To ensure intense and meaningful public participation in the center's mission and plans, a weeklong BCAC Design Charrette will be held Tues., March 4 through Sat., March 8, with a final presentation Mon., March 10, at the Barn Theatre at Winthrop (11349 Bloomingdale Ave., Riverview, FL 33578).
"Representatives from the community and its growing number of business, education, artistic and charity interests are invited to attend the charrette workshops and presentations scheduled at various times throughout the week," said Community CEO Earl Lennard. "We want you to meet with, among others, the architects, engineers, builders and environmental and regulatory staff representatives involved in the project. Everybody will be invited back to a closing presentation, where a summation of charrette sessions and resulting plans will be presented."
The public space, which has yet to be named, has been three years in the planning and the subject of many public meetings, including those involving the Brandon Main Street initiative. For discussion purposes, the civic space has been called the Brandon Advantage Center, in keeping with the naming of the funding legislation initially secured by Rep. Trey Traviesa and former state Senate President Tom Lee.
"This center has been a long-recognized need in the greater Brandon area," BCAC chairman Dowdy said. "It will benefit Brandon area citizens to have a center of this caliber to use for civic and social purposes. Moreover, the charrette is a very unique opportunity for the public to act simultaneously with the planners to design this building and its purposes. Often the public doesn't even get involved until after it's planned by some agency or some hired planning firm." The greater Brandon area, including Bloomingdale, Dover, Lithia, Mango, Seffner, Riverview and Valrico, is populated by some 283,000 people.
The area is bounded by Interstate 4 to the north, Big Bend Road to the south, Dover Road to the east and U.S. 301 to the west. The community represents more than a quarter of Hillsborough County's overall population.
Despite its size and breakneck growth, Brandon has been lacking a civic space large enough to accommodate its main events, including those hosted by the Center Place Fine Arts & Civic Association, the Greater Brandon Community Foundation, the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce and the Roundtable Charities of Greater Brandon Inc., more commonly known as the Presidents' Roundtable.
"We're very excited to have this project finally take hold and get underway," said Tammy Bracewell, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Greater Brandon Chamber of Commerce. "We've been made aware through the years of a need for such a facility to hold meetings and events for the entire community and we're just thrilled it's finally coming to fruition. We're appreciative of the efforts of former Senate President Tom Lee and Representative Trey Traviesa for their hard work and diligence in securing funding for this project" ....Next Page
