By LINDA CHION KENNEY

Donna Holt, her kids and their 4-H Club associates have been doing a lot of research about Hillsborough County land-use and development issues, as they raise their concerns about projects north and south, including off State Road 39 in Lithia.

“We’ve had 4-H members speak before planning committees, the board of county commissioners and legislators in Tallahassee,” Holt said. “It’s not just about earning a participation pin. It’s knowing that they have a voice and that they can have a voice in issues that affect their community, their state, the nation and the world.”

For 10 years Holt has been a 4-H club leader for the On-Target 4-H Club that meets two Sundays a month at the Hillsborough County Fairgrounds in Dover. The club’s focus includes shooting sports, horses, public speaking, and civic and community service engagement.

On-Target 4-H Club member Gabriel Holt, with his sister Eliana, entering the Frederick B. Karl County Center in Hillsborough County

Membership, open to youth ages 5 to 18, includes students from Wimauma to Land O’Lakes, as the club is one of the largest in Hillsborough County. “No other club in Hillsborough County offers shooting sports other than us, and that includes rifles and archery,” Holt said. The horse program, open to youth ages 8 to 18, allows for projects with or without a horse, including quiz bowls, hippology knowledge contests, and shows and competition.

A unique On-Target Club offering is its inclusion of younger siblings in a Clover Bud program, for ages 5 to 8. As Holt put it, “Parents are more apt to allow their older children to participate in programs that offer opportunities for younger siblings to participate as well.”

At last year’s 4-H Day at the Capitol, in Tallahassee, On-Target 4-H Club members, from left, Gabriel and Eliana Holt and Nicole and John Humphries

Building life skills through community engagement is another key 4-H Club focus. It includes participation in fairs and festivals, parades, livestock viewings and public speaking engagements on matters that involve ecological and conservation concerns.

Toward that end, Holt, a Plant City native, said club members have been addressing environmental sustainability and community impact as it pertains to master developments being planned throughout the county.

One close to Holt’s home is a land-use amendment that involves roughly 8,000 acres south of the county line, which stretches from U.S. Highway 301 to State Road 39, across from Hillsborough State Park.

“The property owners have petitioned county commissioners to approve a land-use change that would increase potential density from 704 homes to 3,900 homes, which would impact our vital water supply for the entire county,” Holt said, in reference to the Hillsborough County River, which would run for a few miles through the proposed development. “Moreover, it affects a massive wildlife corridor, which is home to bald eagles, gopher tortoises, deer, bobcat and migratory birds that are protected.”

Another area that Holt is concerned about encompasses roughly 120 acres off State Road 39 in Lithia, where there is a move to increase land-use density, from one house per five acres, to five houses per five acres. “That would mean five times more homes, five times more water usage and five times more traffic generated from that property onto already crowded roads,” Holt said. “For south and north county, these and other recently approved and upcoming land-use amendments aim to destroy what’s left of the rural landscape while overburdening our local schools, roads, water resources and emergency response times.”

Among the On-Target 4-H Club members addressing the issue is Holt’s 15-year-old son, Gabriel, who took time to discuss the issue from his vantage point, and with respect to the comments he made before county and elected officials.

“Increasing land density from one to five houses per five acres would turn more of the property into concrete and impervious surfaces,” Gabriel Holt said, “and there would be less space for water to seep into the aquifer, fewer places for animals to live and more chances of widespread flooding, because there would be fewer places for the water to seep into and fewer areas for it to flow through because of over-development.”

Moreover, he added, if “more houses lead to more cars and more pollution,” likewise “there would be fewer wooded areas overall, and that would reduce air quality because trees filter air.”
Circling back to the 4-H mission, to share a voice in civic affairs while building decision-making and leadership skills, the

On-Target Club has addressed these and other land-use and development issues.

On-Target 4-H Club photos
Gabriel Holt and fellow members of the On-Target 4-H Club are speaking out to lawmakers about the threats to the water supply, air quality and other aspects of the environment that will occur due to overdevelopment in Hillsborough County.

Armed with research and practice in public speaking skills, Holt is an advocate for 4-H members gaining real-life experience in presenting and defending their positions before government and elected officials. Gabriel Holt is especially attuned to this matter, given his age and the generation he represents, and especially so as he argues a position that others might view differently. It’s his duty, he says, to exercise his right to articulate concerns.

“If just the older generations are speaking up, and kids don’t step up to fight for conservation and preservation, the fight will just stop when older people die or can’t fight anymore,” Gabriel Holt said. “There are lots of people trying to build houses and more houses than I thought there were. I have learned that sometimes big money will win, unfortunately, and that what happens today, while I’m a kid, will affect my life when I’m an adult and for future generations to come.”

For more on the On-Target 4-H Club, call Holt at 813-997-6501. For information about clubs overall, visit https://sites.google.com/ufl.edu/Hillsborough-4-H-families/home/ and visit Hillsborough County government at https:hcfl.gov/.