Lela Lilyquist thinks this story should be an obituary.
It would be about the death of what she describes as the last oak canopy and large green space in the sprawling suburb of Brandon.
The mourners are the community’s 115,000 residents, who will not have the opportunity to relax outdoors, pause on a bench under the tall oak trees or throw down a blanket and watch the Fourth of July Parade from the comfort of a heavy chair to track shady park.
Lilyquist, 62, is a longtime citizen activist, owner of a health food store and operator of Portamento of Hope Inc., her food dispensary for those in need. She is also the main opponent of Hillsborough County’s plan to build a new library at W Lumsden Road and S Parsons Avenue, a 17-acre tree-covered site amid the hustle and bustle of Brandon.
So why exactly would someone – who has worked for a community for decades – oppose a library that is almost universally considered a highly desirable quality of life facility?
“It is a beautiful property. It’s so disheartening to think they would put anything here. It has to stay that way,” Lilyquist said.
The land is a much-needed, walkable green space for Brandon, she said, “where we have wall-to-wall houses, buildings all around, and traffic that’s ridiculous.”
She also said: “We don’t need a new library. We already have one.”
The Brandon Regional Library, 619 Vonderburg Dr., is one traffic light away from where a new library is planned. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]
Just one traffic light north on S Parsons Avenue is the current Brandon Library, just off Vonderberg Drive in a space shared with the non-profit Center Place Arts. The library building is 33 years old and, according to the county, has insufficient parking and cannot accommodate all of the library services customers have requested, including meeting rooms, technology classes and additional programs.
The county plans to replace it with a $12.5 million, 25,000-square-foot library with 175 paved parking spaces, more amenities, and room for future expansion. Construction is expected to start in 2025. The county also plans to construct a senior center and a Head Start facility on the same property, near the new library building.
“The oak trees will be destroyed,” said Lilyquist. “That’s wrong.”
community support
Not everyone shares her opinion. An online county survey in January 2021 found overwhelming support for the library. Of the 111 respondents, 64% supported a new library, 26% opposed it and 10% had no opinion.
“The library offers so much more than just books and media. For some of the less fortunate, it’s the only place where public services have access to reliable internet. It’s also one of the last remaining places where one can exist without the expectation of buying anything,” one person wrote in the virtual poll.
“A sign of a healthy community when the government is concrete in responding to real needs,” said another.
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Others said they supported the project but were concerned about heavy traffic on W Lumsden Road.
Lilyquist said she felt the sample size was too small to accurately measure community concern. One respondent’s comment reflected Lilyquist’s views.
“We must keep some trees! We reduce all of nature in Brandon and build to accommodate everyone. Our grandkids will never know the beauty and charm of old Brandon because it’s all destroyed.”
Austin Zane, 31, aligned himself with Lilyquist in speaking out against the new library. Saving the land as sandhill crane habitat or for other environmental purposes should be a priority, he said. He and Lilyquist recently asked the Hillsborough County Commission to reject a $941,000 contract with Harvard Jolly Inc. for the planning and design work on the project. The commission delayed the vote after hearing their concerns, but approved the contract two weeks later.
Past and current Commissioners have praised the project and said they are confident it will have strong community support.
“I’m thrilled that this is happening,” said then-commission chair Kimberly Overman last year.
This is a Wilder Architecture rendering of the proposed Brandon Library on Hillsborough County property at the corner of West Lumsden Road and South Parsons Avenue. [ Hillsborough County ]
In November 2022, Overman and Commissioners Stacy White and Mariella Smith, in their final sessions as commissioners, joined the majority and voted to design the building in the neoclassical style with a red brick facade, entrance portico, Ionic columns and a raised dome roof.
A 9/11 memorial
The corner of Lumsden Road and S Parsons Avenue is not particularly quiet. The noise of honking car horns and accelerating vehicles pierces the ears of pedestrians as traffic rushes by on Lumsden Road’s four lanes.
However, Lilyquist has long targeted the lot on this corner as a viable community property. Almost 20 years ago, she wrote a guest column in what was then St. The Petersburg Times advocates building a park there to commemorate 9/11 while preserving the oak trees. She later designed a site plan that included a traumatic stress recovery center for veterans.
The land was then privately owned, but the county spent $5 million in three separate transactions beginning in August 2019 to acquire three parcels totaling 17 acres.
“We need green space. That’s in our community plan and it’s being ignored,” Lilyquist told commissioners May 3. “It’s a land grab.”
A vacant lot owned by Hillsborough County with an oak roof, used Friday, June 9, 2023 in Brandon as the site for a new Brandon Regional Library at the corner of E. Lumsden Road and S. Parson Ave. is provided. [ DIRK SHADD | Times ]
The county plans to build the library on the western half of the lot, closer to Woodview Drive than S Parsons Avenue. The 8.4 hectares there are less heavily forested and the concept art shows that up to two dozen trees will be spared and an estimated 50 new trees will be planted.
Former Commissioner Stacy White, who championed the project before leaving office, said she hopes the county can preserve as many trees as possible and the area can be used as an outdoor extension of the library, where people are outside sit and enjoy a book or tune in to the music Library WiFi.
The remaining 8 hectares on the east side of the property appear to face a different concept. It is referred to as a ‘surplus parcel’ and the concept drawings show that more than 90 trees will be felled to make way for a possible affordable housing complex and associated drainage.
The recently approved county contract with Harvard Jolly included a statement stating that the property “is to be used for possible future residential or other development.”
In an emailed statement to the Tampa Bay Times, Assistant District Administrator for Public Works Kim Byer said, “There are currently no plans for this property. … Any future use of this property will take into account the contribution of the community and will require board approval.”
Lilyquist has appeared at three consecutive county commission meetings and took three minutes during the public comment to urge the county to make a new decision. She said she has no intention of stopping.
She recently advised commissioners who wanted to attend Brandon’s upcoming Fourth of July parade. Parade participants line up at the corner of Lumsden Road and S Parsons Avenue
Wave to your constituents, she said, and then “look to the left and you’ll see the canopy of oak trees and the pristine nature reserve that you’re about to pave.”
www.tampabay.com
https://www.tampabay.com/news/hillsborough/2023/06/14/brandon-library-protest-oak-tree-park/
