Communicator 2016 0910 2.vp

The Ballantrae Communicator
The newsletter of the Ballantrae community boards in Land O’ Lakes, FL
September-October 2016
12 pages
Vol. 9, No. 2
CDD budget avoids
increase in rates
RENDERING COURTESY OF PASCO SCHOOL DISTRICT
Artist’s rendering of front of elementary school under construction in Bexley.
Pasco to seek input on Bexley school lines
By Jim Flateau
CDD Chair | Newsletter Editor
The Pasco County Schools district
will form a committee in September or
October to help it decide on the
boundary lines for the children to be
served by the “Elementary School B”
now under construction in the Bexley
South development on Ballantrae’s
northeast border above Castleway
village, said Christopher Williams,
Pasco County Schools’ director for
planning services, in an interview with
The Communicator.
He explained the committee will set
the date for a public meeting to seek
community input on the boundary lines
for the new school and others whose
boundary lines will also be affected.
Once the committee finalizes its
recommendations, they will be the
subject of two public hearings, expected
in December and/or January, he said, to
be convened by the school board before
it finalizes lines for all affected schools.
Besides planning for Bexley South’s
children, Mr. Williams said the county
school district is looking to relieve
overcapacity primarily at the Oakstead
elementary school, which Ballantrae
children now attend, and the Odessa
school. Each was built to accommodate
762 students. Oakstead now has more
than 1,000 students and Odessa is close
behind.
The new school north of Ballantrae
will open in August 2017 with a
capacity
for
878
students
in
kindergarten through fifth grade. The
school will open below capacity and is
expected to reach capacity over the next
few years. The school campus is being
constructed with the option of
expanding to accommodate a total of
1,040 students.
Public hearings on school boundary plans
“This fall we will start the boundary
process,” Mr. Williams explained,
adding that “We form a committee to
help us do that” and to ensure the
community has input and a voice in the
process.
The committee will include the
principals of affected schools which, in
this case, he said would include at least
Oakstead and Odessa. Each principal
will pick two parents from their school.
The committee will also include district
staff such as those specializing in
transportation,
pre-kindergarten,
exceptional student education, plus
central
district
administration
personnel.
Mr.
Williams
explained
the
committee will look at the capacity of
all the affected schools, their
anticipated future growth, and where
along their borders the greatest growth
can be anticipated.
Continued on page 2
The CDD Board voted 5-0 after a
public hearing on Aug. 15 to adopt a
2016-17 budget that holds landowner
assessments at levels first set in 2008.
That means landowner assessments
will be virtually unchanged for the ninth
consecutive fiscal year starting Oct. 1.
The budget totals $1,679,014.12 and
consists of three parts:
• Operating and maintenance, broken
down on pages 4-5, totals $1,024,660.
• The lump sum annual debt service
payment for capital construction bonds
totals $557,776.18.
• County and collection fees total
$96,577.94.
Individual assessments based upon
lot frontage are:
• $1,032.77 for Straiton townhomes.
• $1,844.24 for lots with 40-50 foot
frontage.
• $2,083.99 for lots of 65 or more feet of
frontage, plus commercial lots.
A detailed presentation of the
budget is publicly available:
• On
the
CDD’s
website
at
ballantraecdd.org at the Minutes &
Spending page, or
• From
the
CDD’s
District
Management firm listed on page 3. H
Our top stories
Child caregivers can obtain photo ID
swipe cards to access pools: Page 3.
A look at the CDD’s approved 2016-17
operating budget by line item: Pages 4-5.
A breakdown of the CDD’s reserve
funds for next year: Page 5.
Remember that plastic bags are no
longer used in recycling: Page 10.
School officials discuss expansion
beyond first Bexley school: Page 11.
CDD to measure its irrigation flow to
maximize water efficiency: Page 12.
Pasco to seek input …
Continued from page 1
The school site is the lower of the two parcels under development
in the photo above. At photo left, homes at top are in Cunningham
while those at bottom are in Castleway. Tower Road runs between
the Ballantrae homes and the school property. Ballantrae Blvd. will
cross Tower Road into the Bexley development.
The artist’s rendering below was provided by the Pasco School
District. The top of the drawing faces north. The road exiting the
bus loop at bottom of photo runs south to Tower Road.
The “CR” designation indicates classroom buildings, “AD” is the
administration building and “M” is the media center.
Keeping neighborhoods together will be another goal.
“We try not to split up communities, such as
Ballantrae,” he continued. “If a major road or something
else already separates a community anyway, there are
cases where we might split a community along those lines.
Otherwise, we try to keep them whole. We like to have
people go to the closest school, but it is not always the case.
But we try to make that happen.”
He continued, “The committee looks at all those things,
tries to hash it all out and decide what is the best scenario
to recommend to the school board – because it is the school
board that ultimately has to decide the lines.”
The committee will come up with recommendations and
then present them at a public meeting with parents and
other members of the public. The meeting will be held at
one of the affected schools. The public may or may not
suggest changes, he said, that the committee may or may
not incorporate into its recommendations.
He cautioned that the committee’s recommendations
are a starting point and not the final word.
The committee’s recommendations will then be the
subject of two public hearings convened by the Pasco school
board. While the board will seek and consider public input
at both meetings, it will make final decisions on school
boundaries at the end of the second hearing.
Mr. Williams said, “We want people to have the ability
to talk about the boundaries and give their feedback, input
and concerns at the parent meeting we have at the school
plus the two public hearings that the school board has.”
He added, “If people come up with ideas that the school
board likes, then it can order the committee to go back and
tweak something. That’s happened in the past,” he said.
District maintains parental choice
Typically, he said, the two public hearings will be held
late in the year, ensuring boundaries are finalized before
February. That’s when parents have the choice to apply to
send their children to other than their assigned school.
Mr. Williams said, “We definitely always want to have
all boundaries done by February. So that way if folks want
to choose another school, they have the ability to do that.”
The school board actually takes a vote at both hearings
on the recommendations, but the second one is the one that
matters, he said. “That’s the final one that signs, seals and
delivers those boundaries.”
While the schools committee comes up with a plan that
it hopes best meets the need of the affected parents and
their children, the school board is obligated to take a
larger, county-wide view.
While looking at transferring to the new school some of
the Ballantrae students now at Oakstead, the school board
would also consider relieving pressure on Odessa by
transferring some Suncoast Meadows and Suncoast Pointe
children to the new school as well. The board may even
choose to look at relieving pressure on other schools, too.
“We’re trying to make room in both those existing
Continued on page 11
2
Ballantrae Communicator | September-October 2016
Visit your CDD website at www.ballantraecdd.org
CDD news in brief
Child caregivers can obtain photo ID swipe cards
The CDD Board has approved a policy allowing child caregivers hired by
Ballantrae residents to obtain their own “swipe cards” allowing caregivers to
take resident children to the CDD’s
gated pools. (See policy on pages 6-7.)
CDD Board meetings
The CDD Board now authorizes
The next CDD Board meetings will be
residents to register a non-resident
held
on Sept. 12 and Oct. 3, beginning at
caregiver, at least 18 years of age, to be
6:30
p.m. at the clubhouse. Residents are
issued a renewable 90-day photo ID
always
welcome to attend and comment on
swipe card to access District pools for
CDD issues.
the sole purposes of accompanying and
A list of all meetings for the fiscal year is
supervising the resident’s child(ren),
posted on the clubhouse CDD bulletin
under the age of 13, during the regular board, and online at the Board Meetings tab
hours of pool operations.
on the CDD website at ballantraecdd.org.
The resident and non-resident
Meeting agendas are posted the week
caregiver must be present together at before each meeting on the clubhouse
the clubhouse for District’s staff to issue bulletin board and at the online Board
the temporary access card. They must Meetings tab. H
have in hand the resident’s own photo
ID swipe card plus birth certificates for each resident child intended to be covered
by this authorization.
Application forms are available at the clubhouse. They can also be
downloaded from the CDD’s ballantraecdd.org website’s Clubhouse and
Amenities page at the end of the third paragraph.
Board nixes plan to enforce sheriff curfew
The CDD Board has opted against suggestions that it arrange to have the
Pasco Sheriff’s Office enforce a “dusk to dawn” curfew on CDD property,
especially in the park and its amenities located there. Some residents suggested
such a CDD curfew would decrease vandalism and cut down on what they say are
groups of rowdy teenagers congregating there.
The Board heard from the Sheriff’s office on the issue. The Sheriff’s curfew
policy is that it would have to be enforced equally against anyone in the park area
during those hours. That means, for example, residents out walking the dog or
taking an evening stroll in the park could be cited as trespassers, as could
walkers, joggers or cyclists simply using the park sidewalk to cut from Mentmore
Blvd. to Ballantrae Blvd. or the reverse. The same would apply to residents out at
night who simply decide to sit down at a park table and converse.
Board members agreed they understood why the Sheriff’s Office had to adopt
a one-size-fits-all policy, since deputies cannot read the minds and intent of
everyone who might be in the park after dark. On balance, however, Board
members agreed the Sheriff’s curfew would place too many restraints on the use
of the park by the landowners who pay for it.
The Board’s action should not discourage anyone from alerting the Sheriff’s
Office to any illegal activity occurring on CDD property.
It also does not affect the county’s juvenile curfew ordinance. Under that
statute, anyone under the age of 18 can generally be cited for trespass if they are
out unsupervised by an adult between 11 p.m.-5 a.m. on Sundays-Thursdays or
between 12:01-6 a.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and holidays.
The Communicator
The Communicator is published by the
Ballantrae Community Development District
Board of Supervisors, including any
contributions provided by the board of
directors of the master Ballantrae Homeowner
Association or the Straiton Townhomes
Homeowner Association.
The newsletter is provided free by the
Tampa Bay Times with printing costs
defrayed by advertisements it provides.
Residents can get The Communicator on
paper or online. Those preferring it online
can request it on the CDD website at
ballantraecdd.org at the Communications
page. When published, we’ll email you a link
to the newsletter on our server.
The mailing address for The
Communicator is 17611 Mentmore Blvd. in
Land O’ Lakes, FL 34638.
CDD Board of Supervisors
Jim Flateau
Chair/Newsletter Editor
[email protected]
Richard Levy
Vice Chair
[email protected]
Steve Bobick
Assistant Secretary
[email protected]
Chris Milano
Assistant Secretary
[email protected]
Cecilio (Tony) Thomas
Assistant Secretary
[email protected]
District Management
Patricia Comings-Thibault
District Manager
Development Planning & Financing Group
[email protected]
(321) 263-0132 extension 205
CDD Maintenance
Bill Fletcher
Maintenance Supervisor
[email protected]
(813) 345-8565 (phone)
(813) 345-8567 (fax)
Newsletter Advertising
Andrea Daly
Tampa Bay Times
[email protected]
Continued on page 12
Visit your CDD website at www.ballantraecdd.org
Ballantrae Communicator | September-October 2016
3
4
Ballantrae Communicator | September-October 2016
Visit your CDD website at www.ballantraecdd.org
Ballantrae CDD’s dedicated reserves set to reach $1,336,851
Landowners attending the 2008 public hearing on the 2008-09 budget gave their unanimous support to a plan
to raise assessments to establish reserves dedicated to protecting the financial interests of our landowners.
Besides protecting landowners, realtors and lending institutions look favorably when writing mortgages in
communities that have established such funds that help avoid increased or special, mid-year assessments. In
fact, Ballantrae CDD assessments have not been raised since the 2008-09 budget was approved.
Descriptions of the four reserves, their purposes and projected balances are presented below:
Park Development Reserve
It is designed to eventually pay to build a new
community clubhouse and to convert the existing
one into a community fitness center.
Current Balance:
$468,169
2016-17Contribution:
$140,150
Total:
$608,319
Asset Reserve
There are capital projects that need to be done
periodically, like re-roofing the clubhouse, relining
the pool, etc. This fund schedules that work:
Current Balance:
$302,944
2016-17 Contribution:
$50,000
Total:
$352,944
Visit your CDD website at www.ballantraecdd.org
Emergency Reserve
Unexpected
natural
disasters
and
unanticipated emergencies do occur. This fund
helps us be prepared to respond to them.
Current Balance:
$225,692
2016-17 Contribution:
0
Total:
$225,692
Bill Payment Reserve
The fiscal year begins Oct. 1 but the CDD
Board does not receive assessments until late
November. This fund helps pay early bills.
Current Balance:
$149,896
2016-17 Contribution:
0
Total:
$149,896
Ballantrae Communicator | September-October 2016
5
6
Ballantrae Communicator | September-October 2016
Visit your CDD website at www.ballantraecdd.org
Visit your CDD website at www.ballantraecdd.org
Ballantrae Communicator | September-October 2016
7
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ۈḚ̀ "vviInformation that’s worth repeating …
The Communicator repeats the items on this page in most editions for the benefit of new residents and
those who missed them before. They provide information on some state laws and county ordinances,
while supplying some HOA and CDD information as well. We hope you find these items useful!
Avoid fines by irrigating right day, hours
Residents are reminded that Pasco
mandates that lawns only be watered
on one assigned day each week, and
then only during allowed hours.
By confining your residential
irrigation to your proscribed days and
pre-set hours, you can avoid fines of
$100-$500 that can be imposed by the
county for residential irrigation
outside of approved hours and days.
Routine residential lawn watering
using sprinklers is restricted in Pasco
County to midnight to 8 a.m. or from 6
p.m. to midnight – but not both – on
your assigned watering day.
Those assigned days are:
with house numbers
ending in 0 or 1 irrigate on Monday.
• Those ending in 2 or 3, Tuesday.
• Those ending in 4 or 5, Wednesday.
• Those ending in 6 or 7, Thursday.
• Those ending in 8 or 9, Friday.
• No weekend watering is allowed.
The CDD Board has a variance
that allows different parts of our
community property to be irrigated
on Mondays through Saturdays.
More information on water
restrictions appear on SWFWMD’s
website at watermatters.org. H
• Addresses
Help to brighten Ballantrae’s streets
Ballantrae residents can call the clubhouse maintenance staff to
report street light outages.
Or, residents can report street light outages directly to Duke
Energy by phone or online.
It takes only a few minutes to report outages in your neighborhood
to Duke, and to find out when they will be repaired.
You will need to report the pole number on the street side of the
pole (and the address or intersection nearest to the pole, especially for
poles without numbers on Ballantrae and Mentmore Blvds.)
You can report outages to Duke Energy by calling (800) 228-8485.
Or go online to dukeenergy.com and pick Florida. Go to Report an
Outage. Then highlight A Street Light or Area Light Needs Repair. Fill
out the form you will find there and send it. The process takes just a
minute.
Follow leash, scoop laws
Residents can be fined by the
county each time they fail to “scoop
the poop” from someone else’s
property.
Owners can also be fined if dogs
are
unleashed
outside
of
an
enclosed area –
even if on the
owner’s property.
Please
report
all violators to
Pasco
Animal
Control at (813)
929-1212. H
10
Wi-Fi at the pools
You can connect your
wireless device to the CDD’s
free WiFi network at the pools
in Ballantrae Park and in
Straiton.
In the park, search for
connections and select the
“Ballantrae” SSID.
At the Straiton pool, the
SSID is “Straiton”.
The password for both is
“cypress1”. The password is all
lower case. H
Ballantrae Communicator | September-October 2016
Contain your recyclables
Recyclables must be placed in
containers, not bags, for pickup.
Plastic bags have not been
accepted
in
Pasco
County’s
recycling program since October
2015. Recyclables will only be
picked up if loose in a properlystickered container.
You can obtain stickers from
your trash hauler or from the
county. Pasco’s recycling office can
be reached at (727) 856-4539.
You can use a bin, cart, or can;
all of which can be found at area
hardware retailers. Or you can use
your own container. Sticker your
container and put it on the curb the
night before recycling pickup on
the first and third Wednesday
mornings of each month.
Pasco accepts aluminum cans,
metal food cans, plastic bottles, jars
and small containers coded 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, and 7 (not 6), glass bottles & jars
(clear, green, and brown), plus
newspaper, paper and cardboard.
Put all of them loosely in the same
container.
Plastic bags are “out” because
they cause slow-downs in the
recycling stream and are a
contaminant in recycled material,
which lowers the value of
recyclables overall. H
Visit your CDD website at www.ballantraecdd.org
Pasco school district takes long view of school planning
The Ballantrae CDD Board has also been a partner in
Local housing construction along SR 54 from US 41 to
Trinity Blvd. is driving the need for the school being built advancing the new school. It worked with Duke Energy to
north of Ballantrae – just as it will for other area schools in provide the utility with an easement to run power
the future as Pasco County’s population continues to grow.
underground on the east side of Ballantrae Blvd. from just
There is nothing written in stone about future school below the Castleway entrance north to the Bexley property
capacity
needs,
school
and to the school site.
district
officials
say.
As part of the Bexley South
Instead, the need for
construction,
north-south
additional schools will be
Ballantrae Blvd. will cross the
driven by how many of the
east-west
Tower
Road
new homes permitted by the
running across the Bexley
county are actually built,
property. Projected traffic
when, and how that affects
studies showed that the
the school age population.
Ballantrae Blvd.-Tower Road
Newland Communities is
intersection
could
be
the developer of the Bexley
controlled by “stop” signs
South project that will
rather than by a traffic light,
include approximately 1,700
Newland officials said.
homes, apartments and
Ballantrae Blvd. is now
townhomes on 1,200 acres.
being
widened at its northern
Groundbreaking is expected
ARTIST’S RENDERING PROVIDED BY PASCO SCHOOL DISTRICT end to add an eastbound turn
to start late this year on the
The collaborative learning center planned for the Bexley school.
lane accessing Tower Road. It
first of the 475 units to be
will
accommodate
built as part of Bexley South’s first phase, according to the
northbound Ballantrae Blvd. traffic turning right onto
developer’s website.
Newland set aside and donated the 18-acre parcel for Tower Road towards the new elementary school north of
the school now under construction, according to John Castleway village.
This is not the only school expansion under
Petrashek, director of construction services for Pasco
consideration in the area.
schools. He told The Communicator that “The Newland
There are also plans for a Bexley North project. If
Communities organization has been great to work with
built-out as planned over the next 20 years, it would add
and have expressed a great deal of interest in making this
about 12,000 more homes, apartments and townhomes on
school a vital component of the Bexley community.”
5,400 acres. As they’re built, it would trigger the need for
He added, they “have demonstrated their commitment the construction of two more elementary schools, a middle
at every step in the planning” for the school.
school and a high school, according to Mr. Williams.
Christopher Williams, director of planning for Pasco
That and other development along the corridor west of
schools, agreed. He told The Communicator that “Newland Ballantrae could also bring into play plans for a new school
did a lot of the site work for us. We worked out an proposed for the Starkey Ranch development.
agreement with them to take care of that, which is great.
School officials are also keeping an eye on residential
They have been excellent, very good to deal with.
construction east of Ballantrae, such as the Long Lake
“Tom Panaseny has been great to deal with,” he said of Ranch project along Sunlake Blvd.
Also not to be lost in the discussion, Mr. Williams
Newland’s vice president of operations for Bexley.
pointed out, is the fact that the school district owns a
22-acre parcel south of the offices along SR 54 directly
across from Fire Station 37 just east of Ballantrae.
Pasco to seek input …
That parcel plays into the mix, he said, if a school is
schools – and others – for their future growth, as well as eventually needed there to accommodate students on
leaving room for growth for what we know is coming from either – or both – sides of SR 54.
“There is development planned for west of our site,
within Bexley. So we’re looking at all those numbers and
directly across from Ballantrae. When it is built, that
trying to figure that puzzle out,” Mr. Williams explained.
He added, “We’ll obviously start with very few kids from would provide us with access back to our school site,” he
Bexley and that number will grow as houses are built and explained.
He added, “We’ll see what happens. Maybe
families move in. So usually we start out with a large
boundary and that boundary gets smaller as the number of development takes off along 54 faster than anyone
students within it grows, and then we add more schools. expected, and we’ll need this site sooner rather than later.
But we don’t see that (need for more schools) happening Who knows what other needs will arise? We have to be
within the next five years.” H
ready to meet every challenge.” H
Visit your CDD website at www.ballantraecdd.org
Ballantrae Communicator | September-October 2016
11
PRSRT STD
US POSTAGE
PAID
TAMPA FL
PERMIT #1741
Ballantrae Communicator
17611 Mentmore Boulevard
Land O’ Lakes, FL 34638
CDD news in brief …
Continued from page 3
CDD to measure community irrigation efficiency
The CDD Board has authorized $10,154 to install water
flow meters in each of the six wells that connect to the
community irrigation system along Ballantrae and
Mentmore blvds. and in Ballantrae Park.
While the Board does not pay anything for use of the
well water, there is an environmental concern. Studies
show more than 40 percent of potable water in Florida is
used for irrigation.
While well water is not potable, it is still drawn from our
communal surface lakes and ponds and underground
aquifer, and affects the water reserves available to all
Floridians. So the more efficient the system, the less of our
precious water resources it consumes.
That’s why the University
of Florida/IFAS Extension
staff in Pasco County will be
offering
suggestions
to
improve
the
irrigation
efficiency of the CDD’s
irrigation system, based upon
water flow and coverage data.
So any savings the CDD can
identify leaves more water
available for other uses.
With the meters in
place, the CDD can measure
how much water is being used
to irrigate each one of its six
irrigation zones. Inspectors
can then determine, by the
number of irrigation heads,
how the water is being
distributed. A review of each
head’s coverage area will
CDD vendor at work
determine if water usage is
too much, too little … or just Yellowstone Landscape is
shown on CDD property edging
right.
From
there,
the (above) and mowing (in oval)
CDD
Board
can
make lawns along Ballantrae Blvd.
12
Ballantrae Communicator | September-October 2016
decisions on how to manage the system to ensure it is
getting the best coverage for the least water usage.
That may also include deciding to swap out old
sprinkler heads for new ones. The system was created in
2003, before the advent of many of the new types of
watering devices that provide more efficient coverage of
larger areas for the same amount of water.
CDD, HOAs reach agreement on CDD towing
The CDD Board and the Ballantrae master HOA and
the Straiton townhomes have reached agreement on
towing from CDD property.
Under the agreement, the towing company employed by
the Ballantrae HOA can tow any vehicle parked in the
Ballantrae Park parking lot from 10 p.m.-7 a.m., seven
days a week. There are no warnings issued before towing.
The towing company employed by the Straiton HOA can
tow any vehicle parked anytime on the CDD lawn along the
north end of Girvan Drive. There are no warnings issued.
CDD Board turns off radio in the park
For years, the greatest debates poolside at the park on
weekends have been these: too loud, or too low? This genre,
or that? Both related to the music emanating over outdoor
speakers from the radio in the clubhouse.
The issue came up again in June, when the Tampa Bay
Times published a story on businesses who were paying
large fines for breaking copyright laws by publicly playing
copyrighted music without first buying licenses to do so.
Such licenses can cost several hundreds of dollars a year
from each of the three companies licensed to approve the
public playing of music by different artists.
The CDD Board is expected to follow all laws. As a
government entity, it is required to purchase licenses if it is
going to play music for the public, according to district
counsel. He advised that while the CDD Board could opt to
continue playing music without a license, it would be
without a defense and subject to fines if cited for it.
Board members decided to turn off the radio rather than
break the law or pay hundreds of dollars or more annually
for licenses.
Members agreed that residents can listen over their
personal headsets to music on their phones and portable
music players – at any volume or genre they prefer. H
Visit your CDD website at www.ballantraecdd.org