Dozens of Lithia residents packed a Hillsborough County hearing yesterday, squaring off over a plan to turn a roughly 10-acre parcel on Boyette Road into a private youth sports campus known as The Yard. Supporters say the project would give local kids structured training and a safe place to practice. Opponents say it is the wrong fit next to farms and stables. The debate laid bare a familiar Hillsborough County tension: preserving rural character while new recreational projects line up at the edge of open land.
What developers want to build
The Yard proposal, led by Almosta Farm Athletics, calls for outdoor practice fields and three indoor training facilities, including a main building of about 22,000 square feet, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay. The owner is seeking to rezone the land from agricultural-rural to commercial so the site can run as a private, scheduled training campus instead of an open park. Project attorneys told county officials the complex would host private, supervised sessions and would not operate as a drop-in public facility.
Where the proposal is filed
The rezoning petition, listed as RZ-PD 26-0213, was filed in November by Almosta Farm Athletics LLC and identifies the site as 18834 Boyette Road. The land is currently zoned AR, or agricultural-rural, according to a public notice on Florida Public Notices. The notice explains how residents can review the application materials and formally become a party of record in the case.
Neighbors and safety concerns
Residents told reporters the recent activity on the property has already changed the feel of the road. They described horses being spooked during lessons and said it has become tougher to safely pull out of private driveways. Neighbors quoted by Tampa Bay 28 pointed to late-night lighting, traffic backups on narrow county roads, and concerns about flooding around low-lying fields. Opponents argue that the scale and intensity of the use simply do not match nearby farms, equestrian operations, or the existing rural infrastructure.
Code enforcement, timeline and next steps
County records and speakers at the hearing indicated that Hillsborough County code enforcement issued at least one violation last August, and that the county fire marshal opened a case after promotional materials advertised ongoing activities, FOX 13 Tampa Bay reported. Both the county Planning Commission and Development Services staff have recommended against approval. Under county rules, the Zoning Hearing Master must file a recommendation within fifteen working days, as outlined in the hearing agenda on Hillsborough County records. Once that recommendation is issued, the Board of County Commissioners is scheduled to take up the rezoning request on May 12, 2026.
