw CDD Supervisor Bill Kemerer, then a resident of Harbor Links, express frustration about the district’s inability to find a reasonable, affordable replacement for his neighborhood’s aging gas streetlights. The year ended, however, with Harbor Links’ leaky gas lights still in place.

February marked the retirement of WCA Operations Manager Jan Smith, whose friendly smile had greeted Westchase residents for five years at the Westchase Swim and Tennis Center. Taking Smith’s place was Kelly Shires, who announced he had two major goals – to expand resident participation in the WCA’s swim and tennis programs and to focus on preventative maintenance to keep the association’s facilities in top condition.

March’s WOW brought some good news to Westchase homeowners who had watched their home values decline since the popping of the Tampa Bay real estate bubble in 2006. WOW’s annual look at home prices showed that Westchase homes, on average had increased in value 2.6 percent. All but Harbor Links/The Estates, The Shires, The Vineyards and Westchase’s townhomes and condominiums saw home values increase.

March’s WCA Board meeting saw directors wrestling with the interpretation of Harbor Links/The Estates roof guidelines and an increasing problem with homeowners placing garbage – particularly landscaping debris – at the curb long before 6 p.m. on the evening before collection, the limit set by Westchase’s deed restrictions. Ultimately directors stated that clarification of the roof rules was the responsibility of Harbor Links homeowners, who, if they wished, could write clearer rules to guide the Modifications Committee. Directors, however, rejected a proposal to change the WCA property management contract to catch garbage violations by adding a property inspection over the weekends.

Meanwhile, Westchase Voting Members (VMs) prepared language for a new guideline governing external security cameras, a rule they ultimately adopted in May.

At their March session, CDD supervisors expressed some support for allowing the establishment of a farmers market on CDD-owned green on Montague Street. CDD Attorney Erin Larrinaga, however, ended its consideration by informing supervisors they could not permit CDD-owned park space to be used for commercial, for-profit purposes. Supervisors, however, did embrace a WCA-financed project to install exercise equipment at Baybridge Park – part of the Best Idea for Westchase Contest held in 2010. The park equipment opened in November.

Westchase’s 20th anniversary celebration began with the WCA’s first Movie in the Park on April 15 with a showing of Spy Kids. The Movie in the Park series grew in popularity throughout the year, culminating in hundreds of residents attending the events in the fall. The new social program, featuring popcorn provided by the WCA and drinks provided by such entities as the YMCA and Westchase Elementary Dads’ Club, proved so popular the association budgeted for its continuation in 2012.

The April board meeting found WCA Auditor Percy Legendre praising directors for their stewardship of the association’s finances. Citing the declining amounts of uncollectable bad debt and the fact that association was still in strong enough financial condition to maintain its facilities properly, Legendre stated many other associations were in far poorer condition given Florida’s high foreclosure rate.

The CDDs meanwhile heard concerns from Keswick Forest residents that the planned expansion of Linebaugh Avenue to four lanes between Countryway Boulevard and Race Track Road – scheduled for sometime between 2012 and 2014 – would add excessive storm water to a nearby drainage canal. CDD Supervisor Joseph Lechman, a Keswick Forest homeowner, stated that the creek already passed its flood stage, regularly creeping into homeowners’ backyards and potentially flooding the neighborhood’s only access road. Later in the year, after determining they were responsible for the maintenance of the creek, CDD supervisors authorized its clean-out, which initially seemed to help. Towards year end, however, Lechman seemed less sure the work had fully addressed the flooding problems.

At their April session, CDD supervisors also heard from Newland Communities, which again expressed interest in transferring 20 acres of land north of The Shires to the districts. Having resolved a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ wetland maintenance permit affecting that parcel, supervisors stated they would accept the transfer– removing Newland’s tax liability for the land – provided Newland also turn over its Westchase-related trademarks. The land transfer was ultimately signed in December after Newland transferred them. Also attending the meeting, a cell-tower consultant expressed interest in erecting a tall cell tower on the transferred property – an idea to which supervisors gave a cool reception due to past community opposition to cell towers.

May found the WCA continuing its anniversary celebratory activities with a DJ at the reopening of the Village Swim and Tennis Club. Directors also scolded their management company, Greenacre Properties, for providing inconsistent advice on undertaking deed restriction inspections. At issue was GPI’s new hand-held recording system and Association Manager Debbie Sainz’s recommendation that the door hanger notices, implemented at the suggestion of the previous GPI manager, be terminated in favor of returning to the previous system of mailed warnings. While directors initially balked, the hand-held recording system was successfully implemented by year’s end. Directors also voted in June to support a pilot program, replacing the door hangers with mailed courtesy notices in just two neighborhoods with the promise of reevaluating the system in 2012.

In May CDD supervisors wrestled with a wrinkle in their merger plans created by the resignation of Supervisor Bill Kemerer. Kemerer, who sold his Westchase home, was one of five of the 10 sitting supervisors selected to hold a seat on the merged board, expected in October. After naming Radcliffe’s Keith Heinemann to fill Kemerer’s seat through October, supervisors chose CDD East Supervisor Ernie Sylvester to fill his position on the future merged board.

On June 15 in West Park Village the WCA hosted a Concert in the Park, featuring a performance by Music by Machin. Addressing the strain that unexpected, large pool parties were placing on pool staff, directors also passed a reservation and fee requirement for residents wishing to hold parties there.

June also saw both the CDDs and the WCA vote to go on record informing the Hillsborough Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) that Westchase should be kept within a single commission district, rather than split between two as some redistricting maps proposed. Commissioners ultimately elected to keep Westchase intact, but changed the community’s district from District 2, represented by Victor Crist, to District 1, represented by Sandra Murman.

In other county news, Westchase residents who use the Westchase Recreation Center for after-school care rode a roller coaster of announcements regarding the future of the center, which faced possible closure close due to budget cuts. With the lobbying of residents, the Westchase center was kept open, although its after-school program would see a transformation to paid instructional programs.

During the summer, the CDDs also proposed their first unified budget, which called for the first increase in the district’s operations and maintenance assessments in five years. Faced with pricy fixes for pond bank erosion, supervisors budgeted $100,000 to address the problem in 2011 alone. Their budget, however, marked the first time all homes in the original CDD (the villages west of and including Radcliffe and Harbor Links/The Estates) would not be assessed to pay debt assessments on that district’s 20-year infrastructural bonds, which were paid off in 2010 and 2011.

The month of July brought a challenge to the CDDs when they learned that their existing landscaping contractor, Vila & Son, was under significant financial distress. Board members dispatched CDD Supervisor Bill Casale to look into Vila’s finances. While Casale returned on Aug. 2 with assurances from Vila’s top managers, the company pulled all its equipment and staff off site just three days later. Undertaking an expedited bid process, supervisors hired Mainscape. The company, which started in November, won the Westchase landscaping bid with a price that was $40,000 a year higher than Vila was paid.

July also saw Alan Charron, one of the principals of Real Property Specialists, the owner of Westchase Town Center, appear before supervisors. He requested they suspend their civil suit against his company for excessive trimming of district-owned trees along the right-of-way. With only CDD East Supervisor Lewis Patterson inclined to go along with Charron, the suit remained in place. Charron and the district ultimately came to agreement in December, accepting $3,000 from Real Property Specialists in return for dropping the matter. The amount covered the district’s legal fees for the suit. 

Mid-summer also found the WCA holding its Second Annual Westchase Gala, which honored dedicated, long-time volunteers serving the community. The association also installed new meeting marquees at Westchase’s entrances, and rolled out an enhanced association Web site at www.westchasewca.com. The online change allowed residents to register and pay for swim and tennis programs online for the first time.

The month of September was greeted by a new Web site for WOW Online at www.westchasewow.com.

Sept. 13 marked the last official meeting of the Westchase CDD East, which ceased to exist upon the Sept. 20 merger of the two Westchase districts. On that later date, Westchase, for the first time in its history, was represented by a single district under five supervisors. The new board consisted of Chair Mark Ragusa of Harbor Links/The Estates, Radcliffe’s Bill Casale, Greg Chesney of The Bridges, Brian Ross of West Park Village and Ernie Sylvester of The Greens. Making the merger possible, Supervisors Bob Argus, Susan Edgerley, Keith Heinemann, Joseph Lechman and Lewis Patterson voluntarily relinquished their seats – further evidence that Westchase leaders had moved beyond the parochial, private interests that had produced board acrimony at the end of the community’s first decade.

September also saw VMs hold their annual meeting, at which they elected three seats on the WCA Board. Choosing from among seven candidates, VMs returned WCA President Joaquin Arrillaga and Director Dyan Pithers to their positions and filled the seat of retiring three-term Director Mary Griffin with 18-year resident Kenneth Blair of Glencliff. Later that month, the WCA Board elected to keep their current slate of officers intact and approved the association’s 2011 budget, holding homeowner assessments to $320 for the third year running.

The fall months were busy ones for VMs, who considered a bevy of amendments to the Westchase Bylaws; Covenants, Conditions and Restrictions (CCRs) and Residential Guidelines for Single Family Homes, as suggested by the Documents Review Committee. While a poll went out in the fall gauging homeowner support for the changes, only 10 percent of homeowner bothered to return the poll by VMs’ November meeting. The proposed changes, however, would not be passed in 2011, however. In November, the last VM meeting of the year, too few VMs showed up to muster the supermajority threshold needed for their passage.

The first merged CDD board met on Oct. 4 and spent the majority of its time exploring options to address street flooding in Radcliffe and West Park Village. While CDD Engineer Tonja Stewart felt the district’s removal of retention pond outflow structures would resolve the Radcliffe problems, the solution in West Park Village required cooperation with the county, which owns a portion of that neighborhood’s drainage system. Supervisors elected to wait until the county finished its study of the system, likely postponing any solution to the spring of 2012.

Rounding out the fall, WCA directors voted unanimously to replace the 18-year-old roof on the Westchase Swim and Tennis Center.

The fall months also saw the continuation of some Westchase traditions. The tenth anniversary of the Great West Chase saw the largest turnout in the race’s history – and produced a $22,000 donation to one of Tampa’s poorest elementary schools to support literacy programs. The Thanksgiving Food Drive proved another remarkable success, with nearly 700 homes donating five and a half tons of food and nearly 150 turkeys for Tampa’s underprivileged families.

Closing out their year, CDD supervisors entertained an alternative to a cell tower within Westchase. Upon hearing about a Distributive Antennae System (DAS), supervisors committed to exploring the idea in 2012. In contrast to a single cell tower, a DAS incorporates multiple shorter antennae that can be placed in decorative street lights.

In November and December the WCA board expressed interest in alternatives to the regular, expensive repairing of their hand-scanner access systems at the swimming pools and tennis courts. Directors also announced that the 2011 Good Neighbor Award would go to Harbor Links/The Estates resident Ben Stein, who founded the Westchase Thanksgiving Food Drive.

Thrilling families at year’s end and helping usher in the holidays was the WCA’s showing of The Polar Express and was the Westchase Charitable Foundations’ Santa Pre-Flight Parade.

As Westchase’s anniversary year drew to a close, a year filled with celebration and amiable cooperation on its boards, it was clear the community had successfully sidestepped the aged, faded appearances of other communities marking 20 years.

Instead, Westchase stepped into its third decade like a talented, confident college graduate looking to make a mark on the world.

By Chris Barrett, Publisher