FishHawk

FishHawk Ranch is a master planned community in Lithia, and for a lot of families it is the reason they moved to this side of the county. It was built in phases starting in the 1990s and it is still the template everyone else out here gets compared to.

Park Square

Park Square is the closest thing FishHawk has to a downtown. It carries the community events, the seasonal markets, and a cluster of restaurants and small businesses. If someone says they will meet you “at the square,” this is what they mean.

The schools

The schools are the draw and everybody knows it. Newsome High is the anchor, and Randall Middle and the elementary schools feed it. High school sports here get real crowds, which is a large part of why we cover them the way we do.

What FishHawk actually is

The Census Bureau counts Fish Hawk as a census-designated place and put it at 24,625 people in 2020, up from 14,087 in 2010. That is a statistical line on a map, not a government. There is no city hall, no mayor, no municipal police. Everything public here comes from Hillsborough County, which is worth knowing the first time you go looking for who to call about a road.

The preserve

FishHawk Creek Nature Preserve is large enough that the county splits it into two halves on either side of FishHawk Boulevard, and it protects a significant tributary of the Alafia River.

The north entrance is at 3931 Lithia Springs Road, reached through Lithia Springs Conservation Park, with two pavilions, picnic tables and more than three miles of hiking trail. Because you enter through the spring park, there is a $2 per vehicle charge on that side.

The south trailhead is at 16640 Boyette Road, which carries a Riverview address even though it is the same preserve. Parking there is free, and it opens onto more than six miles of trail across the whole property, with a basketball court and pavilions at the head. Part of the south section is currently closed for restoration, so check before you plan a long loop. All the shelters across the preserve are being demolished and replaced with upgraded ones starting May 8, 2026.

FishHawk Sports Complex at 16000 FishHawk Boulevard is county-owned but managed by the FishHawk Youth Sports Association for its teams and leagues. Baseball, football and soccer fields, a hiking trail, shelters, restrooms and a concession stand. One useful rule: the county requires a field be left unlocked when leagues are not using it and it has not been reserved.

There is no library in FishHawk or in Lithia. The nearest branch is Bloomingdale Regional at 1906 Bloomingdale Avenue in Valrico, with Riverview Public the other option.

The schools

The schools are the draw and everybody knows it. What is less obvious is how tightly they are packed. Newsome High School is at 16550 FishHawk Boulevard and Randall Middle School is at 16510, essentially next door. Barrington Middle School is on Village Center Drive. The elementaries are FishHawk Creek Elementary, the Falcons, on Dorman Road; Bevis Elementary on Osprey Ridge Drive; and Stowers Elementary on Barrington Stowers Drive, which shares its road with the middle school it feeds.

A high school and a middle school on the same boulevard inside the community is most of the answer to why families move out here.

Getting around, and the study that matters

FishHawk Boulevard is the spine. Everything else is an exit, and there are only three of them: Lithia Pinecrest Road north toward Brandon, Boyette Road west toward Riverview and US 301, and County Road 39 south and east.

That is the whole problem in one sentence. A community of roughly 25,000 people with three ways out, and the north one carries most of the commute.

The county agrees. Hillsborough has a Project Development and Environment study running on Lithia Pinecrest Road from FishHawk Boulevard all the way north to Lumsden Road, plus Bloomingdale Avenue from Culbreath to Pearson. The programmed total is $262 million, split roughly $6 million planning, $113 million design and land, and $143 million construction. Planning is targeted to finish in early 2027 and no design or construction dates are assigned yet.

Closer in, the county has an intersection project for County Road 39 at Lithia Pinecrest: dual left turn lanes on both Lithia Pinecrest approaches, single lefts off CR 39, right turn lanes all round, upgraded signals, sidewalks and shared-use paths. It is $10.9 million, and the schedule is long. Design completes mid-2030, construction starts early 2031, and it finishes early 2033. Worth being realistic about.

One thing already done: the county signalized Lithia Pinecrest at FishHawk Trail Drive and Hawkpark Boulevard, with turn lane work, finished in 2023 at $1.2 million.

What we cover here

Newsome sports and Athlete of the Week, Park Square events, the trail system, community association news, road work on Lithia Pinecrest, and the local businesses that serve the Ranch.