County sawing down Kinnan's sick oaks

Betsy Hubbard of Live Oak Preserve says a Hillsborough County crew has begun sawing down the oaks that line Kinnan Street east of her neighborhood. We reported last week that most of the 200 trees planted last year along the road are now dead or dying.

Here is Betsy's e-mail:

Early this afternoon I came home via Kinnan Street and noticed county workers removing the live oak trees.

I stopped and they were removing all the trees in a line as they moved down the east side of Kinnan Street. I was told by the foreman of the crew that they were removing all the trees even if they appeared to be alive since there was a fungus on them.

I went home and called the county street maintenance department and inquired about how many trees were to be removed since the most recent newspaper article said that some would be left.  I spoke to someone, who was extremely well spoken and polite, and he told me that there would be 12 trees left.  That in fact, the county arborist had been there on August 8 and marked which trees should remain.

After 4:30 I drove back out the Kinnan Street gate and did a survey of today's tree removal. Not a single tree left, not even a random one in the line of work that was done today.

They are not finished yet so perhaps the 12 that were picked to stay will be in the final line up of work for tomorrow.  I sort of doubt there will be a single tree standing when this is all said and done.

I did call back and was told 12 would be saved.

Thank you, Betsy!

Models open at K-Bar Ranch

Mobley Homes announces it has opened a new townhome model at Stone Creek in K-Bar Ranch.

"Mobley will build 78 townhomes in the maintenance-free neighborhood,'' the notice says. Three floor plans will range from 1,239 square feet up to 1,552 square feet with prices beginning in the $150,000’s.

  "Base-priced at $166,656, the 1,239-square-foot Manchester (shown in website photo) offers two bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms with one-car garage,'' Mobley says. "Base-priced at $171,445, the Tamworth, which has three bedrooms, two a half bathrooms and a one-car garage, offers 1,378 square feet. Base priced at $189,900, the Whittington offers three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms and a two-car garage within 1,552 square feet."

The builder describes Stone Creek as a close-knit community where "every home offers a conservation or pond view." It's also next to Bassett Creek, a single family home community in K-Bar Ranch. The model center is open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday. For more information, call (813) 956-4252 or visit www.mobleyhousing.com

Have we hit bottom?

[This story appears on the cover of Friday's North of Tampa in the St. Petersburg Times, along with our quarterly "Property Values" analysis.]

The five-bedroom house in Arbor Greene had waited vacant for two years. The price had slid from $680,000 to $580,000, then below $500,000. Last month, Eric and Susan Topp got it for $415,000.

Two miles north in K-Bar Ranch, Vickie and Jerry Levings favored a brand-new five-bedroom. Taylor Morrison of Florida had priced it at $379,000, then dropped it to $349,000 in a “blow-out sale,” Vickie Levings said. In March, the couple bought it for $298,000.

“They said they were taking a loss,” said  Levings, who moved here from Salt Lake City. “I said, 'You want to take this loss now or a bigger loss later?’ ”   

What to expect in 2008

The year 2008 promises much brick-and-mortar as development and redevelopment continue in Citrus Park, Temple Terrace and Tampa Palms.

Friday's North of Tampa section in The St. Petersburg Times delivers a sweeping preview of planned projects throughout northern Hillsborough County.

These include some exciting developments close to home:

Mixed Bag for Buyers

Raymond Castro and his wife, Nancy Ribot, recently bought this two-story, five-bedroom house in K-Bar Ranch. They received appliances and other fixtures as incentives, but price? "They weren't that flexible," Castro said of M/I Homes. "They reduced it a little."

City rebuffs adding homes to K-Bar Ranch

Negotiations could resume when the developer builds a city road that's required in an agreement.

City officials have roundly rejected a proposal that would have allowed an extra 500 homes and a regional park in K-Bar Ranch.

Thomas Snelling, Tampa's deputy director of growth management and development services, said in a recent letter to K-Bar's attorney that city staffers don't favor any more negotiations on the topic until K-Bar builds a required city road from Morris Bridge Road to Kinnan Street.

"We are very far away from reaching a negotiated agreement," Snelling told the Times.

But the developer was upbeat.

"Finally, we've gotten the city to start communicating with us, and we're getting their positions on the different issues," said Marc Mobley, vice president of K-Bar developer Mobley Homes.