Most neighborhoods develop organically. Buildings rise, fall into disrepair and are improved in an endless cycle that forms the character of the place. This is not the case in Westchase, a Planned Urban Development (PUD) located in Northwest Hillsborough County and conceived in the early '90s.
The layout – 28 villages around acres of lush conservation area (i.e., jungle in your 'hood), commercial and retail centers, and an 18-hole championship golf course – was carefully planned and constructed. Today, Westchase is basically complete (scattered construction and neighborhood improvements continue), and the original design is apparent in every aspect of the area.
While some of the original villages dating back to the early '90s look like your standard upscale Florida 'burb (cookie-cutter design, odd pastels), more recent additions are neo-traditional in style. The prevalence of this architecture means that driving a residential street is often like entering a Hollywood backlot.
In design, each street and residence recalls the Americana of Norman Rockwell or television's golden age. Garages are around back to keep cars off the streets, fountains and front porches abound, and the landscaping is impeccable. If there were a way to build in black-and-white, the designers of Westchase would have found it.
On a beautiful Saturday in February, the parks and lawns were filled with children at play, the sidewalks with joggers and people walking dogs. That the scene so typified the "small-town life" of American folklore was undercut only by the vague sense that someone planned this whole thing – it didn't just happen.
This planned experience is best exemplified by the West Park Village (WPV) section, a collection of apartments, townhomes, villas and single-family houses built around a series of central parks, circular drives and a shopping plaza at Linebaugh Avenue and Montague Street.
WPV, which purposefully resembles Tampa's Hyde Park (down to a shared red phone booth), is designed to give the residents a South Tampa feel in the middle of a North Hillsborough housing development. WPV is an extremely walkable enclave, with six-foot-wide sidewalks and streets that span 28 feet to allow for parking on both sides. The area attracts young professionals looking for an alternative to South Tampa's perceived high prices for cramped quarters.
While Westchase tries to emulate South Tampa's cosmopolitan flair in some areas, at its core remains the heart of every neighborhood in Hillsborough – the supermarket shopping center. This one, anchored by a Publix, is located at the main crossroads of Linebaugh Avenue and Countryway Boulevard.
The plaza has over 25 retail shops (all the usual stuff: Blockbuster Video, UPS Store, liquor store, dentist, etc.), and includes – get this – two dry cleaners, two nail salons, three banks and eight restaurants. Although within walking distance for many residents, this plaza is more congested with car traffic and less inviting to pedestrians than West Park Village.
Almost all of Westchase looks brand spankin' new. Deed restrictions force every resident to maintain property up to a strict standard or face stiff fines – or worse. This keeps the neighborhood looking great, but risks rankling property owners who feel the rules infringe on their rights.
The driveway basketball hoop, a rite of passage for many suburban kids, is a common battleground. The Westchase Community Association settled the fight in 2002 by allowing the hoops, provided they are mobile – a popular compromise among community associations, and a good illustration of the line these groups have to walk in an effort to keep all the residents happy (even the young ones).
In addition to the headaches that deed restrictions can cause, the traffic in the mornings is terrible if you have to use the Veteran's Expressway. There are three routes to the Vets from Westchase (via Linebaugh Avenue, Waters Avenue and Hillsborough Avenue), each as clogged as the next between 7 and 8 a.m. Residents commuting north out of Westchase, toward Palm Harbor and a growing technology industry, find their commute more manageable.
Minor annoyances aside, the planning that went into the design and execution of Westchase seems to have paid off. The property values continue to increase, crime is low, and the success of the development has spawned a host of imitators (like the hilariously titled Waterchase) to the north. While residents definitely sacrifice a certain level of authenticity and freedom in exchange for their more idyllic surroundings, it's a sacrifice more and more people are willing to make.
Reading Is Fundamental: A New Library
Westchase wraps itself in Americana. Yellow ribbons and American flags abound (within the deed restrictions, of course). This middle-America image is one aspect of the neighborhood that makes it so appealing to middle-American families. The lack of a library, however, has long been a glaring omission – until now.
On a crisp but beautiful Saturday in January, more than 400 people turned out for the opening of the Upper Tampa Bay Regional Library, a beautiful colonial built at a cost of over $2.2 million and located on Countryway Boulevard just north of Westchase's border. The library still lacked proper landscaping at the opening, but its interior was complete and open for business even as the ceremony took place. Overworked librarians struggled to handle the rush, Boy Scouts prowled the lobby and were chased by their grandmothers, and local politicians gave speeches and pressed the flesh.
And man, were there plenty of kids! As the county commissioners and local bigwigs rambled on about construction funding and a planned phase II (which would add another 10,000 square feet to the 15,000 just completed), youngsters overran the glass-encased children's library, outnumbering their adult minders five to one and rarely observing the standard library quiet rules.
I liked that. Libraries should be kid-friendly. This one also has a teen room, loans out DVDs and CDs, and offers Internet access. For the old-fashioned among us – you know, the adults – the library has 50,000 books and magazines in its collection, and offers various computer and adult education classes. Now, if only the lawn would grow in.
Slipping South: Tom Kurian
Although he loves it in Westchase, Tom Kurian, a local real estate agent and West Park Village resident, feels the pull of South Tampa. "Many of my friends live there," he tells me as we're sitting at the Starbucks walking distance from his townhouse, "and they don't want to drive out here."
It is a common complaint among the young (he's 31) professionals of Northwest Hillsborough County. Although there are many people in their 20s and 30s living in the area, they tend to work and play elsewhere, and Tom is no exception.
Tom works at Infinity Realty USA, which is located in South Tampa. He spends much of his time in there, working or getting together with friends. On the day he showed me around Westchase, he had just raced back from South Tampa, fresh from running the Gasparilla 5K that morning.
Spending so much time away from his townhouse, Tom lacks a local connection. Since he's single, I figured he'd know of the Westchase Singles Club, whose Christmas party had a turnout of over 600 people, but he just shrugs. It has become difficult for him to justify living in Westchase.
That's not to say he dislikes the neighborhood. On the contrary, he tells me that the money he spent on a townhouse in West Park Village would have bought far less in South Tampa; the schools in Westchase are comparable to those of South Tampa; and the shopping center, within walking distance of his house, contains personal favorites Bono Pizza and his beloved Starbucks. In fact, there are several good places to eat within walking distance (Catch Twenty-Three received four planets in a recent issue of the Planet and is across the street from Bono Pizza), but he still finds himself eating in SoHo.
Ultimately, the draw is too much for Tom: "I am going to move back to South Tampa, at least for now." He plans a return to Westchase, though, perhaps in a few years when he is ready to settle down and have a family of his own. Soon his folks are moving to Riverview from Davey, Florida (down by Miami), and his moving south makes sense. He'll be closer to his work, closer to family, and closer to those lazy residents of South Tampa who refuse to drive a few minutes north just to hang out with a friend.
Ladies Who Lunch: The Newcomers of Northwest Hillsborough
It's lunchtime at Johnny Carino's Restaurant at Cypress Street and Dale Mabry, and 35 middle-aged women have Miss Virginia 1999 surrounded. The women have gathered for a meeting of the Newcomers of Northwest Hillsborough, a club/support group for women who are new to the Westchase area.
Miss Virginia 1999 (a.k.a. Kellie Lightbourn, who supplements the beauty queen portion of her resume with a Masters in marriage and family planning, a law degree, and a weekly spot on the local ABC-TV affiliate as their legal correspondent) is today's guest speaker. During lunch, card games and the recent tsunami are frequent topics. A collection is taken for victims of the disaster. Pictures of grandchildren are fawned over, and bonds form.
The "Newcomers" are not only people who've moved to the Westchase area from elsewhere, although there are plenty of Northern transplants at the meeting, their thick New England accents a dead giveaway. They are also women who have been divorced or widowed and find themselves "newcomers" at a different stage of life. Newcomers of Northwest Hillsborough serves to connect these women to the community, something that can be difficult in large neighborhoods like Westchase.
If the schedule of events is any indication, the "Newcomers" will soon be connecting all over the Tampa Bay area. Planned happenings include a private tour of the Raymond James art collection, excursions to the Princess Diana exhibit at the Florida International Museum and to the sponge docks in Tarpon Springs, as well as an organized bridge night and an arts-and-crafts get-together titled "Crafty Ladies."
As lunch winds down, Lightbourn takes the floor to discuss some legal issues that many of the women in this age group face, such as living wills and health surrogates. During the talk, the women of the club are fully engaged, asking detailed questions (a few of which stump the expert, who promises speedy answers by e-mail or possibly via an on-air segment in an upcoming broadcast) and revealing themselves to be very savvy about legal and banking issues. The questions continue for some time and by the end, the guest speaker seems a little worn out … and impressed.
The Digital Village: Westchase on the Web
For many modern neighborhoods, borders now extend beyond geographic space into the virtual. Westchase is nothing if not modern. Here are just a few of the multiple sites that keep its residents cyber-connected:
www.westchase.net – This Westchase Community Association (WCA) site is a good first stop. It's got an events calendar, information on the community association Board of Directors, and important forms, such as the modification request forms necessary when making home improvements. Plus, residents can get their own westchase.net e-mail addresses. Pretty cool.
www.westchase.net/documents/CCRs.pdf – If you've visited westchase.net and are still considering that nuclear-orange paint job for the villa, maybe it's time to read up on the homeowner restrictions.
www.westchasewow.com – Despite appearances to the contrary, Westchase isn't all about stuffy rules and restrictions. The official web site of Westchase Community Magazine, called the World Of Westchase (or WOW for short – yes, they're very proud of their neighborhood), features a terrific collection of news, information and listings of events in and around the neighborhood. The information is presented in a down-to-earth manner, and for a daily slice of life in Westchase, this is the site.
www.westchaser.com – A great follow-up to WOW, the imaginatively titled Westchaser site stands out because it has an active message board community, something both WOW and the WCA lack.
www.uppertampabaylibrary.org – News and information on upcoming events at the Upper Tampa Bay Regional Library, and great resources for all things bookish in Northwest Tampa Bay.
www.uppertampabaylibraryfoundation.org – The foundation that raised some of the cash for phase one of the library is hard at work raking it in for phase two. Check them out.
This article appears in Mar 2-8, 2005.