GreyHawk Landing Residents Develop Sense of Community (Tampa, Sarasota: house, university)

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There is more happening in Bradenton then drugs and fear of crime. Some of us our living realy idealic lives, feeling free to walk and take moonlit bike rides after dark here in GreyHawk Landing out east. I am one of the ones that has something nice to say about Bradenton. had a great time boogie boarding at Holmes Beach last Sunday too.

Bradenton.com | 07/20/2008 | Greyhawk Landing residents develop sense of community (broken link)

Greyhawk Landing residents develop sense of community

Greyhawk Landing is a place to live and play
By RICHARD DYMOND
rdymond@bradenton.com


GREYHAWK LANDING --On a recent Sunday, a group of softball players wearing all styles of T-shirts were laughing and teasing as much as they were pitching and hitting.

The roughly 20 men and women who make up the roster of the nine-month-old Greyhawk Landing Softball League meet every other Sunday - mixing players on each team to play a spirited pickup game on a softball field in the center of the community.

Families bring coolers and come by to cheer. And, although the teams are out to win, they coach each other.

After eight years of existence, Greyhawk Landing, about five miles east of Interstate 75 on State Road 64, is gaining a firm sense of itself as a community, some residents say.

There were always parties at individual homes. But community events, softball games and new clubs are starting to pop up.

Seeing the fun the softball players were having, Mike Plaia, a member of the Greyhawk Landing board of directors, submitted an idea to Greyhawk developer Sam Rogers to lay a cement slab and build a barbecue grilling area near the huge stand of mature oaks that stretches around the outfield and is near the fishing lake.

Plaia also has proposed picnic tables under the stand itself, where temperatures are 10 degrees cooler due to the shade.

"Sam has taken my suggestions under advisement," Plaia said.

But for right now, this is a good start, said Greyhawk Landing resident Ernie Sbaschnik, who founded the league late last year and is affectionately referred to by the players as "Commish."

Last winter, Sbaschnik moved from New York and couldn't believe no one was playing softball in sunny Greyhawk Landing.

He placed postings on the Greyhawk Landing Web site and created an e-mail list of those who responded. He doggedly posted sign-up lists on the front gate.

Slowly, Sbaschnik created a league.

"When I first came here in November no one was using it and I thought that was terrible because in New York you couldn't use a field if you wanted to then," Sbaschnik said. "The most fun for me is to see a place for the community being used."

Former University of Tampa third baseman Angel Cruz, now a Greyhawk resident, is one of Sbaschnik's most loyal players.

"The laughing and joking is the best part," the 28-year-old Cruz said. "We help each other out. You might hear, 'Don't lift that elbow' or 'Lean back and wait on the pitch.' "

A week ago, regular players Tony and Lisa Jackson invited the whole league over to their house for beverages, chips and a dip in the pool, said Cruz, who lives in Greyhawk with his fiance, Angela Marvin.

"We all had a blast," Cruz said. "That's the kind of atmosphere that has now been created here."

Plaia's 16-year-old daughter, Katie, has started a club for teenagers called "Teen Scene."

Residents are now wading into some of the communities' 51 lakes and ponds to insert baby aquatic plants to guard against erosion.

In the near future, the fishing lake, which also has a fishing pier, will be fully stocked with adult largemouth bass, bluegills, brown bullheads, tilapia and channel cat fish.At that point, a kids' fishing contest and adult fishing tournament can be held.

"We haven't really had events yet," Plaia said. "But the fish are growing."

Greyhawk Landing, whose neighbors include Lakewood Ranch, Mill Creek and Heritage Harbour, has unique features and an interesting demographic.

"I think what makes us unusual is that there is a real mix of ages," said the Brooklyn-born-and-raised Plaia, who, at 57, comfortably hangs out with people his own age as well as a Greyhawk crowd 20 years younger.

"We have those who go to work and those who don't. We've got Midwesterners, New Englanders and New Yorkers. It makes for an interesting place."

Danica Sherrill, who moved down from St. Mary's, Ga., has only been at Greyhawk for seven months but she's picked up on the uniqueness.

For her, however, it's the unusual swimming pool that makes it special living there.

"We live at the pool," Sherrill said.

Technically, the pool near the clubhouse is called a "lagoon," but most people think of it as a water park.

It's got a "play and spray" area with a few inches of water where toddlers can frolic close by their parents. There are slides for older kids and a deeper area for adults.

According to some, the Greyhawk pool's signature piece is the bucket of water that fills up and empties down on swimmers.

The community also has tennis and basketball courts, both lit for night play. There are two soccer fields as well as the softball field.

One man's vision

In the late 1990s, Rogers saw a tract of land in East Manatee that was formerly Milky Way Dairy Farm and, with its many ponds, flowing land and trees, he saw something very un-dairyesque.

"I projected I could build a family development around a beautiful and natural habitat," Rogers said. "We left 53 percent of the community to nature."

Rogers broke ground in 2000 and the first homeowner moved in in 2002.

There are 700 homes in Greyhawk Landing with 789 expected at completion, Rogers said.

Wildlife spotted in the community include alligators, armadillos, bald eagles, bobcat, deer, fox, osprey, river otters and, according to Plaia, at least one Florida panther.

A two-mile nature trail also winds through the community.

No shortage of characters

If variety is the spice of life, Greyhawk's Stew Whitney has exceeded his recommended daily spice allowance many times over.

The 35-year-old Whitney has been a tractor driver for his father in Ellsworth, Maine, a dishwasher at the Longboat Key Club in Sarasota, an event coordinator at The Big Mountain resort in Whitefish, Mont., and a student at Florida State University.

Now, he is a contract worker at Tropicana, helping employees learn a new software system that's bringing all of Tropicana's computer systems under one umbrella.

He also is working toward his master's degree in soil and water science at the University of Florida's Gulf Coast Research and Education Center.

In his spare time, Whitney works with Plaia making sure Greyhawk's lakes and ponds are stocked with aquatic plants.

Whitney's wife, Tina, is a quality assurance manager at Tropicana.

"When we were looking around in 2006, we looked in Lakewood Ranch and Heritage Harbour, but Greyhawk had the full package, " Whitney said. "It had amenities for kids, the pool and playground, a nature trail, and, I liked living on these stormwater ponds.

"Mike Plaia and I are turning the ponds into ecosystems, which is an added bonus," Whitney added. "Greyhawk is a really nice place for what we need right now in our lives