WESLEY CHAPEL — Wesley Chapel continues to grow at a steady pace, and the more people, the more need for more homes, retail and restaurants.
And more parks.
With that in mind, county commissioners unanimously approved a contract to purchase about 153 acres south of Wesley Chapel District Park, a purchase park officials say will help relieve a facility that has been at capacity for years.
The Hopkins property is directly south of the district park and immediately south of a utilities property. Under the sale and purchase agreement, the county will buy the land in four phases over four years.
The first phase, in fiscal year 2027, will be paid from the parks impact fee facility and land categories.
“The first year is officially addressed,” Parks, Recreation and Natural Resources director Keith Wiley told commissioners. The contract lets commissioners decide each fiscal year how to acquisition is intended to create space for future park facilities in an area where existing recreational space is maxed out.
Each phase is roughly 39 acres.
Wiley presented the proposal, describing the property as a big opportunity previously discussed during a parks funding workshop, where staff presented several projects. The county is working on parks in the nearby Villages of Pasadena Hills and Two Rivers communities.
He said the Hopkins property serves the park service area on the county’s east side, where demand for field and park space has long outpaced supply.
“Wesley Chapel District Park has been at capacity for a very, very, very long time,” Wiley said. “We need fields and we need park space. So this really kind of basically addresses that need in the park service area.”
Wiley also noted that the nearby Wiregrass Ranch Sports Campus is more a tourism asset rather than a public park and doesn’t fill the need. The new land would be nestled among existing assets, he said.
The county hasn’t identified how it will pay to build facilities on the site. But “without the land, you’re not going to build a park,” Wiley said.
Commissioners raised questions about road access, which the park will have, and mentioned that a planned “vision road” runs through the property. Wiley said meetings have already been scheduled to discuss a possible realignment, so the future road does not affect the park or future improvements.
Board chairman Jack Mariano said if the road becomes part of the county’s roadway network, transportation could fund that portion.
“I think it’s a great addition,” he said. “The best part of the whole thing is, as well as helping the maxed out Western Chapel District Park, it takes off some of the development pressure that’s going on there too, with everything else going. So, it’s just a huge opportunity for us.”
The existing district park was Wesley Chapel’s first, at the time a $20-million project that opened in 2007 on the southwest corner of Boyette and Overpass roads.
It was built in stages, and is now 145 acres with multiple athletic fields, basketball and tennis courts, walking trails, a first-of-its-kind all-abilities playground, a street hockey rink and a 17,800-sqaure-foot indoor recreation center that was built in 2021.