Latest Accident Has Bloomingdale East Residents Demanding Action

VALRICO, FL – An accident on July 1 that landed a pickup truck in a Bloomingdale Ridge family’s swimming pool has revived a long-running debate about the need for traffic-calming devices along Culbreath Road and Natures Way, the two main roads in Bloomingdale East.

Around 2:30 a.m. Sunday, July 1, a pickup truck driven by Andre Gilbert Mitchell was heading west on Erindale Drive, which dead-ends at Natures Way, when he reportedly failed to stop at the three-way intersection and, instead, continued through the neighborhood wall that backs up to homes on Culbreath. He was charged with driving under the influence.

Ironically, just two days before the accident, the Bloomingdale Special Taxing District had replaced the decorative $2,450 “Bloomingdale East” sign on the wall at the intersection of Erindale Drive and Natures Way after it was vandalized.

Residents who live in Bloomingdale East said this most recent accident underlines a speeding problem they’ve been battling for more than 20 years.

Alafia Elementary School, Cimino Elementary School, the Bloomingdale Little League Fields and the Campo Family YMCA are all located within a mile on Culbreath Road.

With elementary-age children walking to and from school, Little League ball players crossing Culbreath from one field to another and a steady stream of joggers, mothers pushing strollers and bicyclists along Natures Way and Culbreath, residents say the obeying the posted 30 mph speed limit on both roads is a matter of public safety. However, they say the speed limit is rarely heeded.

It’s a constant source of frustration for 21-year resident and Bloomingdale Homeowners Association President George T. May IV.

An avid bicyclist, May said he feels as if he’s taking his life in his hands each time he rides down Culbreath.

“The cars pass me at 50 mph,” he said. “I think some of them purposely see how close they can get to me. Others scream at me to get off the road and ride on the sidewalk, which is illegal.”

On more than one occasion, the excessive speeding along the road has proven deadly.

In 1988, Culbreath Road made national news when then-25-year-old Bruce Kimball, a 1984 silver medal-winning Olympic diver training at the Brandon Sports and Aquatic Center (the former Brandon Swim & Tennis Club), was arrested.

At that time, Culbreath Road ran from Bloomingdale Avenue south to a wooded area where the road ended. The wooded area was a popular teen hangout nicknamed The Spot.

Kimball was reportedly driving his Mazda RX-7 down Culbreath Road at an estimated 70 to 80 mph when he crashed into a crowd of 30 teens gathered at The Spot. Two teens, Robert Bedell, 19, and Kevin Gossic, 16, were killed. Raymond Kerker, 16, and April Bruffy, 18, were severely injured.

The horseshoe shaped 3-mile Natures Way has proven equally treacherous for teens.

In 2010, 19-year-old Nicole Petracci was killed when a pickup truck she was riding in slammed into a tree on Natures Way north of Havenstone Way. The sheriff’s office said speeding was the cause of the crash.

In 2013, Zach McCarthy, 16, died from injuries he received after he lost control of his car and hit a tree near Natures Way and Golf Meadow Boulevard. The accident was just a block from where Petracci died.

Since 2010, there have been more than 90 crashes on Natures Way. May said he’s lost track of the number of concrete walls the special taxing district has had to replace.

“I know we’ve had to fix six (smashed walls) this year,” he said.

The sheriff’s office has responded by periodically posting deputies to catch speeds and placing flashing portable signs alerting drivers if they go beyond the speed limit, but May said these measures have had limited results.

Sean Arnts, who lives near the July 1 accident scene, said it’s beyond time for the county to take action.

“I hope we can get the right people to listen and get this problem fixed," he said. "This has got to stop."

The exasperation of residents is evident in a July 10 post by Rebecca Artienda on the Bloomingdale Neighborhood Community Page.

“I’m sick of it. I’m sick of the speeding,” she wrote. “What do we have to do to get cops on Culbreath, Natures Way and all throughout our neighborhoods? Someone just drove down Needham in a red Jeep going well over 50. I want you to think about my children and all the other children in this neighborhood next time you decide to speed through a neighborhood.”

May said he can relate. He said the homeowners association has been working on the problem for years with little results.

A proposal to put in speed humps similar to those installed years ago along Bloomingdalefield Drive in Bloomingdale West has been looked at repeatedly, said May.

“But the county does not pay for them anymore,” he said. “We’d have to do it ourselves and they’d cost a fortune, over $100,000.”

Additionally, said May, speed humps present a liability issue.

“First responders have to slow down to go over them,” he said. “If they delayed someone getting the emergency medical care they need, the homeowners’ association could get sued.”

The association has investigated other traffic-calming measures as well.

“Two years ago, a study was done to see if we could put roundabouts at Glenhaven Drive and Greenhollow Lane to slow down traffic,” May said. “But the county study showed they weren’t justified.”

The county also looked at installing a roundabout at Culbreath Road and Erindale Drive where the July 1 accident occurred but May said there wasn’t enough right of way available to build the roundabout.

“Now the county is looking at making the intersection a three-way stop,” he said.

After recently speaking one on one with Hillsborough County Administrator Mike Merrill about the dilemma, May and the association board are now investigating one more possibility.

They are talking with the county about the possibility of reducing the four-lane sections of Natures Way to two lanes by adding medians and bike lanes.

“That’s in the process,” he said. “We hope to have an announcement regarding Natures Way by Oct. 1.”

Images via Bloomingdale Homeowners Association

Photo of Zach McCarthy memorial via D'Ann White

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