Lutz Places to Eat - Breakfast

Now that we have been here for a while, we have settled into some favorite places to eat.

For breakfast you have to eat at the Breakfast Nook. This is one of the best breakfast places I have eaten at for a very long time. Good food and reasonable prices with a nice atmosphere. For those who smoke there is outdoor seating. One thing I like to do with restaurants is to see if they make good sausage gravy with biscuits and Breakfast Nook makes it great. Located in the Tropical Village Plaza on Hwy 41,between County Line Road and Hwy 54. 1532 Land O Lakes Blvd Lutz, FL 33549 Phone: 813-948-4041.

Neighborhood Relations Neighborhood listing

The Hillsborough County Neighborhood Relations office has a nice list of the neighborhood associations and special dependent districts in unincorporated Hillsborough County. What does not make sense about the list is that there are no listings for the websites for any of the associations.

Golden In Need Of Home

This good natured golden retriever needs a new home. Two children in his loving family are allergic to him. For more info, see Florida Rescued Dogs blog.

Dibbs Delays

Well, to no surprise, the County Commission bowed down to Stephen Dibbs on Thursday (see below.)

By the way, Dibbs contributed to the election campaigns of Hagan, Norman and White. He also contributed to Sharpe's campaign, however Sharpe clearly is more interested in the people's concerns rather than the developers.

According to Mike Salinero of the Trib:
"But commissioners allowed a last-minute continuance of another bid to breach the county's growth boundary, a move that angered 50 or more citizen activists who traveled from far-flung areas of the county to oppose the development on Lutz-Lake Fern Road near the Suncoast Parkway.

Both developments require first changing the county's growth plan to extend water and sewer lines into areas normally reserved for rural development.

Developer Stephen Dibbs, who was not at the meeting, sent a letter this week to the commission asking for a delay on his proposal for a 36.6-acre development on Lutz-Lake Fern Road and Suncoast Parkway.

Dibbs wants to increase the density on his property tenfold, from one house per 5 acres to two houses per acre, and build a shopping center.

The continuance was the second granted by the commissioners this month after dozens of residents turned out to fight growth plan amendments that would push high-density development into rural areas.

"They're making a mockery of this process," said Kelly Cornelius, who then turned to the audience and asked, "Who else is tired of these continuations?" The crowd answered with a roar.

Dibbs also withdrew a proposed plan amendment that would have removed 305 acres from the Keystone-Odessa Community Planning area. The land includes the 36 acres he wants to develop. The community plan restricts development to one house per five acres.

Commissioner Rose Ferlita, who didn't arrive at the meeting until after the vote to give Dibbs the continuance, asked chairman Ken Hagan to hold the vote again so she could record her disapproval.

The vote was held again, with Ferlita and Mark Sharpe voting no.

"I think this has been done before, and it ... beats down our citizens," Ferlita said.

On Feb. 7, the commission continued another proposed amendment to extend the urban service area to allow a mixed-use development with 174 homes near Gunn Highway and Van Dyke road."

Disabled Parking at the Breakfast Nook

New Blog About Florida's Rescued Dogs

There's a new blog for dog lovers called Florida Rescued Dogs. Its purpose is to provide a venue to further conversation, supply helpful articles and links, and support rescue dog owners and groups. This week, Lutz Dog Park was featured. One of the commentors provided a very thoughtful review of Hillsborough County dogparks, including the Lutz Park.

Windemere Special Dependent District

The Windemere Special Dependent District now has a webpage. http://windemeredistrict.googlepages.com/

The Windemere Special Dependent District (SDD) is a special district created by the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners in 1986 to maintain the common areas in the Windemere subdivision. $50.00 is collected as a line item on the property taxes by the Hillsborough County Tax Collector and distributed to the district every year.

The Windemere SDD mows the common areas around both ponds and at the entrance, maintains the wall and sign at the entrance, and pays for the water and power for the entrance area. Street lights are assessed separately on the tax bill. The Windemere SDD is not a homeowners association and does not handle issues regarding Code Enforcement or Deed Restrictions.

The Board of the Trustees for district is composed of 7 residents of Windemere who are elected to the positions.