Sign Posted for Bloomingdale Big-Box Meeting With Al Higginbotham

Bloomingdale residents opposed to a big-box development in their community met last week to hammer home the details of the questions they plan to ask Hillsborough County Commissioner Al Higginbotham at a meeting he scheduled June 10 for the Brandon Recreation Center on Sadie Street.

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Residents looked past their concerns that the meeting had not been moved to Bloomingdale High School, which reportedly had been reserved for the same date — June 10 — by the activists meeting under the auspices of the Coordinated Active Neighborhoods Development Organization (CAN-DO), also known as, "Say No to Bloomingdale Big Box."

In a "clarification" email dated 5:03 p.m. June 4, Hillsborough County spokesperson Willie Puz noted that the county had "received calls expressing confusion as to the location of this meeting." The email confirmed the two-hour June 10 meeting would start 6 p.m. at the Brandon Recreation Center, at 502 East Sadie St.

Notice of that meeting is in view of Bloomingdale Avenue motorists, thanks to a recently erected, large, hand-drawn protest sign that sports admonitions against construction of a Walmart, low-income apartments or fast-food eatery on property just to the east of Bloomingdale High School and the Bloomingdale Regional Library.

The expected development is made possible with zoning that permits Redstone Properties to develop a 158,800-square-foot big-box retail store, five commercial outparcels and 260 apartments on a 43.5-acre parcel off Bloomingdale Avenue.

With no official confirmation about project details, residents nevertheless say they are fighting a proposed Walmart, which Brown said is based on three things: speaking with an employee at a nearby Walmart, speaking with a county aid and seeing the word "Walmart" on a site plan carried by a county representative to a community meeting.

Higginbotham said in a May 21 interview that there is an August 18 deadline for Redstone Properties to file its building plans. Should that deadline pass without the submission of plans, he added, the developer "would have to go through a site-plan approval [process] again."

Meeting June 4 in Valrico, at The Palms Community Church on Bloomingdale Avenue, residents worked out a series of questions they hope to ask and have answered at the Monday, June 10 meeting.

• What questions and concerns would you like Commissioner Al Higginbotham to addresss at the June 10 meeting? Let us know in the comment box below.

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USEFUL LINKS:

• Hillsborough County government has an online page dedicated to the Proposed Develoment on Bloomingdale Avenue, including the county attorney's statement and information about road impacts, zoning and the preliminary site plan.

• CAN-DO is active on Facebook and on change.org, with a petition against the development that as of June 5 had realized 1,178 supporters. Group events have included the May 14 meeting at The Palms Community Church in Valrico and the May 7 sign-carrying protest on Bloomingdale Avenue.

Higginbotham said in his May 21 interview that there is an August 18 deadline for Redstone Properties to file its building plans. Should that deadline pass without building plans, the developer "would have to go through a site-plan approval [process] again," Higginbotham said.

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RELATED COVERAGE:

• Higginbotham to Bloomingdale: Let's Meet on Big Box

• Residents React to Commissioners' Bloomingdale Big-Box Stance

• Commissioners Say Plans for Bloomingdale Big Box Out of Their Hands

• Residents Flock to Big-Box Meeting at Bloomingdale Church

• Neighbors Rally Against Bloomingdale Big-Box Development

• 'No Bloomingdale Big Box' Event Set for Rush-Hour Traffic (includes reader comments)

• Opposition Preps for Big-Box Development Protest

• Bloomingdale Residents Continue To Fight Big-Box Development(includes link to a petition that as of May 14 has garnered more than 1,050 signatures)
  

• Higginbotham Fields Big-Box Development Question (video and reader comments posted at Brandon Patch)

• Commissioner Answers Big-Box Development Question (video and comments posted at Bloomingdale-Riverview Patch)