
Parking spaces for 65 more golf carts are being made between the maintenance building and the Atrium at the main SCC amenities complex.
More parking spaces for golf carts at the main Sun City Center complex
A major renovation of the Sun City Center Community Association complex, which was covered extensively several times this past summer in The SCC Observer, is due to begin in April. The Community Association board of directors decided that making extra golf cart spaces now would get residents closer to the Atrium building that houses the gym, pools and most of the clubs. According to Community Manager Lyn Reitz, what had been the original maintenance building and was more recently the CERT (citizen’s emergency response team) office, was just torn down and the outdoor stage removed from the southern grounds of the complex to make room for 65 new golf cart spaces. “We knew this was one thing we could do to get residents closer to things before major work began on the parking lot and facilities,” Reitz said in an interview Sept. 6.
Caught in the act!
So many derogatory things are said about today’s teens that occasionally The Observer News and The SCC Observer like to highlight teens “caught in the act” of doing good deeds. Sometimes, even when the things they’re doing haven’t reached a full-blown news story, they still deserve a mention. A project currently in the works by Colton Lewis is one of those. Colton’s mother, Tami Lewis, said that Colton is working on his Eagle Scout Project at the Little Manatee River State Park. He is building a gated equestrian entrance including an archway for the equestrian event field. He is using 8-by-8 timber for the fence posts and recessing the gate along with widening the entrance to enhance accessibility of large horse trailers. Colton, 13, is a member of Troop 661 in Ruskin and is an eighth-grader at St. Stephen Catholic School. Cathy Moore of Friends of the Little Manatee River State Park, says she hopes the entrance will be open in time for the park’s 16th Annual Mystery Map event on Oct. 19 so Colton will be able to present it formally to the park in front of Mystery Map participants.
Cypress Creek sewer line work begun
Two news stories appearing in The SCC Observer and The Observer News this year have highlighted the fact that the county is in the midst of changing the size of its sewer lines to accommodate future growth. This came about because the expansion of the South County Advanced Wastewater Treatment Plant, visible from Interstate 75 just north of the Ruskin exit, is eventually expected to quadruple in size and accommodate the treatment of 16 million gallons a day instead of the 4 million it now treats. The first expansion — now in progress — will bring that total to 10 million. Three days ago, signs were posted on Cypress Creek Boulevard, between State Road 674 on the border of Ruskin and Sun City Center and 19th Avenue in Ruskin, stating that underground work had begun there. According to Civil Engineer Lisa Murrin, who is in charge of the project, work is on schedule, and traffic, although it will in places be reduced to one lane, will not be interrupted to or from any neighborhood. The lines from Sun City Center down SR 674 to Cypress Creek were completed in July. The current phase of the project extends for 11,000 feet — or 2.1 miles, and should be completed by the end of September.
Fight the Blight in Riverview
Operation Fight the Blight, a county-wide effort to clean up areas where there is a lot of trash, especially heavy items like furniture, appliances, old mattresses and tires, continues with a temporary gathering spot for such items opened Sept. 4 at 6515 Riverview Dr. just east of US 41. This operation was originally scheduled to be held at the Gardenville Recreation Center in Gibsonton, but Bill Langford, who manages Hillsborough County’s Special Code Enforcement Unit, said the new location makes it easier to gather garbage from a wider area.
When photographed Sept. 5, Langford was on site with Manuel Acevedo and their crew loading old televisions, refrigerators, hundreds of mattresses and tires into moveable storage bins. “This effort is not to accommodate business owners,” Langford said, after having to turn away construction materials the day before. “This is for residents who cannot get rid of their trash alone, or who have citations. During the operation in Wimauma in July, which was covered extensively in The Observer News and The Current, a combination of Code Enforcement, the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office, Criminal Justice and Affordable Housing staffs, and the South County Neighborhood Service Center located in Ruskin worked together and collected more than 12 tons of trash, including 760 pounds of tires — 21 found in road ditches — and 55 tires off residential property. They also inspected 65 properties in the area and secured two abandoned dwellings that were near the school zone, which is a (designated) Child Safe Zone. “While there, the sheriff’s office made 44 arrests, people speeding through the area, some with open warrants, no driver’s license. They found all kinds of things.”
Langford says he is in favor of making it easier for people, especially renters who now must pay at the county dumpsite, to rid themselves of these items so they will not be found abandoned in the woods and in roadside ditches.
People in the area are urged to go to the site before 4 p.m. Sept. 16. Langford said the large dumpsters will be removed that night, although there will still be a small one there for minor items the 17th as his crew cleans up the site.