WIMAUMA, Fla. — One of the last pockets of rural property in Hillsborough County is going through a transition, and a painfrul one at that for residents.
- Residents say increase in traffic has led residents to feel that they are "under siege."
- U.S. Census: more than 31 percent of Wimauma residents live below the federal poverty level.
- Hillsborough Commissioners recently passed 9-month moratorium on new development projects.
- More Hillsborough County stories
The south county community of Wimauma has historically been a farmworker community, but there's been a dramatic increase in development in recent years.
Last week, Spectrum Bay News 9 traveled to the region as our initial stop of our Decision 2020 I-4 tour to talk to residents about what’s on their mind in this election year:
What we heard was a lot of concern about the lack of a plan to handle the new growth (a sentiment that has been expressed in other parts of the county over the years).
“They didn’t prepare ahead of time with expanding the roads and widening them, so it’s a huge problem now and it’s caused a lot of traffic accidents,” says Joe Zuniga, who last year was named the honorary “mayor” of Wimauma (as well as the nearly cities Ruskin and Sun City Center). He says that infrastructure, transportation and affordable housing are the biggest issues of concern in the community.
Lori Petit manages the Women Building Futures program, which provides free workforce training for mostly Latina women “so that they can get into better paid jobs than picking fruit.”
Petit says that in addition to the increase in traffic, there are environmental concerns because many homes still are on well or septic tanks and don’t have access to county water. And she also worries about a lack of affordable housing.
“The people who work in places like Sun Towers and assisted living facilities – they’re commuting a long distance in getting here, because there’s no affordable housing options. There’s only one tiny home community in Hillsborough County. That’s a very affordable alternative to the mobile home communities that we see, which are often damaged.”
Apollo Beach resident Bryce Bowden says the new development "overprices people working at minimum or lower wages, so it's not a well thought out process that is happening."
Wimauma has a high rate of poverty. According to the U.S. Census 2018 report, 31.5 percent of the population is below the poverty level.
Teresita Matos-Bost works with the Beth-El Farmworker Ministry, which serves 600 bags of groceries to farmworkers each week. She says health care is a huge concern in the area.
“We hear stories every week about people who have gotten hurt going to work and who are sick, but have never seen a doctor and they can’t afford to take time off from work,” she says.
Jackie Brown is a lifelong Wimauma resident who grew up a migrant. When it comes to traffic, she says “most days it’s as if we’re under siege because, in my opinion, It wasn’t really well thought out.”
Brown insists she’s not anti-development. “I do believe there could have been a more constructive way to introduce it to this community," she says.
In order to try to slow down the growth in the community, late last year the Hillsborough County Commission a nine-month moratorium on rezoning applications for parts of southern Hillsborough County - including Wimauma.