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HCC Looking At Ball Fields For Expansion

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By RAY REYES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 19, 2007

PLANT CITY - Forty acres adjacent to Hillsborough Community College's Plant City campus have been used for recreational fields for 26 years, and commissioners said Sept. 10 they would like the land to retain that usage for several more.
HCC officials said that within 10 years, those 40 acres east of the campus's property line will be needed for new buildings and other facilities.

Common ground on this issue must be found soon, officials with both parties said during the city commission meeting.

'We're the victim of growth,' said Felix Haynes, president of HCC's Plant City campus. 'We're the victim of our own success.'

Why the city and the college both have a stake in that 40-acre tract dates back nearly four decades.

To attract HCC into establishing a campus in Plant City, commissioners agreed to donate 80 acres at Park Road and Cherry Street to the college. HCC's current configuration of classrooms and offices takes up half the donated property. The city leased the other half in 1981 to use as ballparks. The lease has since been extended to Dec. 31, 2030.

The college will need the land sooner because of the expected population growth of eastern Hillsborough County, Haynes said. The college is building 100,000 square feet of facilities along Park Road, but it will not be enough, Haynes said.

More than 6,000 students are enrolled at the Plant City campus, 1206 N. Park Road south of Interstate 4, and the population is expected to at least double within 10 years, Haynes said.

To accommodate increased enrollment, the college will need an additional 370,000 square feet by 2017, said David Cabeceiras, HCC's director of facilities, planning and construction.

The only way to go is east, into the fields of the Otis M. Andrews Sports Complex, where the city hosts its annual soccer and flag football leagues, HCC officials said.
Commissioner Robert Brown said if the city agrees to end the lease, replacement fields must be in place.

'We need to meet the recreational needs of our citizens,' Brown said. 'We need to replace the 40 acres that HCC needs to expand.'

The state's property tax reforms hamper the city's ability to find new ball fields and accommodate HCC's request, City Manager David Sollenberger said.

'There's less and less money to meet these types of needs,' Sollenberger said. 'It behooves the city and HCC to work together to maximize the land available.'

Commissioner Dan Raulerson asked whether the college could 'build up' by constructing multiple-story classrooms instead of 'building out.'

'We can look at that,' said Robert Wolf, senior vice president of operations for HCC.

Mayor Rick Lott said the city and the college may have to get creative.

'It's inevitable - this land is going away,' Lott said. 'We want to work with HCC. What we don't want is to wake up years from now and we hear, 'Oh, by the way, we need that land.''

Commissioners and college officials agreed to revisit the issue at a workshop.

'I'm encouraged because the dialogue is now open,' Lott said.

Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 865-4433 or rreyes@tampatrib.com.

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