Higginbotham Fields Big-Box Development Question

At the Kiwanis Club of Greater Brandon's meeting April 25, Hillsborough County Commissioner Al Higginbotham fielded questions about a wide range of community issues, including what will become of a 43.5-acre pasture on Bloomingdale Avenue next to the Bloomingdale Regional Library.

• See Bloomingdale Residents Continue To Fight Big-Box Development

"Back in 2003 that property was zoned . . . for a big-box store," Higginbotham said. "Somehow a rumor started that a Walmart was going in there. I’ve seen noting in writing, I’ve had no briefings from staff, that a Walmart’s going there. But that doesn’t mean a Walmart is not."

Adding that he "can only deal with the facts that I have," Higginbotham said that before any building takes place there would be "concurrency and road improvements to complement the site."

But that's a long way off, Higginbotham said, speaking as the invited guest to the Friday morning meeting of the Kiwanis Club of Greater Brandon, held weekly at Ben's Family Restaurant in Brandon.

"There’s not even a building plan that's been permitted, it's still discussion and, in great part, still rumor," he said. "But until I can get facts to look at I can’t make that decision."

Higginbotham sought to put the issue in perspective

"Ten years ago that site was zoned," he said. "Now we’re faced with what we call in-ill projects."

"When I first came to office everybody was saying, ‘Don’t expand out, don’t go out [further],’ " he added. "Now we’ve got infill projects popping up and they’re raising concerns, ‘Do we have the infrastructure, is this what we want?' "

Those are the types of discussions, Higginbotham said, that "we're going to continue to have."