Vast fields were covered with rows of the staked, leafy plants. Those that weren't produced green peppers or cucumbers instead, or supported cattle.

But there was something else that made the area different, something so obvious it often was overlooked: the water.

It seems to be practically everywhere in this corner of the county, flowing from two rivers, the Alafia and the Little Manatee, into Tampa Bay, which makes up the region's western border.

Now, as foreign farm competition and the southward push of residential development turn the fields into subdivisions, residents are finding that the water is pulling them together and helping to redefine their future.

This new appreciation for the waterfront might hasten development. But it also might help the area better manage its growth.

The shift in focus from farm to water has been years in the making.

First, as development spread across north Hillsborough, it became harder for builders to find open land. That pushed up property values, which, in turn, made the idea of selling more appealing to longtime farmers.

Ecotourism, A New Industry

Meanwhile, boosters were promoting the use of mangrove-lined Tampa Bay and its winding inlets for canoeing and kayaking. Combined with fishing, hiking on riverfront preserves and vacationing in new bayfront condominiums, this gave rise to a new industry: ecotourism.

It took awhile, but regional organizations began to reflect the change about three years ago, when the Riverview, Sun City Center, Apollo Beach and Ruskin chambers of commerce created a group called the SouthShore Alliance. Then a coalition of civic and business groups began calling itself the SouthShore Roundtable, instead of the South County Roundtable.

It was a natural process, says lawyer and longtime resident Mike Peterson.

``There are many of us who traverse these communities every day, and the commonality we've noticed is that nearly all of us have some relationship to the Bay,'' he says.

That relationship has roots in three communities - Ruskin, Riverview and Apollo Beach. Each began on the water.

Ruskin's early settlers, followers of the ideas of socialist philosopher John Ruskin, settled on land along an arm of the Little Manatee. Their descendants eventually turned the shoreline of what's now called Marsh Creek into public property.

Decades later, in the 1950s, developers cut a winding path through the mangroves and created miles of shoreline for waterfront homes.

Riverview grew up on the Alafia River, which the Seminole Indians called ``river of fire'' because of the sparkling effect of phosphorous in the water. The first nonnative families built their homes near the river in the mid-1800s. Calling their community Peru, they used the river to ship citrus and mine phosphate.

Apollo Beach was a modern creation, started in the 1950s when Ruskin native Paul Dickman persuaded developers to cut a series of canals through dense marsh along Tampa Bay north of Ruskin.

Even with all this added access to the Bay, development lagged what was happening elsewhere in the county.

Wade Clark moved to a two- story home on the Ruskin Inlet in 1993 and was surprised to find that the demand for other waterfront homes was only lukewarm. Not that he wanted a rush to Ruskin, but it ``had the nicest waterfront property on Tampa Bay,'' he says, and it seemed to be a secret.

No more.

Winding streets lined with houses now spread across once-open fields east and west of Interstate 75.

Trendy bungalows built in the new urbanist style, with front porches and sidewalks, give Apollo Beach a new cachet.

Waterfront homes in Ruskin that once sold for $150,000 now go for two and three times that.

Both longtime residents and recent transplants such as Clark worry about their communities losing what makes them comfortable and unique. They've found in the water a way to focus their concerns.

Control Over Growth

Hillsborough County planners are working with communities countywide to give residents some control over enveloping growth, and Ruskin and Riverview are among those that have nearly completed the process of outlining how they would like their communities to grow. These plans will become part of the county's master growth plan.

It has been a long, sometimes tedious effort, and a lot of people who might not otherwise have participated came to the meetings because they love the Alafia and Little Manatee rivers, says Ron Proulx, a spokesman for South Bay Hospital who has been active in the planning efforts.

``These waterways give people their sense of community,'' he says.

Riverview's participants envision a community park along the Alafia. Ruskin residents hope a finger of the Little Manatee running under U.S. 41 will be the focal point for a revival of Ruskin's fading downtown.

The waterways also show people of the separate areas how they are linked, Peterson says.

Development tends to break areas into disconnected sections, but the two rivers running to a common bay do the opposite.

For example, when people in Apollo Beach talk about the Bay, ``that gets [them] talking about the waterways that feed the Bay,'' which are affected by development miles inland, Peterson says.

South of Ruskin, people worry about growing demand for boaters' access to the Bay, considering what large boat ramps and parking lots do to sensitive mangrove areas. This has led the county to expand facilities in a waterfront park north of Ruskin.

``Our waters show us how we're connected,'' Peterson says. ``It means that we have to take a more holistic approach to the way we plan. We can't look at each community separately. The water ties us all together.''

Reporter Lindsay Peterson can be reached at (813) 259-7834.