TAMPA — As the grandmother of an 8-year-old autistic boy, Kay Burgess knows firsthand how hard it is to raise special-needs children.
So her heart goes out to the parents who fear that their disabled children will no longer be able to ride horses at an equestrian center that may be moved 31 miles away as part of a deal pitched to the county by wealthy beer distributor Tom Pepin.
Burgess and her husband own the Seffner site where the center would move. She said she would never have agreed to the $430,000 sale if she knew it meant uprooting disabled children from the Bakas Equestrian Center, which has been operating in northwest Hillsborough County for close to 30 years.
She and her husband were told their 18-acre plot off N Kingsway Road would be used for a new equestrian center for disabled children, she said.
"The extra financial hardship and additional responsibilities of raising a disabled child is challenging enough without adding an hour or two drive to that," said Burgess, whose sympathies now lie with the parents at Bakas.
Pepin stated in a proposal sent to the county in November that he wanted the 22-acre Bakas site, in part to provide activities for disabled students at Pepin Academies.
But the 22-acre center is right next to a 67-acre parcel where Pepin lives in a $1.5 million home. Pepin told the Tampa Bay Times this week that he now wants the land for his personal use.
Despite the switch, several county commissioners said the land-swap deal still merits consideration. In addition to paying $430,000 for the Seffner parcel, Pepin pledged to spend up to $450,000 for the construction of new stables and other facilities there. More disabled children and adults could use the center if it was centrally located, he said.
"His use of the land isn't as important as what is he willing to provide in return and how many more people will benefit from it," Commissioner Victor Crist said.
Commissioner Al Higginbotham said the proposal should be evaluated like any the county receives.
"Mr. Pepin happens to be financially successful. It doesn't mean he will prevail," he said. "I want to see if truly more people benefit from it in a central location."
But Commissioner Les Miller said his support of the deal is dependent on the Bakas land remaining available for disabled children.
"That's a horse of a different color," he said of Pepin's decision to use the land for personal use. "That makes it much more difficult for me to move that center."
Since 2007, Pepin and his company, Pepin Distributing, have made political donations totaling almost $70,000, including contributions to five of the seven current county commissioners.
Among those are $2,000 in donations to Commissioner Sandy Murman in October during her most recent election race.
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Explore all your optionsMurman said that doesn't guarantee Pepin preferential treatment. She described Pepin as a humble, quiet man who helps many disabled children though his work and contributions to Pepin Academies — charter schools for students with learning disabilities.
She wants the county staff to come up with a solution that works for both sides.
"These people live in a far corner of our county. It is logistically impossible to ask them to go to Seffner," she said.
Pepin said Monday that the center, which costs the county $580,000 to run, is barely used, with only 20 to 40 regular riders.
But county records show that an average of 45 riders used the center each week throughout the 2016 fiscal year. That included a high of 83 riders during one week in July. Their parents pay $20 for an hourlong lesson and also run a small nonprofit group to raise funds for horse feed and other costs.
An analysis of the riders' home zip codes (below) shows that most come from the area around Carrollwood, Citrus Park and Westchase. But Bakas does attract families from Pasco, Pinellas and Hernando counties.
Burgess said special-needs children thrive when they have a passion or pastime like horse riding. For her grandson, it was swimming.
If Pepin believes the county needs a centrally located equestrian therapy center, she said, then he should build a second one.
"If you're really a philanthropist, that's what you would do," she said.
Times senior news researcher John Martin contributed to this report. Contact Christopher O'Donnell at codonnell@tampabay.com or (813) 226-3446. Follow @codonnell_Times.