Lynn Hurtak 9:06:03AM
Good morning, everyone. Welcome to the CRA meeting for November 13, 2025. First of all, before we get to our invocation this morning, were going to stand for a moment of silence for Ybor City for those who lost their lives, those who were injured and those whose sense of security were also tragically lost. So if we could stand for a quick moment of silence. Then well introduce our invocation. [Moment of silence] thank you. Board member Maniscalco.
Guido Maniscalco 9:06:52AM
Yes. Its my pleasure this morning to welcome Pastor Alan Harris, a native of Missouri, commenced his preaching ministry at the age of 19 and has served in full-time ministry since he was 22 years old. He graduated from John E. Lewis High School in springfield, Virginia. Then obtained his bachelors in biblical studies from Washington Bible College in lanham, Maryland. His hunger and desire to be enriched intellectually and spiritually led him to matriculate at Southern Seminary in louisville, Kentucky, where he obtained his masters of divinity and masters of theology. Pastor Harris also holds an executive master of business administration from Virginia Union University. He has the distinct honor of serving as the lead servant of the Historic Beulah Baptist Institutional Church in Tampa, Florida. Since the beginning of his tenure in 2021, both online and in person attendance has increased significantly. New ministries have been implemented and improvements to the churchs facilities have been made. Pastor Harris has also intentionally emphasized the importance of beulah being actively involved in the community. Hes been married to the lady of his dreams and lifelong best friend Joy Harris for 19 years, and they are proud parents of their beloved son and daughter, Isaiah Alan Harris, who is currently 14 years old, and Aviana who is 19 months old. Pastor Harris' favorite Bible verse can be found in first corinthians 15:10a, but by the grace of God I am what I am, Pastor Harris. [ applause let US pray. Eternal God, our heavenly Father, how thankful and grateful we are for this another day which You have allowed US to see. Truly Father as You have given US an opportunity to experience new grace and fresh mercy, we dont take it for granted, God, that when we lay down last night that You didnt have to allow US to see this new day. Father, we are thankful Lord for another day that You have allowed US not only to see but another day, God, You have allowed US to experience. Father, it reminds US that You still have a plan and a purpose for each and every one of our lives. Father, as we have gathered in this place on this morning, Father, we realize that we can do nothing without You. So, God, as we thank You, Lord, for both leadership and citizens of this great city, Father, as decisions have to be made and various topics discussed as always, God, we pray for your leading, your guidance and we pray for your wisdom that we would hear your voice ever so clearly. This is our Prayer we pray in my lords name and let all those in agreement say, amen. [Pledge of allegiance]
Lynn Hurtak 9:09:58AM
Board Member Clendenin.
Alan Clendenin 9:10:00AM
Yes, good morning, Council. Board chair, Councilwoman Hurtak, I wanted to address what you said about the moment of silence because its so moving. Im very much appreciative of the fact that you recognized that. Also, the insecurity that the Lgbt Community felt. Struck with what the Pastor said this morning about I am what I am. For the folks that gathered in this location, they went there assuming a safe space and far too often in this country and around the world there arent enough safe spaces for people who identify differently than others. Even though it wasnt a targeted attack, it still rattles people to the core, especially after the pulse nightclub incident and other incidents around the world. I really do appreciate on behalf of the Lgbt Community this councils respect for that. I know weve had several members of the community, of this Council speak to that issue. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 9:11:08AM
Were going to do roll call. We have a couple of board members absent today. Maniscalco?
Guido Maniscalco 9:11:18AM
Here.
Lynn Hurtak 9:11:18AM
Here.
Alan Clendenin 9:11:19AM
Here.
Naya Young 9:11:20AM
Here.
Bill Carlson 9:11:21AM
Here. We have a physical quorum.
Lynn Hurtak 9:11:25AM
We have a new attorney with US today. If you would like to quickly introduce yourself. Good morning. My name is Patrick Brackins. It is a pleasure to be with you this morning. I am a partner of Cliff Shepard. I believe cliff is here also virtually. But im here to help in any way I can. Thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 9:12:04AM
Wonderful. Thank you. Happy to have you. Can someone adopt the minutes from the September 11th, 2025, CRA meeting? I have a motion from board member Maniscalco. A second from board member Clendenin. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Now we need to, because we dont have any of the past chairs here, we need to temporarily appoint a co-chair for this meeting.
Alan Clendenin 9:12:35AM
Guido Maniscalco.
Guido Maniscalco 9:12:37AM
I dont want it.
Lynn Hurtak 9:12:49AM
Were all going to leave --
Bill Carlson 9:12:53AM
[Inaudible]
Alan Clendenin 9:12:57AM
Bill, do you want it?
Bill Carlson 9:12:59AM
Fine. Yep.
Alan Clendenin 9:13:03AM
I didnt think You wanted it.
Lynn Hurtak 9:13:05AM
All in favor for bill for co-chair today? Aye. Any opposed? Excellent. Welcome aboard. [ laughter
Bill Carlson 9:13:20AM
You must have a lot of new business coming up.
Lynn Hurtak 9:13:23AM
So we need Director Mccray to come help US with the agenda review. Got a lot going on today.
Cedric McCray 9:13:30AM
Yes. Good morning, Cedric McCray, Tampa CRA director. Pleasure to be here this morning. We would like to make a couple of adjustments to the agenda. Number one, we would like to -- we have a presentation from the Planning Commission. Melissa Zornitta would like to move that up on the front end before the report from the cac member from Tampa heights.
Lynn Hurtak 9:13:55AM
Do you want before or after public comment?
Cedric McCray 9:13:58AM
Before, if possible.
Lynn Hurtak 9:13:59AM
Okay. Well do that next. I have a motion to put the Planning Commission before public comment. Board member Maniscalco, seconded by Board Member Young. All in favor? Aye.
Cedric McCray 9:14:16AM
We would like to move item 16 to staff reports. At the top of staff reports related to the Tampa Fire Museum.
Lynn Hurtak 9:14:27AM
We have a motion from Board Member Maniscalco. Seconded from Board Member Carlson. Where exactly do you want that on the schedule?
Cedric McCray 9:14:36AM
Right at the top under staff reports.
Lynn Hurtak 9:14:39AM
Okay. Number 16 were moving in front of number 1. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay.
Cedric McCray 9:14:51AM
Thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 9:14:52AM
Anything else?
Cedric McCray 9:14:53AM
Thats it.
Lynn Hurtak 9:14:56AM
I have a motion to approve the agenda by board member Maniscalco. A second by board member Clendenin. All in favor? Aye. We will they be begin with the Planning Commission. We have some exciting news. Melissa Zornitta, executive director of the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission. Thank you so much for having me here today. I get to do something fun and exciting today. So we recently held our 43rd planning and design awards at the end of October. The CRA was recognized in a number of different awards. First, I want to mention one that the CRA did not apply for but contributed considerably to, which was the improvements to Tampa union station. Thanks to the Downtown Cra's approval of a $4 million offset, much-needed repairs and remodeling work required to bring the train station to current standards were recognized in the awards with an award of outstanding contribution. So we all know what an important asset that train station is to the community. So thank you for your contribution to that. So the first of the several awards that you all won is an award of excellence to the kid mason community center renovations. This revitalized the historic facility in downtown tampas central avenue district. It was funded by the Downtown Tampa Cra with a $2.6 Million project adding over 400 square feet to the original structure and introducing modern amenities to enhance the functionality and accessibility for the greater community. The center also honors mason kid Fendall, a prominent Black owner and community activist and serves as a stop on the Tampa soul walk which celebrates the citys Black history. The judges were very impressed with the project celebration of place-making, cultural storytelling, and strong participatory planning.
Lynn Hurtak 9:17:11AM
We have the award right here.
Melissa Zornitta 9:17:13AM
This is that award. Im not going to attempt to hold them all because there are too many. The second award is an award of outstanding contribution to the Skills Center, which is a transformative 55,000 square foot facility located in the east Tampa community redevelopment area. It is designed to empower youth through sports-based education. The overall mission of the center is to create a place where essential skills are developed, positive relationships are grown and solutions to systematic challenges facing underserved youth are addressed. Within the first five years of opening, the center aims to create 180 jobs and impact over 3,500 youth, fostering long-term economic growth and community revitalization. Its another great project. Last but not least was the highest award given out that evening. The Jan Abell award of outstanding contribution in the historic category which went to the historic 7th avenue bricking project. This project replaced aging asphalt with historically accurate bricks along 7th avenue between 15th and 17th streets, improving one of tampas iconic corridors, approximately 80,000 bricks were used and they were all historic bricks that were collected, cataloged, and stored by the city for decades. The judges thought this was super cool that you invested in this in this way and took the care to ensure the authenticity of ybors historic streetscape was maintained. So those are the three awards you all won. So congratulations. [ applause
Lynn Hurtak 9:19:18AM
Board Member Clendenin.
Alan Clendenin 9:19:20AM
I dont think I could stay silent and say reference the Union Station. Councilman Carlson's really strong advocacy for that particular issue. Hes been beating that drum for as long as -- before I got on council. I think we would be remiss if we didnt acknowledge his contribution and what he did for being such a strong advocate for one -- across the board Historical Preservation and specifically about Union Station.
Lynn Hurtak 9:19:50AM
Board Member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 9:19:51AM
Yeah, and I think board member Maniscalco was the one that pushed the bricks, although not everybody agrees with it. Its essential to rebuilding the local feel of ybor and we all supported them. One thing about Tampa Union Station, and just an important note, for everybody, we talk about mentoring as being a really important thing. 20, 25 years ago, Linda Saul-sena, former City Council member, was and is a mentor. And she took me to Tampa Union Station for a meeting to try to save trees. It was the first time I had ever been in there. She showed me that. Showed me across the street the jackson house. The reason why I care about a lot of those things is I had mentors that showed them to me. I think its important that we remember our mentors and thank them. Its up to US to pay it forward to try to inspire the next generations to do the same thing.
Lynn Hurtak 9:20:46AM
Congratulations to all the staff who worked so hard to make this happen. Three big awards is really exciting. Its nice to enjoy your accomplishments. Thank you so much, Ms. Zornitta for coming today and sharing the awards.
Lynn Hurtak 9:21:07AM
Thank you. Chambers are a little more packed today. We have some special guests in the audience. We have usf students. If you would like to just stand and quickly be recognized. [ applause we are happy to have you here today to see government in action. Best of luck for all future endeavors. Were happy to have you here. [ applause Mr. Brackins, well ask you to go ahead and read the rules for public comment participation. Members of the public are allowed a reasonable opportunity at the beginning of the CRA meeting to address any item on the agenda before the CRA takes official action on an item. However, a three-minute time limit applies to all speakers providing public comment, unless such time frame is modified by a vote of the Cra Board. Speakers and Members of the public are also reminded that they are to refrain from disruptive behavior, including making vulgar or threatening remarks or making or causing disruptive noises or sounds or displaying signs or graphics. Speakers are also reminded to refrain from launching personal attacks. The chair will rule out of order any person who speaks without being recognized or attempts to address the CRA from outside the speaker area at the podium. Persons failing to comply with the cras rules May also be ruled out of order and at the discretion of the chair May be removed from the Chambers for the remainder of that days CRA meeting. Finally, Cra Board Members are reminded that they should refrain from engaging a speaker under public comment. The City Council rules is revised June 6, 2024, are now in effect for the Cra Board. Unless otherwise exempted or overridden by the Cra Board bylaws. Thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 9:23:09AM
Thank you so much. We do not have the pad any more to sign in. If you wish to speak, please stand up on the left side and lets begin. We are working on a new policy. Mr. Hearns, I see you first. Come on up. Please remember to start with your name. As representatives of the Cra Board, happy to be here. Good morning, Councilwoman Young. Great to see you. We have some wonderful projects that I looked at the agenda, some things youre going to be considering and voting on today. The one that im here to speak to it the perry harvey park band shell or amphitheater, if you will. It was 18 years ago that this project was first discussed by the City Of Tampa. So patience does have its reward because I recently saw some drawings of what the amphitheater might look like, thanks to Parks and Recreation department, Brad Suder, who I worked with 18 years ago. This was one of the projects we talked about at the park. Today, its getting close to becoming a reality. Councilwoman Gwendolyn Henderson also was very supportive of this project. Not just to have a band shell where we can have a stage. While that is very important, it saves people money. They want to have activities in perry harvey park, as you know, the site of historic central avenue, but also give people an opportunity, small business owners, who dont have a storefront, who cant afford a building, cant afford to pay the rent, which seems to go up every other day, but they can come to the park for special activities, bring their wares whatever it is they have to sell, whether it be food or other items, and maybe get a start that will propel them to moving into a building and opening up a storefront and a small business. That was part of her dream. So also, im affiliated with Tampa Bay history center. We manage tampas first Black history museum. 1213 central avenue, perry harvey park is our front lawn. So were going to be very supportive of activities there. That amphitheater opens up. Then the other thing is, when I look at centennial park as a model, how vendors have come there for years. I think one Saturday out of the month. Im not sure of the schedule right now, thats the kind of thing that should be happening at perry harvey park. This is where most of our Black history in Tampa began in that neighborhood. So thank you. Ive got 30 more seconds. Okay. The other thing I want to mention is one of the projects that Councilwoman Henderson launched a year ago or earlier this year, and I believe there are plans to continue and I would like to be a part of that where she recognized Hbcus, Historical Black Colleges And Universities, we want to support that also at perry harvey park if we can. Thank you so much.
Lynn Hurtak 9:26:47AM
Could you state your name for the record, please. Fred Hearns. I live in district 5.
Lynn Hurtak 9:26:54AM
Thank you so much. Pastor williams. Welcome. Street. Im no longer located there now because the people wanted me out of the neighborhood. But I done a good job. The guy that came over there I about the name of William Pachenko, something like that he came, me and him draw up a contract. He gave me a blank contract, but he kept a contract that he had changed everything on there from what he gave me. You know what? Im going to leave that in the hands of the almighty God. Hell take care of it for me. Know that hes God and he will repay. Im depending on God to take care of everything for me because I got a letter here where people were stealing money out of my account. Stole $8,000 out of my account. I dont understand why people would do something like that, but they do it. You know what? We got to understand how in the world, Bank, having a credit card, would let somebody get away with something like that. The repayment of money back, but I need to find out exactly who did this so we can press some charges. Im dealing with people not only concerned about money, aint concerned about people at all. But we have to understand we try to do the best we can and try to defend ourselves. We cant defend ourselves when we go down to certain place, get an application. The first thing they want to know, what is your Bank account number? What is your address? Then I dont know who is going into my account. I want to get in touch with a lady here because she gave me some paper where I -- I want to give her a copy of my paper because only one concerned about it. Nobody else concerned about a Crippled Old Man whatsoever. I thank God hes concerned. Thats what we have to look at. I dont look at you all as being mean people, unjust. I look at you all as being nice people. You know who told me to tell you all that. Gwen. Gwen said tell them they are nice people.
Lynn Hurtak 9:30:27AM
Thank you, Pastor Williams. Im a little slow, but God is still good to me.
Lynn Hurtak 9:30:49AM
Next. Please dont forget to state your name. My name is Ken Stoltenberg. 1208 east Kennedy boulevard, otherwise known as grand central at Kennedy. Im here to speak in favor of item 15. It involves the construction of additional 36-inch stormwater pipe along channelside drive. On September 4, 2024, we had a major flooding event. Had nothing to do with the hurricanes that year. Just very heavy rain and system got overwhelmed. Every building north of Kennedy in the channel district was affected one way or the other and had some form of flooding. The property I was involved with had major flooding damage, about $2 million. Only a million compensated by Insurance. I understand this is going to double the amount of capacity that the stormwater can get into the channel and its very much needed for numerous properties. I would ask you all to support that item 15 today. Thank you very much. Have a nice day.
Lynn Hurtak 9:31:51AM
Thank You. You as well. Next. Mentesnot. Uhuru means freedom in swahili and we as african people should always be thinking about our freedom. For the last 825 years or 52 generations, the african nowhere on this planet earth seen any kind of freedom, independence, self-determination, none of those things weve seen because weve been living under certain kind of occupation that affects US adversely. Within this agenda, we see it. Within The Cra, we see it. $55 Million one place. $5 million another place. $22 Million another place. But thats playing with human existence. What this City Council need to be discussing is free housing. Free housing for poor and working class people. 100% free sustainable housing for poor and working class people. We dont need to be discussing any democratic or any republican ideas. We need to be discussing socialists and communist ideas, ideas that work for the people internationally. Ideas that work for the people internationally. This City Council has never done anything. They talk about The Cra, but as a matter of fact, when The Cra started moving in the interest of what it is supposed to do for african people or even for district five, even for east Tampa, we seeing they did all kinds of things to block the aspirations of The Cia what it is supposed to be doing. The Cra have too much money in certain instances. And that is shift the money other places. Its something that is wrong about that. You can live your entire lifetime -- You can live your entire lifetime and realize at the end of your life You really didnt accomplish anything. At the end of your life You didnt accomplish anything at all. What You see is, in this city, all ive seen all my life, ive seen 70 years of african people begging, begging for jobs, begging for food, begging for food stamps. Begging. Begging for justice. Something is wrong with that picture. This CRA need to be discussing free housing for poor and working class people. Nothing more, nothing less. The other stuff is irrelevant. Thank You very much.
Lynn Hurtak 9:34:50AM
Thank you. Next. Pastor Alfred Johnson with the Faith Action Ministry Alliance. Native here of Tampa, Florida. Johnny Johnson, my brothers are all community servants from retired brigadier general Johnson to retired air force to my younger brother is the former retired deputy chief of the Tampa Police Department, Calvin Johnson. Im the preacher in the family. Worked in Grant park now for over a decade doing a bunch of work there. I lead an organization called the Faith Action Ministry Alliance. We have a private school in the Grant park area. We provide free after-school, free summer program, free out-of-school. We also do a bunch of social work in the area. Literally hundreds of homes. We have database in terms of assessing felt needs and then responding to them. We do a bunch of community work in terms of beautification, cleanups. We literally picked up over the last four years nearly a hundred tons of garbage. That is not to the discredit of the city, by the way. They are doing a wonderful job. Code Enforcement is out there. Dealing with different social things right now. We also do a bunch of different events to boost the morale of the community. Were out there and hitting it. One of our greatest assets are partners. Both the county as well as the city, Police Department, but also there are 70 different organizations that are members of the Alliance. But then we also deal with people like the Clonts. Item number 9, Clonts Properties, what were coming to speak in favor of. These are legacy business owners that are looking to have an impact on the Grant park area, afforded by establishing affordable housing, 12 apartment complexes, two bedroom, one bath. It will have a major impact on the Grant park area. Ive been there for many years. I didnt just start when I led the Alliance. We were in Grant park from the late '80s. And were able to see the various changes that have taken place when I was there earlier, a bunch of crime, high crime. When we moved in, the crime was still high, investors came in, made it nice. The officers did their thing. The city did its thing. The churches did its thing and the Alliance did its thing. This organization, Clonts, they own a storefront right there on mlk and 50th street. They partner with the Alliance to make the community a better place. We meet with the neighbors once a month apart from all the other activities and were able to hear from them as well. Affordable housing is needed. With our school, we actually lost a significant number of students this very year because their parents couldnt afford to live in the Grant park area, if you can believe that. We also deal with a variety of legacy seniors who are having a difficulty, not only affording their home but affording repairs on the home. Really remarkable stuff taking place. The Clonts are partnering with US to make it happen. And again, were calling on our partners here in the City Of Tampa, help US to make a difference for our community members. Lets help the low income that are in our area. It will have a long-lasting impact. God bless you all.
Lynn Hurtak 9:38:00AM
Thank you. Next. Please start with your name. I am Debra Cammiliss, lead Pastor in one of the churches in Grant Park community. Between my dad and I, we have been there over 50 years. Weve seen people come and people go. But we know that the clonts, im here to also speak on their behalf. They have come to stay. And They are a great influence and They have a vision for our community of Grant Park. You know, one of the things that They are all about is helping, just like Pastor Alfred just said, make our community a better place. You know, their storefront has added, They have done redesigning of their storefronts that are right there facing 50th street. They are people that have a heart. They are developers not with a money sign in their eyes, but They are there to make a difference in our community. Affording housing would be a tremendous asset for Grant Park. The median costs, I just looked it up, was about $221,000 for a home and about $1500 for the mortgage of that home. Weve got people even in our church that are struggling and They have the assistance of our county. They have the assistance of our federal government. But They are still struggling because even when They get a price for their mortgage and everything like that, it goes up. It goes up. It goes up. As a matter of fact, I looked up one of the lots in our community thats for sale right now. Its a little over 5,000 square feet. And its going for $213,500. Thats empty. Nothing on it. But here we go with the clonts. They are willing for their property in their lots to house this excellent, affordable housing project. Their goal is to impact now, not just wait for the future, and They are there to bring the development that has so much potential for our community of Grant Park. Thank you for your time.
Lynn Hurtak 9:40:35AM
Thank you. Next. Please state your name. My name is Veronica Nicholas. I serve as the neighborhood liaison for Faith Action Ministry Alliance. Youve already heard from our president and CEO, Pastor Johnson. I also am here in support of Clonts Property and their proposal for subsidies, developer subsidies for their affordable housing inside the Grant Park community. As the neighborhood liaison, ive had the opportunity or I had the opportunity to speak with hundreds of neighbors inside of Grant Park and the message and their sentiments are all the same. They want to bring affordable housing to Grant Park. And we believe that Clonts Property will do just that. We are so excited about what they are proposing to do. In fact, weve worked with Clonts Property to have events inside the Grant Park community. Recently, we had a community barbeque just this past Saturday which they allowed US to use space for it. Again, all of the people that ive spoken to, the elderly at our community meetings, at our school, Grant Park christian academy, they are all saying the same thing. Were in a very challenged time and housing instability is real, and the people are suffering. But we are excited about the promise of what they bring to our community, desperately needing inside the Grant Park community. Thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 9:42:11AM
Thank you. Next. Please state your name. Trevor Roasting. Good morning, neighbors, staff. I hope you all are enjoying this beautiful weather. Among many of the agenda items that are incredibly worthy, I am here today specifically to speak on item 19 because pedestrian and traffic safety in ybor is directly tied to the work of The Cra. I believe they have to be partners in this ongoing conversation. I appreciate the chair for acknowledging the tremendous loss our community has just experienced. We all know that one death is too many, and we have to work diligently to prevent additional deaths in this manor and manors like this. The event that we experienced in ybor is not isolated. It is part of a broader traffic safety crisis across our city. We know which roads are most deadly because Tampa streets fall under a mix of City Council and state control. It then becomes difficult to implement consistent safety solutions. Tampa remains as one of top ten most dangerous cities in the country for pedestrians. We can, The Cra can partner with US to do better. Other cities have shown what is possible. Hoboken, New Jersey, helsinki, consecutive years without a single traffic death. Neighborhoods did not suffer. They simply prioritized safety, lowered speeds and used smart traffic-calming tools that protected life. For Ybor City, I am asking the council and The Cra to begin by hosting a well-publicized and accessible input session focused on pedestrian safety and possibly timed or pilot closures of 7th avenue. Residents, Workers, business owners and patrons all deserve to be a part of the conversation. Their lived experience should 100% guide the solutions. Im not asking you to close 7th avenue today. Im asking to you start a community driven process. After gathering input, I urge you to consider a timed or pilot closure during high risk hours so we can evaluate real world impacts before long-term decisions. We have studied this before but times have absolutely changed. Ybor City is one of tampas most historic and important neighborhoods. It deserves a well thought out plan rooted in safety, economic vitality and community trust and empowering the Cac and the community to help lead this work is absolutely the right first step. Thank you for your time this morning.
Lynn Hurtak 9:44:32AM
Thank you. Good morning. Make sure cctv puts up our wolf vision this morning. My name is ashley. I will be sharing tampas Black history. I showed this last week. When I brought it to Historians, talking about Angola. What was happening on the banks of Hillsborough River? If you didnt know, Tampa is very expansive, right. Angola was down here at the mouth of Tampa Bay. So all of this is Tampa Bay. But not much activity I guess with the city. We do things with places down there like sarasota, that I know of, anyway. Ill share something at the end of this. Here is a story. King Ferdinand sold 11 million acres of land to Duke and then sold to Robert Hackney a third of that. Survey that area to go look at it. Hackly wanted to put some -- He had some property He wanted to put a house on the property. It ended up being where fort brooke is, well convention center is right now. Hacklys Surveyor, Seymour, st. Augustine, and heads towards Tampa Bay. Gets to a place called abram town. Wont try to pronounce the name. Its where the star is right here. It is a Black seminole community. They are owned by Micanopy. They tell Him politely to turn around. You cant go any further for political reasons. He goes back to st. Augustine and sails around the coast of Florida and makes it back to the bay of Tampa. Here is the book. Qr code if you want to read it for yourself. Page 100 through 103. Here is the story I just explained. Him telling Him they politely refuse to let me go any further for political reasons which it is not necessary to state. He turns around and goes back to st. Augustine and sails around. Then as you can see, He says, this time -- this last information I received from an Indian Negro who lived five years in that country. This is 1822. He must have came there around 1818. Little bit more information down there, but I wont go over that. I bring that up to say here is the map. This is the area that Hackly owned. This is the area that the Surveyor went into. And He found that Indian Negro here on the banks of Hillsborough County, Hillsborough River. Sorry. I wanted to share about an event that takes place every year. The back to Angola festival. Its going to be here March 7 through 8, 2026 over in sarasota. You can check it out. Its free. Im a photographer. If you need any pictures, please hit me up. Holiday sessions going on right now. Thank you. Have a blessed day.
Lynn Hurtak 9:47:50AM
Thank you so much. I want to welcome --
Lynn Hurtak 9:48:00AM
Well let everybody settle down. Great. Thank you so much. Welcome, City Council lady ms. Young. Im Chloe Coney, a woman that wear many hats. I think most of you know I was the founder of Cdc and the first CEO. Im here to speak on behalf of the East Tampa Heritage Heights. In 1992, we took on lake avenue and 29th street. Nicknamed dust bowl because nothing was there. We found nothing but drugs on the street, crime, trash everywhere. And we marched and we cleaned for three years. After we got through marching and cleaning, we went back and rebuilt. Let me start over again and say, being raised here in Tampa, I remember 29th street being our historic Black community. I remember parades where you had famu and bethune and high school and floats. I remember some of the stores there and the Lily White Hospital and the restaurants there. So it was like our central avenue for east Tampa. But, again, it fell into disinvestment. The Cdc went ahead and revitalized a laundromat there. We tore down the old bar that was closed 20 years. So many people killed there. We rebuild the youth center. We sent hundreds of kids off to college and helped them graduate from high school. We built with front porch money the open air. So we had an investment into lake and 29th street. I like to say many of you know that im talking 33 years ago. Im 75 now. Its time for new investment. Im proud of my son Earnest Coney Junior and his staff. They are taking up the mantle. They bought the Lily White Hospital. They bought the old dilapidated leons package store that had prostitution and drugs and everything else there for 40 years. They bought the store there. They bought the property. Cdc has an investment again into lake and 29th street. I have a desire that lake and 29th street look like west Tampa. You put in new homes, new commercial there, but nothing is happening on 22nd and 29th street. I want to thank you if you vote for that $5 million CRA dollars. I get emotional because getting older you want to see it. I had a dream. I had a vision. 33 years ive been waiting for it to become a reality. Im begging you, please, lets make that place a place that we would love. We would want to live there. We want to work there, and we want to own a business. Cdc has made a commitment. They have gotten the job done. They will put new homes there. They will put new apartments and put new commercial there. God bless you and lets get the job done now. Amen. [ applause
Lynn Hurtak 9:51:27AM
Thank you. Next. My name is Shirley Gaddis Brookins. Here on behalf of Sherman Jones, the gaddis family and the safety of City Of Tampa residents. And people who want to go enjoy themselves down in Ybor City. My cousin was one of the ones killed on Saturday morning. Im asking that you all implement a plan for US to meet at least monthly on the safety of different areas around the city to go and enjoy yourself. There was a very large space where Sherman was killed that was kind of open. I would like if we can get better communication between the helicopter and the law enforcement officials on the ground because I appreciate TPD radioing and telling fhp to back off. If TPD could have radioed officers that were already down in Ybor City to say, hey, weve got a guy, looks like hes coming your way, put some barracks up. Can you pull your cruiser from off of this street and put it on this street. If you all could please, you know, -- im sorry. Put cruisers and block off. There was a time that no one was able to park on 7th avenue, period. If you all could just put up barricades and cruisers so that there is no way that people can just fly through the way that they do and hurt other people and their family members. Its not fair. I wanted to show you this picture. God is so good. There was a random guy taking pictures of people around Ybor City. Thats Sherman 11 minutes before he lost his life. It was on Social Media. My daughter found it. Sherman is standing next to a guy. We cant see him. Hes there communicating. That guy also lost his life. A little bit over where the motorcycles are and the car, I believe there is a car in front of the red light, but theres like a smooth part of the pavement, not the curb to where anybody can kind of like drive up in there. Had a cruiser and some barricades been at 15th and 7th avenue, I might not be here this morning having to ask you for better safety in the Ybor City community.
Lynn Hurtak 9:55:14AM
Thank you so much. We appreciate you. My name is Jeremiah Johnson. Im the son of Alfred Johnson. Previous speaker. Im from Tampa, born and raised just like my fathers. I work for a family engaging the Grant Park Community. I serve the children in the community. I do summer camps, after-school programs. I also serve the homeless -- homeless outreaches. Im here in support of item number 9, Cynthia Clonts and her family. They have participated in many and partnered with many of the events that engage the community. I resonated with the clonts, his son, there is a son named parker of the clonts family. He talked about his story and about how his father was an advocate for the community, Grant Park Community and served the community during his lifetime. His late father. I resonated with a lot of that because my dad was also a servant to the community. I think they have good means on what their cause. Yeah, im in support of them. Affordable housing also is an item that many of the parents and members of the community are always speaking that they need. So its important. Thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 9:56:50AM
Thank you. Next. Please start with your name. My name is Anthony Nu Ez. I am also with Faith Action Ministry Alliance. Director of development and also the sports program coordinator for the community. Im here today in favor of line item number 9, as most of US are. I want to start by saying I am not a Grant Park resident. Im not even a resident of Hillsborough County. I traveled one hour, over an hour every single day from zephyrhills, not because I want to, but because I believe in a community that I have fallen in love with. Why do I tell you that? Because when I look at the clonts family, I see that same love times 10, maybe times 20. They are legacy business owners. They have been in that area now for over two decades. Easily could have moved their business, their property, sold it, moved away, forgot about Grant Park, found somewhere more profitable, somewhere even more safe. But here they are 25 plus years later. What are they trying to do? Not trying to line their pockets. They are trying to do something better for the community. I work in the community daily. Like I said, I travel far every single day. I believe in that community, just like the clonts do. Now, why am I in favor of it? I talk to parents. I talk to community members. This is something that they desperately need. We can go through the numbers. Most of US have already. But I truly believe that these are good people looking to do a good thing. Do I believe that they are looking out for the people of Grant Park who for many years have been left behind. I dont want to take much more of your time. I yield the rest of my time and I want to say im in favor of the Affordable Housing Act they are looking to put together.
Lynn Hurtak 9:58:38AM
Thank you so much. If everyone could take a moment and silence their cell phones, we would greatly appreciate it. Thank you so much. Welcome. People in the chamber. My name is Daryl Hych. I had a whole speech prepared to state. Ms. Coney brought back to memory a song that was in the community that says emotions make you cry sometimes. With that being said, the other day I had the privilege of being in a meeting, and we were discussing various things taking place within the City Of Tampa and how these various things are affecting the Black Community. When I left out of the meeting, a couple of days later, I was a little troubled. I was troubled because I came and realized and said to a few colleagues, I said when in history or in modern society has the persons who have been wronged had to figure out how to solve the problem themselves from being wronged. For example, if I break into your house and I steal from you and your house and I pilfered from you and I, cause pain upon you in your house. Its not normal for you to go to jail and pay for that penalty or its not right for you to try to figure out how you can right that wrong. Thats what we found ourselves doing the other day. We found ourselves in a room trying to figure out how can we present to City Council or present to the power players of the City Of Tampa how we can correct the wrongs. I thought that was very disenchanting and as well it was very frustrating. Then I came to realize a few things. That you all that sit on the dais have power. But those who have exact power and true power, such as the Vinik Family, the Glazer Family, Troy Taylor, Darryl Shaw, Paul, Richard Gonzmart, Gina Curry and all these powerful men and women in the City Of Tampa. See what is happening is they tend to think or we tend to think that the problems of the Black Community is not everyone elses problem. But I appeal to these families to partner with you, to partner with me, to partner with my colleagues because week after week we come down here, and we craft our three minutes like that of an order. We try to make sure that we say what needs to be said in that quick three minutes and then we hear the buzzer and then we have to begin and speed up what were trying to deliver. Were here today to tell you, you know what, I need those families to listen to what were saying. I need the families to understand that if we hurt, they hurt. You just bore witness to the hurt that Black Families have because as some of those families that lost their lives this week. Some of the people inside the facility. We all hurt when our Black Families and our Black Community is not being helped. Thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 10:01:50AM
Thank you. Good morning. Please start with your name. Grand rising to all. City Council members, my given name is Alfred T. Pyles. I live in my family home, the pyles family at 1509 east 5th avenue, Ybor City. Weve been there for approximately 85 years. I stand before you in protest, a public act of objection. I object to the fact that City Of Tampa have not seen it fit to be proactive concerning security of all places Ybor City. I dont think the City Council members truly understand the significance of security. Im speaking primarily that I was vandalized. Saturday evening past November 8, 2025, my newly acquired 2022 nissan imada was vandalized, presumably from a thrown object believed to be a liquor bottle or wine bottle delivered from the parking garage. No cameras exist other than at the entrance and exit points. That information was extended by the City Of Tampa parking division, security section. I would definitely prosecute the assailant or assailants if able to identify. City Of Tampa parking security personnel state they understand my unfortunate situation, but no cameras exist in the stairwells where they believe crime is more likely to occur. Also, there exists no cameras recording within the body of the garage that possibly would have recorded behaviors from people bringing confusion and inappropriate behaviors to Ybor City daily. I live in Ybor City. Ive seen the stupidity of people.
Lynn Hurtak 10:05:08AM
Thank you so much.
Lynn Hurtak 10:05:11AM
Yes, unfortunately. Three minutes go fast. Some cameras in the garage.
Lynn Hurtak 10:05:19AM
Thank you so much. Earnest Coney Junior. Councilwoman, good to see you. Family of Sherman Jones, we definitely have prayers with you. He went through our training program a couple of years ago, and he was a bright star. To see that kind of devastation for the families and what that meant for Tampa as well. Anything to create safety in our area, please think about it. Im here to talk about item number 10, Heritage Heights. Oftentimes I talk about how do we create communities a promise. I was doing the drug March. I was in high school, early in my college career with my mother. Thats all ive known 29th street to be was that devastation. As I did the history and looked back at it, the hospital was there. Many people were born in that area. Alison Hewitt's father, John Hewitt had a dental office there. Brookins had a physicians office. If you have a hospital, all the physician networks around. Then I learned about the different musicians. Central avenue and then east Tampa on lake and 29th street. There is a rich history of housing. Then something happened in the '80s and '90s. We know what happened. The drugs and people beginning to leave the area. We have to create a new vision and have investment for east Tampa. Heritage Heights is a beginning step, phase one. We definitely ask for your support. As we begin to think about the economic tools, one of the things we have to think about, we look at downtown and how we grew, channelside and how we grew, Ybor City and how we grew through the CRA, able to bond money, able to do all the amazing things and tools. Then when it is time for places like east Tampa to grow neighborhood districts, all those things get stripped away. We have to think about how we can use economic tools. Darryl talked about how we get Private Sector to come in and help. We need to come in unison and how we bring investment into east Tampa. Oftentimes ask a question, what is the difference between baghdad and dubai. Investment and vision. In Tampa we have the vision but we need your help with the investment.
Lynn Hurtak 10:07:34AM
Thank you. Next. My name is Jason Reekmans. I live in vm ybor. I, too, have a situation where there is a lot of illegal dumping in that area. Im having to spend my own money and time to go to hanna street, pay to have trash removed. I got a Code Enforcement violation. And im working with a detective to try to crack down on it or get to the bottom of it. I think we need cameras. So there is a lot behind my property. It belongs to the City Of Tampa but people dump stuff there all the time. Im not sure what to do about it. The second thing is I have a project that im working on. I submitted to the CRA. Its a mixed use project and part of it is some commercial frontage. I was told because some of that would be new construction, it would not be covered. Im hearing that there is property in east Tampa that is going to be new construction, commercial frontage that is going to be covered by the CRA. I just wanted to come and speak about that. Thats all. Thats it. Thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 10:09:02AM
Thank You very much. Steve Michelini. Im here first in support of item number 6, which is the changes in the commercial Grant program. As some of You know, I work very closely with the Longshoremen's Union downtown. This would be a great benefit to them. The history of that particular location, it was first Black union building in the whole Tampa Bay area. It is an iconic location socially and culturally for organizations, Civil Rights Movement and a number of other things. It deserves your support, and I will be working with staff as soon as this program is implemented to assist them with some renovations badly needed at their facility. The second item, I sent You an e-mail regarding Code Enforcement. What happens disparity, particularly in the CRA areas, where individuals are burdened by excessive fines in the middle of their attempt to resolve issues, whatever the issue is. Those fines should be suspended while youre working on obtaining permits. They have no control over the scheduling of a variance or how long it takes to get to a barrio Latino or the variance review board or a rezoning. So in the meantime, You have fines running from two different sides. You have the building Code Enforcement assessment and then You also have the traditional Code Enforcement assessment. So at the end of the day, You could have tens of thousands of dollars in fines waiting while You get through the process of permitting and a variance or an administrative design exception. And I would urge the Council, not necessarily as CRA, but as You sitting as City Council, do not adopt the second reading of the Code Enforcement provision, the code that came to You last week until youve had a workshop where You can explain and discuss the implications of what the changes are. Obviously, You made motions that we were going to reinstate the Magistrates and according to the code, the Magistrates wont be paid but the Attorneys that they hired through the contract will be paid. So there are a number of issues that need to be looked at. I would appreciate it if You would take some time, examine that and do not adopt the second reading of that code thats coming before You. Thank You.
Lynn Hurtak 10:11:40AM
Thank you. Next. My name is Tom Degeorge. I am the owner of crowbar in ybor. We are a well-known independent live music venue established in 2006. Im the president of Ybor Merchants Association, chair of our ybor cac. Ybor homeowner and also the southeast president for the National Independent Association. One of the things ive done is volunteer my 30 years of experience in safety and security situations to our members. Done it locally over the years when needed or asked with the safe and sound program as well as the venue safety plan that I worked on with then Captain Brett Owen. Education experience in safety procedures for large events, olympics in 1996, arenas, stadiums, parades, most recently, the last two years, outdoor multistage festival in downtown wichita, Kansas that hosts thousands of people for the last 25 years I spent the majority of my evenings in Ybor City. Our community is hurting right now. What happened was a terrible tragedy, and it was one that should have been preventable. But ive seen time and time again when these things happen and solutions get put out, in a place based on emotion. I love our community very much and I want to make sure that whatever we do not only solves the problem, but does not lead to other safety concerns. Im happy to be a resource to come up with answers. I have many thoughts on how we can be safer that I wont get into right now. But I do think that while we have the conversations, we first start with looking towards the chase itself and enforcement to figure out -- and not to point fingers -- but to figure out what led up to this tragedy in the first place. Was policy followed? Was it not? And what needs to be changed to make sure it doesnt happen again? However things go forward, like I said, I will be a resource to try to keep our community safe. I appreciate your time.
Lynn Hurtak 10:14:00AM
Thank you very much. My name is Bishop Michelle B. Patty. I was born and raised here in the City Of Tampa. I stand before you, this is a bittersweet moment for me. Its bitter because our late councilwoman Gwendolyn Gwen Henderson is not here to see how great work come to fruition. I would like to thank Parks and Recreation, the staff, for what they are doing to bring forth the perry harvey senior park with the amplified theater and also the band shell. I would like to also point out, there was something else that she was working on at her untimely death. And that was to make sure that the yellow jackets stay whole. I know you have moved forward on that. I would like to make sure that that stay moving towards fruition. Also, we know she was instrumental in making sure African American caters over at julian b. Lane, able to get work. One of her desires, african americans able to rent the facility at a reasonable price. I hope that does not get overlooked. Watching history, when you get past 70, thats what we say, we watch history. Growing up in Hyde Park, and going along central avenue, cozy corner, the theaters and all, those are good times and happy times. Times when Black folks actually loved on each other and respected one another. So with this being done at the perry harvey park, I feel hopeful -- hopeful that its going to unite and bring not just the seniors but our young people together and that it also be feasible that you can rent out the park. And that has been a hinder to a lot of things that we cannot use here in the City Of Tampa is the cost, the cost of it. As we look forward to those things, I know there is a lot that is going on here in the City Of Tampa. I also like to wish condolences to those kill and those hurt in the Ybor City tragedy. How do we avoid it? It will take time. Not jumping snapping to do things because one thing might cause a reaction to cause other problems. So I think people need to sit down and try to see what they can work out and be beneficial to all thats in that area. Its not just Ybor City. Were talking about the whole City Of Tampa. Whenever I hear anything about affordable housing, im 1,000% in with that. Whatever you can do to facilitate to make sure there is housing and we see a lot of things going on, we need to make sure that our vulnerable, the least have a place to stay, that is due that we have shelter. Thank you so much.
Lynn Hurtak 10:17:10AM
Thank you. Next. Good morning. Alison Hewitt, resident and business owner in east Tampa. That has got to be one of the most frustrating agendas ive ever had to review. Item number 5, we have the issue there, where in the report is the information provided for the documentation from the staff of what type of small businesses they spoke to in east Tampa? Item number 6, the commercial Grant policy outreach. Where is the report that is actually about what the Community said at the meeting. We cannot trust the staff report. Only thing they said is provided information, answered questions. Councilwoman Hurtak, thank you for attending to make sure she shares the actual concerns and frustrations that came out of that meeting because its not in the written report shared with the other members. Item number 9, I support this project. We need this project, what we need is fair treatment of the Grant policies across the board. So I would ask, item number 10, when did that application get submitted and how long did it take for that application to get submitted between number 9. There is not a fair and equitable treatment of who people turn in the Grant applications to the office. Item number 12, is this a special projects request or funding request? If you go to Domain Homes and you ask Domain Homes to develop their land, why arent you going to actual property owners and ask them how do we help you develop the land? Is it because you are a White Developer who has friends and relationships, but where are we helping the people who actually own the property as it says in the Crp for east Tampa. Item number 13, please do not approve the operational agreement. As I have stated before, it gives absolutely no authority to you to actually govern the staff. That operating agreement is complete permissive. It says they May assist. The only thing that is directional in that Crp is they must follow the Crp. Anything else is -- look in the report that they have here for the projects. They have taken out when the CRA approved it and most of them. So you have things that I have submitted to you that you have owned CRA projects -- CRA land for 15, 13, 12 years. Last rfp is six years. You cant make them do anything. You can ask them. You can ask them over and over again. Until they are ready to make sure you have it, then you wont have it. Then the last thing, we have predevelopment Grant. Community has been told that thats not ready. But you have someone here now who said they have completed predevelopment one and two, when the Community has been told that we do not have the list ready and approved yet to be able to move forward. But we have them have predevelopment. Real quick, on the pictures, your Grant says that you cant do new construction if you see on the pictures, again -- this is the new construction that they are asking for a waiver to make sure that you are actually paying for rehab for this. The predevelopment paid for knowing that they were knocking down. This is not preexisting. You knock down the building and everyone else who has asked for that, told no and told no before it even get to you. Please be fair and equitable in east Tampa dollars.
Lynn Hurtak 10:20:58AM
Thank you. Next. Ive been up here a couple of times speaking with you. I apologize. Normally I have something written and prepared. Today I am speaking freely. I want to speak regarding the commercial grants. Essentially, I spoke with the attorney Cliff Shepard who is advising you on this matter. He was very kind to give me his time. Normally a lot of attorneys like billable hours. He spoke with me at length about 30 minutes regarding the Florida statutes. Upon the conclusion of the discussion that we had, he admitted that there are portions of commercial builds that can be funded within the statute, such as the Foundation, street signs. Pretty much up to the shell of the building can be funded. Now, did I come up with a list and a memo drafted for him to review to give to you. He stated that due to client-attorney privilege, he couldnt review that, that you would have to send him something like that to review, which I understand. It is not correct that the CRA cannot fund commercial or mixed use, which is really what im working on. If you recall my previous comments, development. You cant 100% fund these developments within the statute, but you can fund a significant portion, which would assist significantly in making them feasible to be brought into these communities that are in desperate need of these types of developments. Residential grants. Significant difference between a large build and a small build. A lot of people during the previous meetings stood up and They said, oh, my God, these subsidies are huge. Why are you giving these out and They dont understand the subsidies and dont understand how capital stacks in developments work. When you have a very large development, They are often eligible for up to 70% subsidy. And when you see a small subsidy, thats meant to be part of a capital stack. So thats meant to be, you get plus this, plus this, and now youve got 70 to 80 percent funded which in a lot of situations is what makes it feasible in the first place. I definitely feel like there is a disconnect with the people in understanding capital stacks, but on a larger scale picture, there is a disconnect with understanding why large developments do not need CRA dollars versus smaller developments. I just wanted to point that out because large developments wouldnt need CRA dollars if They applied for state dollars and denied, that probably should be a requirement for large developments. Apply for state funding, it as competitive process. Maybe They didnt receive it. The next year you are eligible to apply for CRA funding because They do not need it. Pro forma should be a part of the application process. You will have no idea if a development is feasible, if theres no pro forma.
Lynn Hurtak 10:24:11AM
Thank you so much. Good morning. Connie Burton. First, I would like to say that probably we should read the Florida statute as to why cras exist and the full intent of how it is supposed to improve the quality of life, not just in a commercial sense, but also to lift the people. You have a difficult task this morning because im well aware that if you approve this one and dont approve that one, its just all combined with people saying they need studio apartments for people engaged in the arts. Then the Mayor wants $5 million because they want to beautify Curtis Hixon. Then a ton of Nonprofits that just love poor people. But in this 20-page agenda items that the very needs of the people of east Tampa in particular, that when we say that we need small development or we need funding for rehab of housing or we need to rewrite some of the policies that makes it almost impossible for homeowners to live in east Tampa in particular to get rehab dollars because of the attachment of the liens placed with those dollars. How are you going to cut this up and split this up this morning when we now have Nonprofits that has the ability -- probably dont have the ability to go out to banks and seek their dollars, but now they are at the well of where poor people in poor communities supposed to be sustained. Then at the end of the day, its all deemed affordable. But what we see happening is that as properties and people are coming into the community, the community is further being gentrified. The people that once lived there, guess what, they dont live there no more because they cant afford this new affordability. Domain Homes is able to come and say they are going to build affordable units when they got properties right now inside of our communities that houses they built for well over a quarter of a million dollars. $700000 right here, one block from the good samaritan hotel. They cant even sell those properties. Now what are these properties going to look like? And then when we see waivers of powerful and affluent Black folks able to walk through these chambers to get in somebodys ear, and then they can get a waiver, but some developers inside of our communities that want to do the same thing they cant get a damn dollar. History has recorded all of this. I dont know where any of you all going with political futures after this, but we shall be watching. Thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 10:27:18AM
Thank you. If theres anyone else who wishes to speak at public comment here in Chambers, please make sure you are standing up today. If not, this will be our last in public. We have two online. Kella Mccaskill.
Lynn Hurtak 10:27:42AM
Do you want to wait until we have these? So dont start the time. Ill give this one to you all. Good morning. Kella Mccaskill. Im thankful to have accomplished some pretty amazing things for a person that come from where I come from, as it relates to small businesses, as it relates to real estate transactions and place people in great spaces. But when I entered the development arena, I was stumped when it comes to the process, because ive seen a lot. Ive done a lot of things as it relates to real estate, banking, lending, whole nine. When I got to this piece, I was stumped when it comes to this process. Today, im coming because I want to ask for your help. I want help to understand how I can get some of these exceptions that ive seen when you went above and beyond to give out a building that would have and serve alcohol, regardless of what the rules said. Regardless the law. Damn the policy. Nobody follow that. You gave them $5 million on an exception. I want to know how in spite of the recommended number for one project, the staff said one dollar amount and you did back flips to give them even more. I want to know how we can get a person that will come in, receive information on the exterior Grant, get that. Come in 2025. Sit in a meeting, learn about the grants available and they fast track to the front of the line where you are making decisions on it today. I want to know how we can get predevelopment. Many people said, Kella, why hasnt the project started on Nebraska, the main thoroughfare of east Tampa in your crp from 2004 and nothing has happened and we are waiting on predevelopment. Staff told me predevelopment is not available. Waiting on a list of Ccna. Im looking at a memo from you today where this Applicant has completed version one and two of predevelopment. Hence, im told, im waiting on the application. I had my staff that I pay work on urban reworx project. I know that they put some money in the process for total image beauty salon. This packet is what you approved initially for total image. It was unprofessional. It was ridiculous. This measly packet is what got this woman approved. She is in hardship because she spent the money and did exactly what you said she can do yet paid taxes in this district for over 50 years. I submit this, this is what she was initially approved upon after she worked with your staff for two years. And she couldnt get anywhere. No predevelopment. No Grant, no nothing. It stopped. Wouldnt approve it for nothing. I am submitting another one along Nebraska. This is what im submitting to them. I want to know how we can receive predevelopment one, predevelopment two, to begin adaptive reuse on Nebraska which is mixed use. We are helping you with your aggressive goal of 10,000 units. I have projects along Nebraska had, along 34th, along osborne, next to your 40 or maybe $80 million project, Affordable Housing For Seniors, mixed use on osborne, Nebraska, the entire street. My Owner owns it all. And you cant do anything on that street without her. You need to come see me. I want some of the exceptions. Help me walk through the exceptions these people received. Thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 10:31:16AM
Thank You. We have two online registered speakers. Michael Randolph, are You available? Im with the West Tampa Cdc. Before I get started, I want to introduce two new terms. The first term is called degentrification. Degentrification is the opposite of gentrification. The other term is regentrification, which is the ongoing development producing added gentrification. Today, CRA investment drives revitalization, but while -- but while safeguards they risk displacing the residents they are meant to serve, the crisis. Based on predictive artificial intelligence, it shows that west Tampa is under pressure. Best case projection estimate, 70 percent of displacement over the next three years. Worst-case scenario, driven by speculation -- exceeds 30%. These trends prove regentrification to stable neighborhoods and erode cultural -- around the country, New York, detroit, buffalo, Minnesota, twin cities are using risk map vulnerability typology and coalition to guide investment. The lesson is clear. Data plus policy equals protection. Tampa can learn from the models and integrate -- safeguards into CRA evaluation. Next week, we will unveil the west Tampa anti-displacement strategy, a public-private publish backed by the community agreement, technology, wealth building and job creation center is powered by 70% artificial intelligence, integration will transform underserved communities. We teach artificial intelligence still to ten years old and up. Help those with limited education gain multiple skills. We will curate a pathway to higher-paying jobs while preserving the neighborhood. The choice is clear. We can stand by and continue with business as usual. Shout-out to Chloe Coney, if it wasnt for You, the Cdc wouldnt be the Cdc. You gave the first money for the Cdc to get started. When we shine, You shine. It was your investment that created the West Tampa Cdc. And thank You. Yeah, You do shine. Thank You very much.
Bill Carlson 10:34:27AM
Thank you, Mr. Randolph. Next online speaker is Fran Tate. Ms. Tate, they say you are muted. Can you hear me?
Bill Carlson 10:34:46AM
State your name, please. You have three minutes. I am the founder of the Jackson Heights Neighborhood Association and Community Safety Watch Group. Former chair of the East Tampa CRA community Advisory Committee, and now presently a board member. First of all, I would like to express my condolences for the tragedy once again in ybor. My suggestion is permanent barriers. Secondly, id like to say congratulations to our councilwoman Naya Young. We desperately need all of your help all points north. Ybor, jackson heights, and all points north, we need your help. Id like to speak on item number 9, the clonts project. They have come before US, the Cac Board Advisory Committee, and we want you all to desperately take our advice seriously. They are asking and we have approved 2.5 Million for their project. I have gone by, I have spoken with them personally. Ive asked them to partner with the Fama which I am personally connected with Fama. I am a partner there. And they said they would. So im asking that you please Grant them the funds that they are asking because the Advisory Committee, were just volunteers. We understand the mission. We understand the work now. Been on the Advisory Committee about four years now. I understand it, the budget, the funding, the different projects. So im asking you personally to please fund that project. Item number 10, I support item number 10. Irregardless of what people think about the coneys, Khloe is a Mentor Of Mine from years way back. I respect her. I dont always necessarily agree with her, but ive had a chance to sit down and listen to all of the projects that have come before US. The Advisory Committee voted on the $5 million. I dont know anything about the back doors, the front doors, but I am aware of stories. Im here today to support item number 9 and item number 10. Thank you so very much for listening to me. I am so sorry I couldnt be here in person. Im working in my community.
Lynn Hurtak 10:37:59AM
Thank you so much, Ms. Tate. We appreciate you.
Lynn Hurtak 10:38:06AM
You as well. We are settling in. We are starting with number 16 today. Cra 25-18652, a special project Grant agreement between the Community Redevelopment Agency and the Firefighters Museum. Dee Reed, economic development coordinator. We have a special projects request for the Tampa Firefighters Museum. They are located at 720 east zack street. We have Mr. Wade that is going to present -- hes going to present his request, and then ill come back and present staff and the cacs recommendation.
Lynn Hurtak 10:38:54AM
Excellent. Thank you. Good morning. Bill Wade, representing the Tampa Firefighters Museum this morning. Thank you for having me here. The powerpoint that I believe you have in front of you I will briefly -- oh, look at that. Up there. Do I get to move it forward? Should be a clicker somewhere. To my right. Look at that. Okay. You guys are fancy. You are familiar with the building. What I started this off with is -- well try another button. Aha. Much better.
Lynn Hurtak 10:39:40AM
Might be the other direction. What you May not be familiar with is what the building looked like about 30 years ago. It was heading for the wrecking ball. The outside and the inside had been facing decades of neglect because basically it was going to be plowed down and turned into a parking lot. This is where it was. This is where it is today. Once again, most of you have been there. You have seen the activities We have there. The community groups that come through, the school groups that come through. How have We gotten there? What is our current support? We have over 450 active and retired firefighters who pay US for membership fee. That helps pay the routine bills, the power bills, electrical bills, the internet, all of those things. We have our golf tournament. We have our dodgeball I think a couple of you have shown up. We have the museum store and, of course, Philanthropy and other Grant applications. That keeps the lights on. That keeps US moving forward. Over the past decade or so, We have come out of pocket of these fund-raising efforts for many major projects, including tending for termites, redoing the second floor. Painting outside, air conditioning upgrades, interior paint. Just a whole lost of items. About a year ago, Mr. Viera suggested that We apply for one of these grants to help do some outside work. We didnt know how. We worked through the process over the past year, and We come before you now because as it says in the crp process, We are looking to preserve, protect, and enhance the downtowns historical architectural heritage and the historical resources. The nice thing about our fire museum is you dont have to enter it to appreciate the history. The building itself is part of the history. Thats why were coming before you today to help US with. We have on the outside of this building, 41 wood-frame windows that were installed the better part of 25, 30 years ago. We have been maintaining them as best We can. Now We are looking to hire a professional business to come in and restore them to give them another 20 to 30 years. Also this door here in the front, the transom door also needs work as do the wood doors. The apparatus doors. All of the work that is being asked for involves outside the structure. The wood windows. The wood doors on the outside. 41 historic windows. The hardware that goes with those. And also trying to do some reinforcing of those items for storms and weather and items along that way. Were doing this to preserve this landmark to have it there for not only current but future use. In the request that We presented before the CRA, We asked for $151,827 to do the work that were looking for. The Committee has been able to authorize US the maximum that they are allowed, which was $91,096. Im standing before you today to ask you to consider funding the whole $151,000 project so that We can move forward on this project, get the windows done, get the doors done, and preserve the building into the next several decades.
Lynn Hurtak 10:43:53AM
Thank you. Any questions? Board member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 10:43:57AM
Thank you for your dedication of this important structure. I know it is a passion of yours and thank you for your service and to the Firefighters who support it. I dont know if you mentioned it or not but the Firefighters also use this as a meeting place and gathering space for themselves. Its an important kind of hallowed ground for Firefighters as well and we always want to support them. I just had one question. You mentioned 95 or 96, where did the renovation funding come from back then? From the State of Florida. Some came from the county and the city. It was a lot of fund-raising -- those been around a while, Judy Bruggeman was our lead person on that and helped US get a lot of those grants. Tallahassee back in those days was much more generous with historic preservation than they have been recently. So we are looking once again towards some local funding to try to help get US through. We have applied for some state grants as well.
Bill Carlson 10:45:05AM
Sorry. Do You remember what the total renovation costs were back then? Not only renovating the building but also adding on that entryway building that youre familiar with, We spent well over $3 million.
Bill Carlson 10:45:22AM
Thank you for everything. If Judy Bruggeman is watching, hello to her and thank you to her for introducing me to you a long time ago.
Lynn Hurtak 10:45:30AM
Thank you. Board member Clendenin.
Alan Clendenin 10:45:32AM
I absolutely support what youre trying to do here. Im curious, what is the condition of the building? Will we need to look at this for future exterior reinforcement? While since renovated and hundred-year-old building. We need to preserve this establishment. Recently, the Museum itself spent over a hundred thousand dollars doing the roof work. That helped seal the building once again. This work that were asking you for, although I dont have an exact projection for how long it will last, this work needs to be done. Weve basically been doing puttying and paint to preserve the windows. With this Grant, were going to hire somebody, an architectural, historical architectural contractor who will come in, preserve the windows correctly, preserve the doors correctly and give US many years. Will we be back again to do this? Yes, wood windows, wood doors, if you live in an older house in the community, you know it is a constant maintenance issue.
Alan Clendenin 10:46:34AM
I meant more comprehensive. Have you had a Structural Engineer recent report? Looking at the building to see what else we need to do to make sure the building stays here for another hundred years?
Alan Clendenin 10:46:48AM
Thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 10:46:48AM
Board member Maniscalco.
Guido Maniscalco 10:46:49AM
I want to thank You for your thousands of hours of volunteer work there at the museum because You keep it alive, You and your team. Ive never seen the photos from 1995. $3 million, give or take, but any historic structure. With the humid climate we have, if You dont have the windows, everything that youre asking for today, its just going to deteriorate the interior and whatnot. Its a beautiful structure. I know it is station number 1, the original station number 1, correct?
Guido Maniscalco 10:47:22AM
No, its not the oldest in the city because you have palmetto beach is even older and others. Its up there. Actually, I believe those buildings were 1914. This is 1911. This is the last Tampa Fire Station built with horse-drawn apparatus in mind.
Guido Maniscalco 10:47:39AM
Thank you very much.
Lynn Hurtak 10:47:40AM
Excellent. Thank you so much.
Lynn Hurtak 10:47:46AM
We have Staff that wanted to present next. Then We can ask questions.
Dee Reed 10:47:59AM
Now that you heard about the proposed project, ill explain how the request meets the Grant requirements -- Dee Reed, Economic Development Coordinator. I will explain how the request meets the Grant requirements and present the Staff and cac recommendations. Ill start by noting that this is one of the two special project requests that met the acceptance deadline, so they are being evaluated under the current policy. Applicants are required to show that their request aligns with the Florida statute, the district crp, as well as the CRA goals. This request aligns with the Florida statutes section 163 370 c 2, which is the rehabilitation of buildings within the CRA area. Section 163370 c 5, voluntary repair and rehabilitation under the crp. And section 163370 h 1, which is planning for voluntary repair and rehabilitation of historic buildings. The project aligns with the downtown crp goals and actions, one repair retrofit and rebuild the facilities to be more client resilient -- climate resilient. And two, to preserve, protect and enhance downtowns architectural heritage and historic resources. The total project cost, as mentioned, was hundred fifty-one thousand eight twenty-seven forty-six. The Applicant has requested the following deviations from standard funding practices. Funding for 100 percent of the project cost instead of the standard 50% match. Also, phased reimbursement at predetermined project milestones rather than full reimbursement at project completion. To remain consistent with standard procedures, Staff recommends an award of 60% of the eligible expenses, not to exceed $91,097 with an additional $20,000 contingency allowance for Staff approved eligible, unforeseen work encountered during construction. The 60% funding level reflects the standard 50% owner match with an additional 10% reduction to account for increased expense of making historic preservation improvements. Staff was unable to apply the legacy credit as this is a tax-exempt property. Staff also recommends approval of progress payments as reimbursed throughout the project. For fiscal year 2024 and 2025, the Downtown Cac allocated a total of 2 million for special projects grants. Approval of this request as recommended would leave a balance of $1,873,720 for future requests. On October 7, the Applicant presented their request to the Downtown Cac, and they voted 4-1 to recommend approval of the Tampa Firefighters Museum special projects Grant request as recommended by Staff. Staff in the Downtown Cac respectfully request the Cra Board approve the special projects Grant agreement between the Community Redevelopment Agency and the Tampa Firefighters Museum. For an award of 60% of eligible expense not to exceed $91,097 with a $20,000 contingency for Staff approved eligible, unforeseen work encountered during construction and progress payments as reimbursement during the project. Im here to answer any questions.
Lynn Hurtak 10:51:53AM
Thank you. Board member Clendenin.
Alan Clendenin 10:51:55AM
Seeing this is a nonprofit and a very critical one, architectural building for the City Of Tampa, an asset for the City Of Tampa, I would urge the Cra Board, I would motion to approve the full request for $151,000.
Bill Carlson 10:52:11AM
I would second that. Can I ask questions?
Lynn Hurtak 10:52:14AM
Sure. To that point, I think its more than 151. Theres some change in there. You need to have the exact amount.
Alan Clendenin 10:52:27AM
Do you need the change?
Bill Carlson 10:52:30AM
Were not printing pennies.
Lynn Hurtak 10:52:35AM
Im saying --
Alan Clendenin 10:52:36AM
What was the total?
Lynn Hurtak 10:52:39AM
Ms. Reed has the total.
Bill Carlson 10:52:42AM
Can I ask Mr. Wade a question?
Lynn Hurtak 10:52:47AM
Board Member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 10:52:48AM
My question as youre coming up, how much have You invested in the building over the last five years or maybe the last two years? Did You include that in your application? Because it sounded like from your presentation that You all have invested a lot into your building, but You didnt know until a year or so ago You could get CRA money. If You said two, three years ago, well spend 500, I dont know what the number is, 500,000 to renovate the building and from that We need 150, then You would have met the match. Do You have any idea, ballpark how much youve invested in the last five years or two years? Once again, that was $105,000 and some change. But I understand roofs May or May not have been something that We could have applied for.
Bill Carlson 10:53:41AM
No. Minor roof repairs.
Bill Carlson 10:53:46AM
Im trying to figure out, it is important -- I thank the staff for trying to stick strictly to the rules. Sometimes when applicants come in, they dont know they could have -- had you applied three years ago or two years ago, you might have put the whole package in there. How much do you think youve invested? Chronic maintenance issue, ive got a list here that I put in the presentation that we wrote checks for over 9900 dollars over the past few years to do repair and painting. Thats over the past few years. We are constantly working on that building, between the air conditioning which also I understand May not be part. Its a regular ongoing, stand here and give you some numbers right off the top of my head.
Bill Carlson 10:54:38AM
The other question I had, I think you said when we were briefing before, The City sometimes uses the facility. Does The City pay or -- over to promote andor the hiring ceremonies, no, we do not charge The City for those additional --
Bill Carlson 10:55:04AM
Do you have any idea with all the city events -- im not asking you to charge the city -- but with all the events that the city does, not the Union, but the city, do you have any idea what the opportunity cost is? Like, if it was Private Sector, how much you would have charged them a year? Theres one a month, although that might be slightly high, if we charged around $2,000, thats over $24,000 just in rental fees. Once again, as you stated, were here for the community. There are other community events that have come through that we give the museum to at a fairly low cost. Children's Board has had meetings there before and some others.
Lynn Hurtak 10:55:52AM
Board Member Young has a question.
Naya Young 10:55:54AM
Thank you also for the presentation. Dee, could you tell me if we were to approve the full amount, how much would that leave for future projects for that CRA?
Dee Reed 10:56:15AM
I do not have that number.
Lynn Hurtak 10:56:21AM
Would it be --
Dee Reed 10:56:23AM
It would be over a million.
Lynn Hurtak 10:56:25AM
Million 850ish.
Dee Reed 10:56:30AM
Take a hundred thousand off of that. Still maybe 1.7 Million roundabout figure.
Lynn Hurtak 10:56:37AM
Board member Clendenin. Did you have further questions?
Alan Clendenin 10:56:41AM
Just for clarification, thats what We budget in the line. We could do budget realignments. Board Member Young, what We do, We have the budgets and We have allocated certain pieces of that, but theres more money available if do budget reallocations.
Dee Reed 10:57:01AM
I was going to explain We budget an amount, maximum of million -- or 10% of the areas budget up to a million dollars annually. So that number includes the carry-over from 2024.
Alan Clendenin 10:57:15AM
Thank you. What was the total -- can you give the exact dollar figure? 151 something.
Alan Clendenin 10:57:32AM
Thank you. I amend my motion to allocate $151,827.46 To the -- for the exterior renovations of the windows and doors.
Bill Carlson 10:57:43AM
Second.
Lynn Hurtak 10:57:45AM
I have a motion from board member Clendenin. I have a second from board member Carlson.
Dee Reed 10:57:50AM
I have a question. Does that include the $20,000 contingency or would you want to remove that, being that were awarded the full amount?
Alan Clendenin 10:57:59AM
[Inaudible]
Lynn Hurtak 10:58:01AM
Dont want to add $20,000 contingency on an historic property?
Bill Carlson 10:58:07AM
I would leave my second if you add it.
Alan Clendenin 10:58:09AM
Well add it with the $20,000 contingency.
Lynn Hurtak 10:58:13AM
Board Member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 10:58:15AM
As someone said, one of the main purposes of the CRA is protect historic buildings. At least two historic buildings, I think this is greco era, maybe, but this important building that Tampa Union Station, had they not protected those buildings back then, they wouldnt exist. We see in history important buildings in Tampa that were torn down. Whole neighborhoods torn down like central avenue and we wish we had them back. It happens that the Private Sector is supporting, a Nonprofit is supporting this. If not for them, the city would likely own it and maintain it. Whatever their operating expenses are and other things, that is an expense that the city doesnt have. In the context of all the redevelopment of the building and the support of the building and activation of it, 150 or 170 thousand is a really low amount to preserve the legacy and heritage of our firefighters and to remind our kids of where we came from and where were going. Thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 10:59:17AM
Board Member Clendenin.
Alan Clendenin 10:59:19AM
Right set that, think about how many historic buildings we have lost in the last 40 years. Likes a building, Maas Brothers building. I dont know what the future of the kress facade, it gets worse and worse every day. Struggling with the jackson house. The struggles with Union Station, but we saved a couple of houses from the scrub, the original wood houses in scrub. How many structures we demolished. Nebraska, historically Black area, demolished. We dont have many areas left. We have to take care of the ones.
Dee Reed 10:59:52AM
The motion May need to include, if your desire is to approve the progress payments throughout the project, instead of reimbursement, completely at the end or full reimbursement at the end.
Alan Clendenin 11:00:05AM
The motion would be to reimburse The Museum for the full amount of 151,827.46 With the $20,000 contingency and the staggered reimbursement policies of the CRA.
Bill Carlson 11:00:23AM
Second.
Lynn Hurtak 11:00:24AM
We have a motion by board member Clendenin. A second by board member Carlson. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thank you so much. We appreciate your service. Looking forward to using that building for many more years to come.
Bill Carlson 11:00:39AM
Thank you. May I?
Lynn Hurtak 11:00:40AM
Yes. Board member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 11:00:42AM
Board member Clendenin, we could use the same important historic criteria to preserve important brutalist architecture thats owned by the City Of Tampa.
Alan Clendenin 11:00:53AM
Sometimes you have to draw the line.
Lynn Hurtak 11:00:56AM
Brutalist architecture is important.
Alan Clendenin 11:01:00AM
Brutalist Architecture is important; bad Brutalist Architecture is not.
Lynn Hurtak 11:01:04AM
Okay. Were going to always have this fight over modernist architecture on this panel. We are happy to welcome the Cac Chair for Tampa Heights, but were going to allow Ms. Orr to introduce.
Courtney Orr 11:01:22AM
Cra development manager. I have the pleasure of introducing Raj Patel, the current acting chair of the River Heights Cac. He will give a brief update on activities in that CRA district.
Lynn Hurtak 11:01:37AM
Wonderful. Good morning. Ill be very brief. We dont have very much going on in our district. We have two items. The way-finding signage update thats going on with a lot of the districts. Phase one has been complete where they do the inventory of all the signage within all our cras. Phase two, they presented five options, design options. The CRA board approved it. So right now they are working with the Tampa Downtown Partnership to update the branding for each neighborhood. And then starting first quarter of next year with the Civil Engineer, Florida Design Consultants on permitting and actual design and production with the goal of end of next year of the installation, beginning of the installation of new the way finding and branding for the neighborhood. The other fun item we have is the Tampa heights roundabouts at highland and palm and boulevard and palm. So there was -- Cory Robinson and Courtney have been really good at pushing this along to get the rfp out. October 31st, that closed out and there were 159 applicants. So there is a lot to go through. December 4th well have our meeting with the selection committee to go through those all. Probably wont be able to get it done in one meeting. Probably have a follow-up meeting. From the 159, theres going to be a short list of I think five. I believe five applicants. And then those finalists will have six weeks to put together a presentation package for their art installation, sculpture, whatever it May be for the roundabouts. Once a finalist is chosen, they are going to be given roughly 40 to 48 weeks for the fabrication. So that would put US in July once they are awarded that. So the goal is for 2027 for the sculpture to be installed or whatever that art piece May be. And then the only other item is we have six new board members. Were still looking for one member from the Riverside Heights Civic Association, if you guys know anybody looking. Once that is in place, then well have a full board. Other than that, happy to answer any questions.
Lynn Hurtak 11:04:18AM
Any questions? I have a question for you. So at the roundabout at north boulevard and palm, why is there, when youre heading north, a right-hand turn and a roundabout? That is very confusing and dangerous. I was wondering if the CRA could look at that and see what we could do to fix that.
Lynn Hurtak 11:04:50AM
Yeah. I have no idea.
Lynn Hurtak 11:04:54AM
People in the City Of Tampa dont know how to use traffic circles to begin with. When you add a secondary right lane turn, people really dont understand it. Its going to be just a random thing. Im going to ask the CRA Staff to look into, because I do believe we can work on infrastructure issues, and I think that was put in before we really realized what that entire neighborhood was going to be. I dont think people going south know if people will turn or go straight.
Lynn Hurtak 11:05:24AM
Correct. It is dangerous. Could lead to accidents. Surprise it hasnt more often. As we look at adding wonderful art installations in that area, we want to make sure they are substantive and people can get around. Anyone else? Half of it is in the West Tampa CRA?
Lynn Hurtak 11:05:47AM
Okay. Part of it is in the city. Either way, would love to look into that and happy to lend my support. Its really bad.
Lynn Hurtak 11:06:01AM
But it does. If youre coming around here and trying to go straight, you would run into that person who doesnt see you. Its quite dangerous. Thank you so much. Really appreciate you and looking forward to seeing what is next. If you are from riverside heights, anyone listening today, reach out. Thank you. Okay. We have a lot going on in our directors report today. It is a busy one.
Cedric McCray 11:06:42AM
Cedric McCray, Cra Director. Ill try to be as expedient as possible.
Lynn Hurtak 11:06:51AM
Actually, its gotten easier. I believe introductions are in order.
Cedric McCray 11:06:56AM
I was going to hold it until the end. We can do that now. Ill invite mr. Felix Nu Ez up. Ive been wearing multiple hats as CRA manager, previously serving in that role as the development manager for East Tampa as well as Drew Park. We brought Mr. Nu Ez on board to fill that role, and we will be making our way around to meet and introduce to the board members. But I wanted to formally introduce Mr. Nu Ez at this time. You can say a few words. Good morning. Felix Nu Ez. I am the new CRA development manager for East Tampa and Drew Park. Ive got about a 20-year history in nonprofit housing, community development background and I have about three and a half years having just left pinellas county in the CRA as well. Go bulls. I graduated from Usf. Im about to -- Mpa next month at Usf as well. Looking forward to work with the community.
Lynn Hurtak 11:07:59AM
Congratulations. Were happy to have You aboard. Just really thrilled just to be filling out some of our team. Thank You so much.
Cedric McCray 11:08:08AM
Thank you. We do have another new hire that I would like to acknowledge, ms. Latasha Hicks working with Ms. Parks in the housing component of our CRA office. I also wanted to acknowledge ms. Hicks starting this week as well.
Lynn Hurtak 11:08:25AM
Wonderful. What do our openings look like?
Cedric McCray 11:08:29AM
We have one more that has been advertised and closed on the housing side and then We have two other positions that still remain open as it relates to communications and Contract Manager.
Lynn Hurtak 11:08:41AM
Excellent. Okay. Lets move forward.
Cedric McCray 11:08:44AM
Yes. We have already taken care of the planning design awards presentations. You received the customary project trackers relates to the special projects and commercial grants. I would like to highlight the Florida Redevelopment Association conference that several of our staff members attended last month and one of your colleagues or former colleagues, former chair Henderson actually was recognized with a lifetime achievement award by the Florida Redevelopment Association. During the gala on the Thursday evening and that she received -- they presented that award and it was received by her daughter and her sister who was also a city employee. So I just wanted to highlight that to you all. And another item is that I kind of drew a short straw and was appointed to the Florida Redevelopment Association board, the City Of Tampa and Tampa CRA has traditionally had a representative on that board. Of course, you know Ms. Thrower served for several years. I am next in the pipeline. Im looking forward to working with the Florida Redevelopment Association board as we continue to do this work across not only the City Of Tampa, but also across the State of Florida.
Lynn Hurtak 11:09:57AM
I know we all want to thank Ms. Thrower for her many years of service on that board. You have big shoes to fill.
Cedric McCray 11:10:06AM
Yes, that I know. The next item, as you know, last year, we presented certificates of appreciation to Cac members that we had rolling off from the various Cras. We would like to do that again in December. So if the board would entertain a motion to do that during the December meeting.
Bill Carlson 11:10:26AM
So moved.
Lynn Hurtak 11:10:27AM
I have a motion from board member Clendenin and a second by board member Maniscalco. Any conversation about that? All in favor, aye. Any opposed? Ayes have it.
Cedric McCray 11:10:41AM
Thank you. The next two items and ill couple them together, relates to the fy '25 appropriation of interest and the fiscal year '26 proposed tif revenue adjustments made. That came before you last month on the Council side as a budgetary item, but I wanted to acknowledge that during the course of the meeting.
Lynn Hurtak 11:11:00AM
So question there. Do you have the budgets to show whats going to be going down in what areas?
Cedric McCray 11:11:08AM
Yes. Not here physically. Yes, we can show that.
Lynn Hurtak 11:11:12AM
Yeah, if you could e-mail those to US and then post them in the agenda for today so the public can go back and take a look at those. Just thought of that. Thank you so much.
Cedric McCray 11:11:25AM
Yes.
Lynn Hurtak 11:11:25AM
Also. When you send them to US, copy ms. Kopesky.
Cedric McCray 11:11:35AM
The next item that I would like to touch on is the franklin street improvements. Last November, the board approved up to $6 million for streetscape improvements for franklin street. Weve had continuous conversations with representatives from the Downtown Partnership. There have been a few challenges. So were asking that the CRA be able to take the lead on that project and then also we will work in very close collaboration with the Downtown Partnership moving forward.
Lynn Hurtak 11:12:06AM
Board Member Clendenin.
Alan Clendenin 11:12:10AM
I dont know. Ill be honest with you, I would just as soon pause that project until they are ready to go forward or come back to this board. I would be more willing to, like, suspend that pre-authorized Grant and have another presentation for a decision point. Motion to suspended the previously authorized authorization for the franklin street project, $6 million until and then have that come back to the CRA for authorization again with another decision point.
Lynn Hurtak 11:12:49AM
Do we have a second for conversation?
Guido Maniscalco 11:12:51AM
Ill second for discussion.
Lynn Hurtak 11:12:52AM
Can you talk to US a little bit about if that is a possibility?
Cedric McCray 11:12:59AM
We can. But as a staff, We are prepared to move forward with the request to bring that into fruition. We already started the conversations with Contract Admin to advertise the Rfp, and were also meeting with city departments internally as well. Mobility, Solid Waste, and Parks and Recreation as well.
Alan Clendenin 11:13:24AM
I think there are an awful lot of things -- in fact, I pushed back a little bit on the partnership when this was first presented. I think there is a lot of private investment happening along franklin street. As we see whats happening on the north end down there as well, some potential changes. Streetcar redevelopment thats going to affect portions of Florida and integration. In talks with Hart about reclaiming marion street. I think there is an awful lot of fluidity in whats happening with the streetscapes. I think its best to push a pause button on it.
Lynn Hurtak 11:14:01AM
Board Member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 11:14:02AM
Yeah, I think, I dont often disagree, but I think this is a really important project for downtown. There have been several attempts to restart franklin street. It seems like with the New Director of the downtown Partnership, it seems like shes ready and able to lead on that. There are a lot of pieces moving that I know shes trying to bring together. I think it would be a vote of confidence and the Partnership to allow them to go forward. Also, this is a really important project and were running out of money in downtown. I wouldnt want anything to affect that. My concern about the project is there are several special interests who are trying to control the process, and it needs to be based on what the public wants, not what a particular special interest wants. It shouldnt be following any persons agenda or any companys agenda. It should be following the communitys agenda.
Lynn Hurtak 11:15:04AM
Thats my concern. If we want the partnership to do the work, then we have to let them figure it out. What this would be doing is giving the work to our CRA Staff to do instead -- thats what the vote would do, if we approve --
Alan Clendenin 11:15:29AM
Thats why I say push a pause button until it comes back and have them come back to US.
Bill Carlson 11:15:35AM
Why cant we ask them to put it through the partnership instead.
Lynn Hurtak 11:15:38AM
Thats what it was supposed to be.
Alan Clendenin 11:15:40AM
Its already there. Are you free to discuss --
Cedric McCray 11:15:44AM
Theres been some financial constraints to -- for them to facilitate and move the project along, where We can move a little faster. Its been proposed in November. Were ready to move as a staff, and weve had conversations with the representatives from the Partnership and the various city departments that would be involved. Were excited about the opportunity to move it forward, working in conjunction with the downtown Partnership.
Lynn Hurtak 11:16:14AM
Board Member Clendenin.
Alan Clendenin 11:16:15AM
Im confused. Youre saying that You are able to accomplish the scope and scale of what had been proposed -- Partnership proposed for a price point that they cant accomplish?
Cedric McCray 11:16:27AM
Well, there is a certainly component of the grants that you all approved in November. Theres design work that has to be done, and that would be -- its a reimbursable Grant. Ultimately we would have to reimburse them for the work that would need to be done to get it to a certain point.
Bill Carlson 11:16:46AM
I thought we resolved that months ago. Set up a phone call to try to resolve it. Besides that, even if we cant resolve it internally, we can go to the county and get them to approve. Cliff showed US we can get things done outside. This concerns me a lot for the reason I mentioned a minute ago. There are political forces trying to control this. And this is one of the reasons why we need to fix the contract between the City and the CRA also. If the City wants to lead this project, let the City pay for it, let the City do it. If were going to do it, if were going to fund it in any way, we need to make sure it is based on what the community wants. Downtown Partnership for 30 or so years, has been the leader in organizing the community. If this is taking it out of the hands, I didnt get briefed on this. And I misunderstood from what you said, if it is taken out of the hands of the partnership and were handling -- because of a technicality that I thought was fixed months ago, im really, really concerned about that. I think we should instead of canceling it, we should continue it and have staff come back with a solution to let the Downtown Partnership --
Alan Clendenin 11:17:51AM
Thats precisely why I said push pause.
Bill Carlson 11:17:54AM
Instead of saying push pause which could lead to say we dont trust the Downtown Partnership, I think we should just continue it and insist that the Staff fix this and come back next month.
Alan Clendenin 11:18:09AM
I think it is the same intent. Yes, I agree with that.
Bill Carlson 11:18:12AM
This is not somebodys playground to pick what they want for their political reasons. This is The Community's process. The Community needs to be involved and The Community needs to lead it.
Lynn Hurtak 11:18:20AM
What is the pleasure of This Board?
Alan Clendenin 11:18:30AM
Were not going to have answers in December, will We?
Cedric McCray 11:18:33AM
No. Quick turnaround. We have deadlines for December 11 meeting because of the holiday schedule.
Lynn Hurtak 11:18:39AM
January 15.
Alan Clendenin 11:18:40AM
I motion to continue this item to January 15.
Lynn Hurtak 11:18:43AM
Lets be a little more specific.
Bill Carlson 11:18:48AM
Request Staff fix technical issues regarding how Grant -- it is a technicality about how it is applied. We want them to fix the technical issues andor help US go to the county to get approval --
Alan Clendenin 11:19:01AM
Cedric, help me work. What do we need to be able to move this forward as intended?
Cedric McCray 11:19:07AM
Ill yield to Attorney Shepard.
Alan Clendenin 11:19:23AM
Are You up on the issues?
Alan Clendenin 11:19:26AM
Shepard is up on the issue.
Alan Clendenin 11:19:33AM
Well play -- weve covered this a couple of times at the staff level. The biggest problem that I have -- and youll recall perhaps this is one of the first projects I was asked to get involved drafting a funding agreement for. I think very first meeting I attended, something presented as a powerpoint. The biggest issue that ive had dealing with the folks at the Partnership is that one of the first questions I asked them per your funding agreements, they have a provision that says eligible projects. In other words, the specific projects that you guys approved, such as a streetscape, special lighting, landscaping, drainage, what are those projects that were actually approved by the board? They were asking me. Im just a Lawyer and I dont know what you guys approved in terms of actual projects. When I asked the question, I got a powerpoint, which doesnt answer the question. What needs to be fleshed out is what is it for the six or seven million dollars that was approved that we are supposed to be spending that money on so that I can draft a funding agreement consistent with your wishes. From my perspective as the Lawyer who doesnt make the decisions but just drafts the agreement --
Alan Clendenin 11:20:55AM
So, Mr. Shepard, would it be appropriate for US to continue this item to the December meeting -- sorry, January meeting with a request the Downtown Partnership be present to re-present specifics of what is requested so you can draft that agreement?
Cliff Shepard 11:21:11AM
That would be delightful and it is one of the things ive discussed with staff so there is real clarity. Well do street lighting that will make up a million of this Grant. Well do sidewalks, which make up a million and a half and so forth, so I know what is the approved -- what are the approved projects that make up the total budget so I can put together the funding agreement.
Lynn Hurtak 11:21:35AM
Board Member Clendenin, would you be willing to take that project on shepherding it because it will need a shepherd?
Bill Carlson 11:21:48AM
There are two things that happen. Number one, what Mr. Shepard was mentioning. A transition of leadership after we first approved this. So the new leadership had to come up to speed on what was happening and try to figure out how to lead on it. The second thing was, before the Downtown Partnership, and I wish they were here so we dont have to speak for them. Before they can propose streetlights and seats and things like that, they have got to design it. Holdup several months ago which I thought was fixed, can we allow a design Grant? My understanding it was a technicality because it was our own rules that we could change. If it was the CRA rules, then as I understand Mr. Shepard, we can go to the county, the other party in the CRA, get the approval and come back and get it approved. The Downtown Partnership and the CRA in general cant do anything unless we have a design. The design has to be based on getting input from the public. I would ask in the motion that we ask them to resolve the issue before they come back in January.
Alan Clendenin 11:22:50AM
Mr. Shepard, why couldnt this Board make that exception to our own rules?
Cliff Shepard 11:23:01AM
Which exception?
Alan Clendenin 11:23:02AM
Have a design Grant.
Cliff Shepard 11:23:06AM
Its your Grant and your exception to cause, so long as they fall in the statutory limitations and predevelopment is one of the areas where We have to be real careful. Has to be control of the property. In this case, We control the property, if I understand it correctly. In our predevelopment Grant program, thats one of the things I think probably Ms. Reed could probably tell you about. One of the things We ask the applicants to have is control of the property.
Alan Clendenin 11:23:40AM
We have control of the property. That box is checked.
Cliff Shepard 11:23:42AM
The Predevelopment Program You have now I dont think would apply to this type of Grant. Yes, You guys make those rules. .
Alan Clendenin 11:23:53AM
Looking into the future, if we continue this to January 15, had the partnership present in this room with Staff, this Board can basically create our own policy to have the predevelopment Grant at that date.
Bill Carlson 11:24:09AM
Can you ask resolve the issues before? We dont want an update and say it is still not resolved.
Lynn Hurtak 11:24:15AM
How about this? I would ask that CRA Staff and the Downtown Partnership have individual meetings with each Board Member between now and January 15 to help solve those problems. How is that?
Alan Clendenin 11:24:28AM
I agree.
Lynn Hurtak 11:24:29AM
Because this is not the forum for solving those. But if you talk to each of US, it would be the more appropriate forum.
Bill Carlson 11:24:38AM
The main thing they need to do, The Staff, Downtown Partnership and Mr. Shepard need to get together to figure out what the legal issues are regarding our roles andor 163. Once they sort that out, then they need to brief US and ask US for input.
Lynn Hurtak 11:24:53AM
Yes. Thats why im asking if there is a Board Member here who would be willing to shepherd this process along.
Alan Clendenin 11:25:04AM
This is your district.
Lynn Hurtak 11:25:07AM
Thats just not fair to say.
Alan Clendenin 11:25:09AM
You dont think this would be a good one to tackle? We cant, really. Sunshine Issues. I will coordinate with You all. Lets get together and see how we can shepherd this so we can be prepared to move on this in the January meeting.
Lynn Hurtak 11:25:29AM
Director Mccray.
Cedric McCray 11:25:30AM
One of the options May be a portion of the $6 million be designated for the design work.
Alan Clendenin 11:25:37AM
Thats what well work on.
Lynn Hurtak 11:25:39AM
That is the goal. So the motion still stands to move this forward.
Alan Clendenin 11:25:44AM
Continue this to January 15 with the conditions, and I will work with CRA Staff and the Downtown Partnership to set up a meeting between the three of US and well figure it out.
Lynn Hurtak 11:25:57AM
And also have individual meetings with Board Members before this comes back in February.
Alan Clendenin 11:26:01AM
After our -- the results youll brief out to Individual Board Members.
Lynn Hurtak 11:26:12AM
We have a motion by Board Member Clendenin and I believe a second from Board Member Carlson. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? I just really want to say this is the heart of why we are struggling with the commercial Grant agreement. Its amazing that we had a perfect example of it right here right now and why I believe this isnt fully baked. But anyway, thats for later on. Board Member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 11:26:49AM
Two things. Anybody watching who is not interested in downtown, this is arguably one of the most important projects we could fund in downtown. Individual projects like Tampa theatre that are important, but this is the pedestrian retail activated area built a long time ago and has not been fully activated. It is a way to tie everything together. We have a lot of new buildings in downtown, but we dont have the activation that other big cities have, and this will help drive that. Thats why it is so important. The second thing, and this will get back to the item about the contract later, who made the decision to change this? Why the last conversation I had was that we were going to figure out how to do a design Grant and then suddenly now the Downtown Partnership is not going to work on it but the staff will do it? Who made the decision? The City.
Cedric McCray 11:27:40AM
No, it was not the city. We had ongoing conversations and meetings with the Downtown Partnership and then brought in other departments within the city just to kind of have that conversation. And We felt We would work very closely with the Downtown Partnership to bring this into fruition, and We could do the work internally.
Bill Carlson 11:27:59AM
Ill say this and talk later. Weve seen a lot of cases where the city puts their thumb on the scale, and this is a separate entity. In theory, we control the other 1.85 Billion in the budget, in reality, the Mayor does. I think that were directly -- as the board, were directly responsible. If something goes well and mayors office wants to take credit, fine. We have a lot of risk here. People in the community have demands and we have a lot of frustrated people who cant get grants. So we need to make sure that the contract is written such that the staff 100% report to US and to the Executive Director and they are not influenced with somebody else putting a thumb on the scale. That way we can move the projects faster.
Lynn Hurtak 11:28:46AM
Yes. Anything else in your directors report?
Cedric McCray 11:28:49AM
I want to acknowledge, this was a funding agreement, not a commercial Grant for the record. That was the first thing. We understand the importance of the project and moving it forward, and thats why We felt if We brought it in-house and working in conjunction with the Downtown Partnership, it would be able to move a lot faster. So that We can bring that into fruition.
Lynn Hurtak 11:29:12AM
I did ask you during the prep meeting to have a little bit to say about herman massey park, which is right along the franklin corridor. How are we doing on that park?
Cedric McCray 11:29:22AM
Yes, were doing well. There is an art installation thats been installed. If im not mistaken, We probably would be cutting a ribbon at some point early this spring, next spring.
Lynn Hurtak 11:29:35AM
Wonderful. Really excited because using that as a catalyst, too, for whats going on on Franklin, we cant talk about them separately.
Alan Clendenin 11:29:48AM
[Inaudible]
Lynn Hurtak 11:29:49AM
Exactly. Yes, we took a vote. Anything else in the directors report?
Cedric McCray 11:29:55AM
Just the ybor resident worker survey that was supplied to you. If you would like a more formal presentation, its in your agenda packet, but we can have the Consultant that completed the work come back in December to provide a verbal report.
Lynn Hurtak 11:30:12AM
Board Member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 11:30:13AM
I always like to hear, I like The Public to hear what The Public is saying. I would recommend, yes.
Lynn Hurtak 11:30:19AM
Okay. We have a motion from board member Carlson. A second from board member Maniscalco.
Bill Carlson 11:30:30AM
Can we limit it to five minutes?
Lynn Hurtak 11:30:34AM
Okay. For a five-minute limit. I would say that highlighting preferably, ill have something to say about that toward the end of the meeting. Highlighting preferably pedestrian and public safety. Hopefully there are some questions about that. After what happened on Saturday, we need to be talking about that moving forward. We have a motion and a second. All in favor? Any opposed? Ayes have it. Does that do it for the directors report?
Cedric McCray 11:31:10AM
Yes, maam.
Lynn Hurtak 11:31:11AM
Excellent. Number three, We have a written report. I have not heard anything from board member Viera. So I believe We are just going to accept the written report.
Lynn Hurtak 11:31:25AM
I have a motion from board member Maniscalco. A second from board member Clendenin. All in favor? Aye. Okay. We are talking about the amphitheater or band shell at perry harvey park. We have the report on that.
Lynn Hurtak 11:31:43AM
We are very excited about that. My only question is what were going to be doing with the mobile one thats there right now. I think that is a conversation we all need to have. Goes to village and Curtis Hixon part of the year, apparently two months. What can we do with that the covering --
Courtney Orr 11:32:06AM
Cra Development Manager. I reached out to Parks yesterday. They said They still could accommodate the storage of that at the Perry Harvey Park. There is a contract in place, and They were going to continue with the contract to keep it stored there.
Lynn Hurtak 11:32:20AM
Okay. But I do think its worth a conversation to have. Is that the best place to have a second covering? Is there a better park in the CRA that might -- it might benefit from?
Alan Clendenin 11:32:39AM
[Inaudible]
Lynn Hurtak 11:32:39AM
Okay. Was that funded by The Cra?
Courtney Orr 11:32:44AM
It was not.
Lynn Hurtak 11:32:45AM
I think its something that we as City Council could discuss. But I would love to hear what possibilities. Because if were creating this brand-new band shell, thats great. Believe me, there is a park out there that needs shade.
Courtney Orr 11:33:01AM
I dont know the ramifications of the contract mentioned to me. I didnt know there was a contract in place. I dont know how long that contract exists.
Lynn Hurtak 11:33:08AM
Ill have Mr. Scharf reach out to you. Ms. Scharf, if you are listening, to talk to Parks and see if we can bring it. Ill try to do a motion tonight to bring the conversation forward. So a motion to receive and file on number four.
Alan Clendenin 11:33:26AM
[Inaudible]
Lynn Hurtak 11:33:27AM
Motion to receive and file on number 4. Motion by Board Member Maniscalco. Seconded by Board Member Clendenin. All in favor? Any opposed?
Bill Carlson 11:33:37AM
Can I make one more comment? As we hand this off to Parks or whomever, we need to recommend or be mindful of rules about noise. Now that there is a pretty dense neighborhood around that or emerging around it, we need to make sure they are mindful of that and there need to be rules about decibels and how late you can go. The amphitheater out by the fairgrounds, even though it is far, far away from most residents, the sound carried a long ways. So they had to spend a lot of money to go back and protect against sound.
Lynn Hurtak 11:34:16AM
Im going to take a point of privilege here because We have a Board Member who needs to leave in about ten minutes. Well, five minutes. Im going to skip down to required approvals to some of the areas that We could possibly get out of the way. Item number 13, Board Member Carlson, you brought forward a service agreement that I believe We want to continue maybe until next month because I have not had time to go over it.
Guido Maniscalco 11:34:46AM
Yeah, I need more time.
Bill Carlson 11:34:47AM
I apologize. Somehow I inadvertently deleted a bunch of my draft and had to rewrite it. I would move to continue item number 13 to December 11.
Guido Maniscalco 11:35:00AM
Second.
Lynn Hurtak 11:35:00AM
We have a motion by Board Member Carlson. A second by board member Maniscalco. Any discussion? It sounds -- oh, Board Member Carlson is passing out physical copy. Is there one for the clerk?
Bill Carlson 11:35:17AM
Can I just say like 30 seconds?
Lynn Hurtak 11:35:21AM
Yes. Absolutely, board member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 11:35:24AM
The intent of this, before I joined City Council, even though CRA was a separate entity, it was treated like a funding source for the City. Seven years ago we created the Executive Director position. All this does is it goes through and further develops that. Im not an attorney, but I worked and written a lot of professional services agreement. This is an outsourced agreement. Professional services agreement. Were agreeing to buy services from the City, which we could buy from somebody else but we dont have to buy them from the City. We can hire our own. Following purchasing and hr rules of the City. All this does, it goes through some of the things that we anticipate. When we come back, we cant talk in between, but when we come back, if you all have thoughts or ideas, I hope we could go through and maybe edit -- I dont care what parts. The idea is that the Executive Director reports to US as the board and then the staff report to the Executive Director to make that clear. If the City, what it does, it clarifies the City is an applicant, not a part of the CRA. If the City wants to apply for something because the concerns of the community, they would need to go through a transparent process and not put their thumb on the scale. It also does things like just specifically refers to the Cra Board instead of the CRA or City Council. There is a City Council resolution that would go on top of this, but we as the Cra Board, not as the City Council, are a party to the agreement. If you notice in the signatory at the end, the Mayor was on it, and the City Council I think, but not the Cra Board. One of them was missing so I added them. Anyway, it goes through and a lot of this about 30% of it was already in the document. I just modified it a little bit. There is a lot of new stuff in here, too.
Lynn Hurtak 11:37:21AM
I think it would be wonderful if either Mr. Shepard or Mr. Brackins could spend the original or the one were currently working on so we can take a look. Board member Clendenin.
Alan Clendenin 11:37:35AM
Councilman Carlson, I looked through it and didnt see anything that put up any kind of bells or whistle. Is Shepard and the City Attorney looked at this, too?
Bill Carlson 11:37:45AM
No, He hasnt had time. One other thing real fast, says services and real short thing. Seven years ago, when I helped edit the previous document, it was very real estate heavy. I understand there are rules about what CRA can spend money on, but we spent too much time just focusing on the real estate and not focusing on the larger context of why were doing the real estate. Franklin street thing, not just a project, it has a larger context for activating downtown. The same thing with Tampa theatre. What I did is I tried to simplify the services and then say were focused on our strategic plan, which is the big plan that covers all the districts and also the Crps. In the past, only focused on Crps but went through a lot of time to build a strategic plan as well.
Lynn Hurtak 11:38:37AM
We have a motion. I believe We already approved the motion. Item number 14 is approving the schedule of the CRA regular meetings. Number 15 is the stereo improvements. For channelside. 14 and 15.
Lynn Hurtak 11:39:02AM
We have a motion approving 14 and 15 by Board Member Clendenin. Second by Board Member Carlson. All in favor? Aye. I would kind of like to talk about 17 a bit more when talking about waivers. Id like to approve 18, 19, 20, the two program changes, which is thats how we move the money around. As you were asking about the money for the fire station, what were doing here is doing a program change. Were moving money from one line item to another. Thats what those are. Then we have two folks being appointed to the Ybor City CRA. We have a motion from Board Member Maniscalco. And a second from Board Member Clendenin. All in favor for 18 through 20? Any opposed? What is the pleasure of the board? We have a Board Member leaving, so we have about 20 minutes to discuss an item. Is there anything that you are less interested in? Thats not a nice thing to say.
Bill Carlson 11:40:12AM
Youll be back at 1:30.
Alan Clendenin 11:40:14AM
If you guys are still meeting, ill be back.
Lynn Hurtak 11:40:18AM
Why dont we take up item number 12. This is the affordable home ownership project, partnership with Domain Homes.
Belix Parks 11:40:40AM
B. Parks, Cra Community Development Coordinator. I am here with the pleasure to introduce a project that --
Lynn Hurtak 11:40:51AM
Yeah, We cant -- board member Clendenin, if you can come back for an emergency bathroom break. Otherwise We have to break for five minutes. Were so close. If not, well keep going. So 12.
Belix Parks 11:41:18AM
B. Parks, community development coordinator for the record. Its my pleasure to present this project, which actually just kind of fell in my lap. No one came looking for funding for this. We had another parcel, as I mentioned previously in the briefings that we had on spruce street. As you know, we were actively looking for different lots to invest affordable housing. And it just so happens that the lots we were looking at were owned currently by Domain Homes. Did I approach them with a concept to try to create attainable housing, being that these would be market rate anyway. With that, thats how this came into fruition. This will have five single-family homes. Again, this is home ownership, not rental, which is extremely important and supported by the community. All of the houses will be under the City Of Tampa sales price currently held at 450, but well under that. Again, we are at the moment recommending 75,000 per home, resulting in a total of 375. This was approved to move forward by the West Tampa CAC. So im just going to bring up a representative from Domain Homes so they can go through the presentation quickly.
Lynn Hurtak 11:42:41AM
Does anyone need a presentation? No. I think we will pass on the presentation. But I did have a quick question for you, if no one else -- board member Carlson?
Bill Carlson 11:42:54AM
I want to make a comment.
Lynn Hurtak 11:42:56AM
I think this is wonderful, but im curious how we go about doing the same thing in other cras where we are looking for property? I think this again what were hearing from the community is like how would we go out and search for these infill lots in, say, east Tampa?
Belix Parks 11:43:16AM
We currently own, as you know -- you know as well, We own property in east Tampa. So We will be releasing an rfp shortly in the first quarter of next year that will have these lots available to further advance the infill for home ownership. We have land to enhance that. In addition to that, there are different individuals who could propose different projects with land that they currently own within the East Tampa CRA. Were looking for active lots, looking to partner with local developers that might have the same concept and were looking to push, as you know, forward, the lots that We personally own for these type of initiatives.
Lynn Hurtak 11:43:59AM
We dont own any residential lots in west Tampa? We have two lots that We own. One of them is on spruce that were going to rehab because We already own that. Again, its going to be like a street impact with this project, but We are actively looking for any type of land within all of the districts.
Lynn Hurtak 11:44:20AM
Board member Maniscalco. Im sorry.
Guido Maniscalco 11:44:26AM
You mentioned east Tampa and the lots coming on line, first quarter of this year, 26.
Belix Parks 11:44:33AM
Yes.
Guido Maniscalco 11:44:34AM
Because of the time constraints and East Tampa CRA sunsetting, which it will be here before we know it, will we prioritize those lots and anybody thats interested in redeveloping them? Weve had them for a while. Time has always been of the essence but can we speed up the process and say were going to run out of time because the CRA expires and whatnot?
Belix Parks 11:44:57AM
Yes. We are looking into moving that forward. Its currently renting. Well you go through internal review for the request for proposal in addition to two other requests for proposals that will be out for the Palifox and for the 12th and osborne location as well. East Tampa will be at full display the first of the year.
Lynn Hurtak 11:45:21AM
Didnt we ask that the Board see those before they go out?
Belix Parks 11:45:24AM
Yes. We are in internal review. The Staff is making sure We have everything covered, all the purchasing requirements are in there to dispose of the land and then, again, well go through Director Mccray.
Lynn Hurtak 11:45:38AM
Board Member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 11:45:44AM
Sorry to bring this up. Some folks in the community have called me and still a kind of stigma that Domain was given or allocated a hundred or so lots in the Last Administration. As ive talked to Domain and talked to other people, that wasnt domains fault. That was the Last Administration's fault. Thats what They did. Weve been pushing for more diversity of product, diversity of companies, different types of ownership. This is not a hundred lots or big monolithic building with a big subsidy. This is just a few single-family houses. I wanted to make that difference there. And then even though Domain is not a small developer, its acting like a small developer here. I hope we can use these kinds of lots and these kinds of projects to promote more diversity and small development. All the research shows you shouldnt build big monolithic buildings with hundreds of people on assisted housing. Instead, you need diversity of all kinds. Ideally there would be smaller units and not just single-family, but quads and duplexes and everything, spread throughout the community. Little pockets of density along with this. But home ownership, as we know, is a primary indicator of multigenerational wealth. As we want people to earn more and pass money and resources on to their families, owning their own home is something that we should aspire to. I think Ms. Coney is here, I dont know about Earnest, but Earnest is back there. He told me a year or so ago, something like 2,000 families in Tampa that have gone through the Hud-approved Training Program and there are no houses. There are families that went through months of training to prepare to budget, They know how to pay for all the line items, including all the maintenance and everything, and They are approved. They have the down payment. They know how to get it, but theres no product. So the more we can fill that 2,000 or whatever the number is here, gap here the better well help our community. Helping 2,000 families buy their own homes will completely transform our community.
Lynn Hurtak 11:47:56AM
Board Member young.
Naya Young 11:47:57AM
With this project, how much -- down payment assistance is available for these homes, correct?
Belix Parks 11:48:06AM
Thank you for bringing that up. In addition to the $50,000 that our CRA can provide in down payment assistance, they can also partner with the City Of Tampa and obtain an additional funding to -- possibility up to $100,000 for down payment assistance to purchase the house. That does buy down that price making it affordable. In addition to that, they could go through different lending institutions that these Housing Counseling Agencies that actually help these clients move along have advantage to. So this has been done. They work their way in providing subsidies to make the price lower. Yes, maam.
Naya Young 11:48:47AM
Is there a list of those Housing Counseling Agencies available?
Belix Parks 11:48:52AM
Yes.
Naya Young 11:48:53AM
Okay.
Lynn Hurtak 11:48:55AM
Good question. Thank you so much. Anybody want to move to --
Guido Maniscalco 11:48:58AM
Move to approve item 12.
Lynn Hurtak 11:49:01AM
Motion from Board Member Maniscalco. Second from board member Carlson. All in favor? Aye. We have 11 minutes. Do you want to do 5? This was board member carlsons. Thats why I wanted to ask board member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 11:49:25AM
The idea here is to try to help in situations like were talking about, how the smaller developers that are building one unit, the Small Nonprofits and others, they dont know how to apply, so the idea here was to help them.
Lynn Hurtak 11:49:41AM
Do we want to combine that with the conversation with 6 and 7 with housing and commercial grants? I believe they kind of go together.
Bill Carlson 11:49:51AM
Can I make a motion to receive and file but also ask them to have -- ask the Staff to have a seminar in the community to help people figure out how to apply?
Lynn Hurtak 11:50:03AM
Lets ask. Is there a seminar available to help people apply?
Cedric McCray 11:50:07AM
That is part of the future plans -- Cedric McCray, Tampa CRA director. That is part of the future plans of the commercial grants and special projects, products that we have, and that is to set up, we can call it a workshop or a boot camp on a designated date, time, location, to inform individuals that May have a level of interest in applying for a Grant so that youre aware in providing that information, walk them through the process.
Bill Carlson 11:50:39AM
Part of this, I think Mr. Regis said this, maybe during public comment, if you are a big developer, lots of units, its easy to get state and federal funding. If you are a small building duplex, you cant do the stacks the same way. So we cant count. Its not apples and apples to compare those. That is the whole purpose to try to solve the problems. Maybe it is worth a special seminar to say here is how we made it simpler for you, heres how we made it easier thats different from the regular boot camps. Ill just motion to receive and file and leave it up to staff.
Lynn Hurtak 11:51:14AM
Motion to receive and file number 5 by board member Carlson. Second by board member Maniscalco. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? I know we have item number 9 and item number 10 are funding requests. Do we want full --
Guido Maniscalco 11:51:41AM
I would like to say a couple of things about them. How does The Board feel about a full presentation?
Lynn Hurtak 11:51:46AM
Do any of US need a full presentation for either of these items?
Bill Carlson 11:51:54AM
Sounds like somebody in the public wants to hear it. Do you want to hold them until after lunch?
Lynn Hurtak 11:52:02AM
Sure. I know We have some folks here who might be waiting on that vote.
Bill Carlson 11:52:07AM
Right. Weve been briefed. The Public has had a chance to comment. Should We just ask -- maybe they can do an abbreviated, like one- or two-minute presentation.
Lynn Hurtak 11:52:23AM
Maybe, ms. Parks, if you could speak to, well start with the clonts property. Item number 9.
Belix Parks 11:52:28AM
For the record, B. Parks, community development coordinator for the Tampa CRA. Just briefly, on April 24 of 2024, the clonts property, inc., Submitted an application for funding for attainable housing in the Grant park area. They actually asked for $2.5 Million, which was fully supported by the East Tampa Cac to fund that. However, due to budget, we could provide 1.750 For them to build 12 units within the Grant park neighborhood, within the East Tampa Cac. In your memo, youll see how thats broken down in 26, 27, 28 for the funding amount. So were just looking ahead for review and approval today.
Lynn Hurtak 11:53:19AM
Could you show that on the slide, that particular page?
Belix Parks 11:53:24AM
Fiscal impact, total development cost for the project was 3.5. So Tampa Cra is recommending investment of the 1.7 Represents 50% of the total project cost. Staff recommends the CRA funding be allocated to clonts property over three-year period and you can see there fy '26, 27, and 28 at around half a million dollars. Again, this was fully supported by the East Tampa Cac.
Guido Maniscalco 11:53:58AM
Im going to support this. Im excited to support this. I know this area well, whatever. Can I tell you my whole family story again. It doesnt matter. My Wife asked me this morning, what about this house, I think it was right around 48th or 47th street. Right across the street over in the highland pines area. $350000. For a house. I said absolutely not. Its a beautiful house, but I go, its not affordable. Investments like this for the families in the community, the community, the housing that we need, we had members of the community, members of Local Churches talking about people having to move out. And schools, that situation, because they couldnt afford to live there anymore. Im happy to support this. Again, this is a worthy investment for something that we absolutely need. Move to approve.
Lynn Hurtak 11:54:58AM
My only question is, here in the file it says the applications for developer subsidy of 2.5 Million.
Belix Parks 11:55:08AM
Yeah, because I always put in the original amount that they request. It is 2.5. We counter with the 1.75 After We review.
Belix Parks 11:55:26AM
Would you like for them to take a minute to say something?
Lynn Hurtak 11:55:30AM
Board Member Carlson?
Bill Carlson 11:55:34AM
-- for transparency purposes. I am the owner of Clonts Properties. And this is my son Parker. So as you could see, we are legacy owners for over 25 years on the vacant lots. 30 years on our strip center, familiar with the CRA program, working with Cedric and his team with commercial interior and exterior renovation. Proud to announce we have seven new businesses going in that plazas we speak. Moving on to affordable housing, we are engaged in the community. We know what they need. We know the size of the houses that they need. We are prepared to use our own land, which is right there on the main Martin Luther King and 50th street i-4 corridor to build 12 two-bedroom, one bath homes. We have a stake in the community. We have a stake in this project in the form of 1.75 Million. So we are here to stay. My son has an office in our plaza. He will be managing. Were not going to build it and be gone. Were there. And weve been there and were there to stay. Were looking to do 41% of the units would be at 50% or less of the ami, so we recognize the need in the community and the need for affordable housing, so we are making a big commitment to those that dont even make that 80% of the ami. 41% of the units would be 50% or below. Weve done our pro formas and we feel this will work for the community. We just hope that we have your support.
Lynn Hurtak 11:57:42AM
We have a motion from Board Member Maniscalco, a second from Board Member Carlson. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Congratulations.
Lynn Hurtak 11:57:55AM
Do We have one more in US? We have two minutes, yes. Item number 10.
Belix Parks 11:58:05AM
Lets go on May 16, 2025, on the Cdc Of Tampa submitted a funding request for 79 units, heritage heights at 29th. This is part of a more scattered site development, more of a mixed use component. The households will be earning between 40% ami to 60% ami, again, reaching the very low community. They are asking for $5 million to create the 79 units, and it was fully supported by the East Tampa Cac to move forward with the projects.
Lynn Hurtak 11:58:48AM
Board member Maniscalco.
Guido Maniscalco 11:58:49AM
Thank you very much. Im glad that the Coneys are here so I can tell them how much I appreciate them and the east Tampa cdc, Dr. Johnson, who is right behind Ms. Lockett in the front, took me through this area a while ago and told me we acquired this property and this property, and he showed me that dream of what this area is going to be. It says Reimagine. Im glad to support this, because, again, 29th and lake, you know, has gone through a lot of changes over the last half a century, and this is another wonderful investment with an organization that has shown proven results to the community. It is a good partnership to have right there in the middle of the community.
Bill Carlson 11:59:36AM
Yeah, and ms. Chloe Coney said in the beginning that in public comment that this is a 30-year dream. I think she and Earnest drove me around maybe 15, 20 years ago. They were talking about what it could be. This is not like a fly by night new thing. It is a nonprofit but an organization invested in the community and is trying to build up the community in a thoughtful way. Adding great restaurants, adding training programs and others to help move the community forward. And they also work on entrepreneurship programs and others. We need -- one of the concerns of the community is we need diversity of where were funding, but this is -- they are a large non-profit and big player in east Tampa but in the overall scheme of things, compared to big companies, they are small. This is one of the organizations that I think we should fund and they have spent a lot of time on this. There are other worthy nonprofits. As we were saying on this other item earlier, we have to figure out how to get them through the funding process as well. Thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 12:00:49PM
Since We did give the last developer a moment to speak, if -- yeah, if you want to come and talk a little bit about it. I will remind everyone that We just did the second reading to approve the rezoning of this last Thursday. Im still thrilled about the bike racks. I was actually talking about it just the other day and how cool they are. Appreciate it. Development for the Cdc Of Tampa. I do want to make one correction. When We went through the rezoning, We did end up decreasing the number of units from 79 to 75 in the overall project, We picked those units back up along with additional because this is phase one of a multiphase project to redevelop that area. Not only bringing affordable housing, but also bringing retail. Were in talks with Grocery Stores so We can bring fresh fruit -- fresh food into the area as well.
Lynn Hurtak 12:01:50PM
Excellent. Anything else? Board Member young. Companies. I felt the great sense of gratitude working with the Coneys and the community on the project. If not for the grace of God there go I. To give back and rebuild communities like the one I grew up in is beyond my wildest dreams. Thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 12:02:17PM
Board Member young.
Naya Young 12:02:18PM
I just want to say having two of these great projects that are right in the district that im representing, so im very proud and really happy to see them come to fruition. Im really happy. Great job.
Bill Carlson 12:02:35PM
Add one note for anybody that doesnt know Vanessa used to be with the city in charge of affordable housing. Im so glad she stayed in the community and went to a great organization like the Cdc. Thank you for bringing your expertise to them.
Lynn Hurtak 12:02:47PM
And congratulations. This will be an excellent property. Its so nice to see some of the things we fought so hard for. Two wonderful projects today that will really help people in east Tampa. All of them under 80% ami. Very impressive. Thank you so much for listening and thank you for our community members for really coming in and doing the work. We really do appreciate your hard work. [ applause I have a motion from board member Maniscalco, I believe. And seconded from Board Member Young. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. We are now going to adjourn for lunch until 1:30. [ sounding gavel [lunch recess]
Lynn Hurtak 1:36:37PM
If we could get a quick roll call.
Guido Maniscalco 1:36:44PM
Here.
Naya Young 1:36:45PM
Here.
Bill Carlson 1:36:47PM
Here.
Lynn Hurtak 1:36:48PM
Here.
The Clerk 1:36:49PM
We have a physical quorum.
Lynn Hurtak 1:36:51PM
Thank you. It was brought to our attention by an e-mail over lunch that for number 9, we did not approve it for the exact amount of money. Thank you, Mr. Bishop, for always keeping US honest. The agenda item listed 2.5 Million, but we chose a different amount. Im going to leave it to the maker of the motion to correct.
Guido Maniscalco 1:37:12PM
For item number 9, the amount should be $1.75 Million, not the 2.5 As you see.
Lynn Hurtak 1:37:21PM
175. Board member Carlson, do you still retain your second? Okay. All in favor? Aye. Thank you again so much. Well move on by request to item number 11.
Belix Parks 1:37:42PM
Cra community development coordinator. Im here to present the 801 Whiting LLC project for 22 workforce housing units within the downtown CRA. This again has a 50-year rent restriction. Its going to produce 22 workforce units catered to 80% Ami up to 140% Ami. Right there the Cac did approve the 4 million request, fully supported by the Cac. Its to produce 22 units. I do have the developer here for a brief presentation. Do We want to move forward with the presentation? Okay. Can I get the 801 Whiting LLC presentation loaded? Yes. My name is Craig Bazarsky. Here with Chris Bicho. We are here to present 801 whiting street and proposal for workforce housing units. Our goal is to make downtown Tampa a more vibrant place to live. Located at the corner of Jefferson and whiting across from Embarc Collective and the aurora and a three-minute walk from water street. Here you can see a project rendering as well as a current picture of the building. We are 100% complete and just opened. Here is a quick overview of the building. It is a brand-new 8 story, 104 unit apartment complex. We have studios and one bedrooms with high end finishes, z line appliances, full size electrolux washer dryers, tile bathrooms, glass shower enclosures, solid core doors and sound studio quality windows. We abut the selmon expressway, 45 stc rated triple pane windows, sound studio quality windows. When you walk into one of the units, you dont hear anything from the outside. This is an ideal location for affordable and workforce units. Located again a three minute walk from water street in downtown Tampa, a mile from ybor and Armature Works. Easy access to the selmon, i-75, i-275, and i-4. Were also abut the Tampa greenway, and were close to a dash stop as well as the trolley. The CRA recently approved a similar request for affordable housing about a mile away in the encore district. What makes our building unique, again, is Renters will be able to live within a few minute walk of where they work and where they go out. Half of our units are long-term rentals floors 6 through 8. Short-term rentals on 2 through 5. On-site and off-site parking. 78 of our units will have the cloud bed which provides Renters with a bed and a couch. We also have a full amenity package. Coworking space, package room, pool, fitness center, outdoor kitchen, full amenity package. Here are some pictures of the interiors of the units. High end appliances, 36-inch french door fridges, backlit mirrors. Glass shower doors and the windows that are triple pane windows. Here is a sample floor plan of one of our studios as well as one of our one bedrooms. You can see in the studios the positioning of our ori bed, which ill get into now. With the ori bed, when a Renter walks into the unit, you see the picture. Youll have a couch, a tv, coffee table, youll be walking into your living room. When you want to go to sleep, you press a button, use your phone, say alexa, lower my bed, the bed then lowers onto the ground, the back of the couch becomes the head rest for the bed and now you have your one bedroom. This provides two major affordable benefits. One is the Renter doesnt have to buy the bed and the couch, which are the two most expensive parts of furnishing an apartment. Second, you get this expandable furniture where you are turning a studio effectively into a one bedroom. Here is an overview of the development. Again, eight stories, 104 units, 85 percent studios. 15% one bedrooms. The first floor is where We have the leasing office, lobby, mail package room, coworking space. Second floor We have six studios and our fitness center which overlooks Jefferson. Third floor, 13 studios as well as our pool which overlooks waters street, four through eight, 14 studios and three one bedrooms. Here is a summary of our proposal. Proposing 22 affordable and workforce housing units ranging from studios and one bedrooms. Were primarily targeting 80% Ami. So over half of our units will be at 80% Ami. 12 at 80%, 5 at 120% and 5 at 140%. Were requesting a $4 million Grant which you can see here complies with the CRA Grant guidelines. We included a 50-year rent restriction. Importantly, our affordable units will be the same as our market rent units. Here you can see a chart We put together showing market rent for studios. One bedrooms at 2475 for studios and 3100 for one bedrooms in the downtown area. Importantly at the 80% Ami you can see a thousand dollar difference between a market rent studio and 80% Ami studio and $1500 difference for a one bedroom. The second chart you can see the CRA contribution of $300 per month per studio or per apartment. Which would be a contribution. And then the rent loss by capping the rent of 683 per unit or 180,000 annually. Here is the budget and sources of uses. We are about $36.7 Million. We have a $17,750,000 loan. 15 million of equity and were asking for $4 million as a CRA contribution. Our goal here is to help make downtown Tampa a more vibrant place to live, work and play. A key part of the vision is providing affordable housing to people who would not otherwise be able to afford to live downtown. This includes Medical Students at Usf Medical, Nurses and staff at Tampa General Hospital. Employees at Start-up Companies, Embarc Collective. That service water street and the downtown market. By keeping units affordable were enabling people in the essential roles to live within walking distance of where they work, creating a more diverse, active, and connected downtown which not only benefits our development, but the entire urban core. Now ill pass it to Chris. Tell you about his affordable qualifications. Affordable housing about 30 years, specifically worked in low income tax. 5000 units in the midwest and southeast. Our current company We do a lot of 80% of Ami. Not only rental but also for sale. The way the world is moving, if We dont provide affordable housing for all different types of the communities and municipalities, were going to end up with a very bland or places that have basically a doughnut hole, where those places lack affordable housing where We need it the most. The opportunity I think We present is the person who is maybe young and out of college or somebody who works in the hospitality business and works a block away at the Jw Marriott or works at Tampa General, has the opportunity to live where they work downtown. Its outpriced for most people who have those employment. Bringing more of that downtown is going to keep downtown not only exciting but I think it also provides kind of the way you kind of work your way up in life through the ladder. It gives people that first step to really participate in the downtown vibrancy. The other thing I was saying to Craig earlier was, We can have 22 affordable units in 30 days downtown. Were not asking for pre-debt money. Not hoping to build something in two years. Were bringing affordability today. Thats also an advantage. Ive been doing this a long time. Usually We come in front of people, oh, in three years you have affordable housing. I think We present an opportunity where We can impact the affordable housing today. Thank you very much. We really do appreciate it.
Lynn Hurtak 1:46:52PM
Wonderful. Board member Maniscalco.
Guido Maniscalco 1:46:54PM
You said a little bit what I was going to say because you mentioned Usf Medical Students or somebody working at Tampa General, but what about the Hospitality Industry because within walking distance youll have a five star hotel, with the Michelin Star Restaurant. High dollar places where people working as servers, bartenders, make a little more in tips than a typical middle-class establishment. Its nice that they can walk to work. Dont need a car. If I lived down there, I wouldnt leave the district because with everything going on and the use of the streetcar and the use of the riverwalk, you have everything there on top of the second phase of water street, everything thats coming in and gasworx. As the district grows, youre going to need stuff -- housing like this to accommodate those that are working in the service industry because there is a lot -- its not just the manager of the hotel. Its everybody else in between. I never knew that there was a bed that you could remote control essentially like that, which is great. If you are a single individual, you dont need a lot of space. This makes it where they have a quality housing experience in downtown, which it is. Id move in there right now. Im married and We have two girls, but if I were single, if I were out of college and I were working as a bartender or server in one of the restaurants, id love to live there. Its great. You dont need a car, which is a huge expense at the end of the month. If they are focusing on, I think I saw close to 14, 15 hundred dollars for the studio, yes, its expensive. I got my first apartment, it was 800 bucks. No, this is great. Like you said, in 30 days. Were not waiting years down the road. We can accommodate people that are waiting for housing now being near where they work and everything else I said. This is exciting. Thanks.
Lynn Hurtak 1:49:05PM
Board Member Clendenin.
Alan Clendenin 1:49:06PM
She can push it and push you up in the wall.
Lynn Hurtak 1:49:14PM
This actually goes to the ceiling. Do we have any motion?
Guido Maniscalco 1:49:21PM
Move to approve item 11.
Lynn Hurtak 1:49:23PM
Motion by board member Maniscalco. A second by board member Clendenin. Any other comments? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Thank you. Congratulations. We really appreciate it.
Lynn Hurtak 1:49:37PM
So We are going to go backward and back to item number 6. Do We want to do 6 or get through 8?
Cedric McCray 1:49:55PM
6 or 8? Yes, we can go with 8.
Lynn Hurtak 1:49:58PM
Trying to get some of the quicker ones done so we can settle in for the conversations.
Cedric McCray 1:50:04PM
Item 8 is revolving around a request for Curtis Hixon Park improvements. We have a representative from Parks and Recreation here, Mr. Monk. Im going to call Mr. Monk forward at this time, if we can cue up the powerpoint.
Lynn Hurtak 1:50:20PM
It is up. Design. Go back in time a little bit. The original request was from June of '24. I will tell you, the condition of the park has not improved in a year and a half. But what this process has allowed US to do, Parks And Rec wants to be following all the right processes and procedures when were requesting CRA funding. And thats where I became involved was to make sure that We were following the procedures. What this process allowed US to do was expand on our directors original letter from a year and a half ago, provide some supporting information and demonstrate the need that the park has. So thats what were going to do. We start with some images -- working with the CRA Staff is very helpful. They helped to US sort of consolidate the presentation and really get to the meet of what were here to talk about. I think everybody is aware of the demand on Curtis Hixon Park. The one thing thats interesting is in 2010 when it opened, the museum was just opening. There was not a completed riverwalk. We didnt have nearly as many residential units downtown. When the riverwalk got connected, it was like a switch was flipped. The demand on the park increased. We had residents come online. The pavement struggles with the number of events. We thought We would get relief when Julian B. Lane opened. Councilman Maniscalco is shaking his head. Its like lightened demand on the highway. We gave another place, and We just had more events. Thats what were experiencing. We imagine when the band shell gets done at Perry Harvey, thats probably not going to take a lot of demand off Curtis Hixon. More places to have more events, which goes into the economic development argument and the Parks And Rec argument, all the things the CRA is here for. I think you all are aware of it. We also took the opportunity to refine the concept diagram and sort of prioritize the most critical needs for the park, and We started thinking about if were going to tear up all this pavement and put down heavy truck reinforced concrete, what other things would it make sense to do. We realized were missing canopy trees on ashley, which is probably at the time there was an interest just to have this open grand lawn view. We need shade in Tampa. As long as were chewing up the pavement, want to add shade, get more durable finishes out there. We want to long-term have a more maintainable facility. Well try to leverage the durability event improvement to get other improvements for the park. And then the last slide is just sort of breaking down where We call primary improvements. Were hoping to get the things at the bottom in there, too, but if We started building the cost estimate up to the original request from 2024, We ran out of money in our estimate. We put the secondary items lower, but in a design-build approach, were hopeful -- were going to include that in the rfq in the criteria package. If the budget works out, well try to get some of those secondary things. And in our conversation with the Cac, one of the things they mentioned as being very important was the bathroom situation. They are 15 years old. That is a lot of use on the few seats that We have. Making an investment in renovating the bathrooms that We have was a real priority of the Cac, so We bumped that up to the primary priorities. And thats where We are today.
Lynn Hurtak 1:54:25PM
Okay. Board Member, Maniscalco, I saw your microphone.
Guido Maniscalco 1:54:28PM
Thank you very much. I was there at the ribbon cutting for this park. I have a photo with Mayor Pam Iorio. I think it was my first ribbon cutting ever. I walk through Curtis Hixon six out of seven days a week because im always on the riverwalk. Im glad you mentioned the cracked pavement because I havent tripped and fallen yet, but I busted my shoes the other day because I hit it just right and it took a chunk out of my nikes. I was thinking to myself and the Attorneys are listening, but its a matter of time before something happens. Its very heavily traveled through that area, especially along the riverwalk. Thats one thing. Im glad youre doing that. Second, while We were discussing the Tree Trust Fund last week, We were getting complaints at the same time of trees getting cut up across from the Publix there on the other side of the river. How many trees are you going to be -- or removing anything? When We refined the concept is were going to try to improve the live oaks around the edges that have never been right. We think its because the soil was never right. Were hoping We can go in there and make soil improvements. Weve been learning a lot about that lately especially with recovery after the hurricanes. Were actually hoping to make the oaks We have better. As you know, weve lost a lot of the phoenix palms and that formal -- lethal bronzing and change those out to something less suspect susceptible to lethal bronzing. Well be adding trees. If budget allows, a row of canopy trees along Ashley. So net increase in canopy.
Guido Maniscalco 1:56:10PM
That is the one complaint that I have received from Curtis Hixon is not enough shade. Julian Lane is a little better. They retained original trees from what it was before, riverfront park. Im glad youre adding and not taking away. We talk about trees all the time. Again, one complaint I hear from the community is theres not enough. Our proposal is to get some of the soil volume under the pavement. You all deal a lot with the trees. In Parks we need lawn for certain things. Ball fields, open play, event lawns. If we put trees everywhere, then the lawn wont live and we dont have lawn and have to do something else. We have a great opportunity here to add shade without diminishing that event lawn.
Lynn Hurtak 1:57:03PM
Board Member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 1:57:10PM
I want to thank former mayor Pam Iorio for her vision on this. I have a lot of friends who disagreed with the vision when she proposed it, but in the end it turned out well. When we talk about trees, please keep in mind there were a lot of sacrifices, other proposals on what to do with this spot, especially along ashley. Those proposals would have blocked the view. The thing that she fought for which I think was right in the end, is it gives a straight-line view to the river and to the University of Tampa. Whatever trees we put, it would be great to have shade all over this. If we put trees, defeats the purpose of why they designed it this way in the first place. Throw it out as a caveat. It is important this was set up as kind of the front door of the city so as people are coming in, they can see how beautiful our city is, that we are on the water, and that we have beautiful Tampa Bay hotel. I think if you go back, those are kind of the words she said. I heard at that time, there was a long time after they tore down Curtis Hixon Hall and the museum was in the back before they built this, but I heard to save money they put grass on top of the concrete. It the foundation of Curtis Hixon Hall still there? Design-build contractor do some investigation and see what the actual condition is and then design a field profile that will work.
Bill Carlson 1:58:50PM
I heard the reason why it gets muddy and grass goes away because there is concrete maybe a foot or two down. We drive trucks on the grass, if it didnt start out compacted, it becomes compacted pretty quick. We have to think about the entire profile. If We cant remediate whatever junk is down, We can create a profile in the space We have available.
Bill Carlson 1:59:18PM
I dont want to get into politics, but there was a push to create Julian B. Lane to push all the concerts over there. It was done without any parking, which I think was a huge mistake. The other thing is that it was very unfair to the people that were at this park that this Administration, the last one, pushed people out. The biggest example is gasparilla music festival which I think is one of the most important events of the year. Helps define the culture of our area, all different subcultures within it. This Administration essentially killed it because they forced them to go to Julian B. Lane. They gave them a date that it rained, and it hit them badly financially and now not letting them come back. Part of it is because the park at the top. Still, I think the Administration should have worked with them better on it. We need to think what our important events are, turning the river green is not an important event. Shouldnt be subsidizing that. Big events like gasparilla festival, drawing a cross section of community, all walks of life, benefits everybody, those are the kind of events we should be supporting. I believe in updating this. I believe if there is concrete underneath, fixing it. I dont believe in using CRA money for this. The community told US over and over we should not use CRA money for something the city would otherwise pay for. The reason the CRA is asked to do this, the Mayor hasnt put enough money in Parks. There are Parks all over the city, including south Tampa, that are absolutely falling apart. Cant get anything done because not enough money put in. City Council keeps asking for money and none extra gets put in. It is causing a lot of high net worth people that moved in during covid, they are leaving because its so bad. We have to focus on the basics. I dont know why the Administration thinks they can come to the CRA with a handout. I understand you guys completely follow the process, which I appreciate, I think we need to update the process. I put this in the draft agreement where we need to look at proposals maybe quarterly or every six months, this was presented to the Cac, as I understand it, but it was not given the context of anything else. If you have $5.5 Million and that is the only project youre looking at, then the Cac will say, yes, fine. But if there are 20 other projects, they might choose something else. The other thing I think we should not do, that money was held, so a lot of nonprofits and others that wanted money were told there was no money in the budget because the city was in effect holding this money. So it looked like there was no more money in the budget. Again, had the public and Cac had a choice of what the projects were, we might have ended up with a different result. Its not that you all didnt go through the process, but by holding that budget, it gave no choice for anybody else and there was no real competition there. Im fully in favor on the city side repairing the park. One of the most important Parks, probably arguably the most important park in Tampa but not using CRA money. I think using CRA money would go against the intent of the public and considering that parts of the city that dont have cras are subsidizing this, they want their Parks fixed too. Lets get to fixing Parks.
Lynn Hurtak 2:02:47PM
Board Member Clendenin.
Alan Clendenin 2:02:49PM
I wanted to go with You, because I feel the same way. Some of the stuff, I dont know. One, it is the CRA that budgeted the money and held it, so it wasnt the City. It was the CRA. I kind of agree with You. I think this is a City asset. It is a very large scale City asset that is widely used by the City. I would like to see this kind of budgeted into general funds for the upkeep and maintenance of the park. I noticed the schematic You showed, the slide right before this, didnt have the dog park. We are staying away from that area since it will be renovated before we get there.
Alan Clendenin 2:03:35PM
Right. One thing I really dont like is that permeable rubber surfacing. Hate it. Structure because We wont be able to grow grass under it and We dont want to use artificial turf in the Parks. There May be another solution, We could pave it, but People uses the terraces for yoga and other fitness stuff. Were trying to find a balance between how can We make that a place that can still support those uses without going to pavement.
Alan Clendenin 2:04:05PM
Heating and everything else -- God knows what other toxins are being leaked into the surface from that stuff. Hate it. Dont like it one bit. Obviously, youre right. The lawn is a mess. We have to do better at keeping the lawn up. It is a park thats overused. I kind of wanted to see this project because the cost escalation, Museums having trouble to get to the point to build out. A lot of the stuff happening over there, They are paying for the dog part, all these costs They are having to absorb for the expansion. Hoping to see a little bit of relief for them as well so They could use their funds for capital improvements and the structure. That was how You wanted to allocate funds. If They are making -- They are making surface improvements on the river side between their facility -- now, that wasnt in our estimate there, but if were doing a design-build, more talking to them first, because, hey, were building this and now youre in the way, like, when can You time it up. It would seem practical.
Alan Clendenin 2:05:27PM
Is it possible We could continue this and have you guys sit down with the Museum Folks and figure out a way to -- because instead of operating kind of in a vacuum because everything they have going on versus what We have going on, maybe a symbiotic way We can do cost benefit. I caution that it might not save as much money if We are now using two different contractors to build within the same footprint. It might be better that they come to this board and say We need more to finish ours. Im afraid We -- im afraid We might not gain the efficiency if We try to lump it into this project that We would hope to gain.
Lynn Hurtak 2:06:18PM
Well start again, but ill go first. Ultimately, if We want to put more money in the Parks budget, We should have done that. We own the budget. It is our budget. It was our chance to move something from somewhere else and it didnt get done. Thats why We are where We are right now. Personally, thats actually what I want to see done with the majority of whatever money We have left of fy '25. I want that money to go to the Parks. It doesnt need to go to this park. It needs to go to the other Parks. The Parks in south Tampa, Parks in north Tampa, Parks in west and east Tampa that have been begging for it. How do We, what is our balance here? I think that is the existential question. How do We fund this, which is one of our signature park, how do We fund the maintenance of it and is it really the cras responsibility to do that? Just going to throw that out there. Board member Maniscalco.
Guido Maniscalco 2:07:16PM
If this is approved today, what is the estimated start time for these improvements? What is the schedule? Design-build and get the rfq on the street hopefully within a month or two. Build the rfq, Contract Admin gets it on the street. Then 30 days, you select somebody and goes through the contract negotiation. They need some time to design and permit. So I figure they are in the summer sometime before they are kind of in the design and permitting. As I recall, the funding was split between fy '26 and '27. So I suppose that Design-build contractor would probably wait until October 1 and then have their gmp all ready and do one gmp October of next year. And then were like, well, thats fine, but cant do anything from October to April in Curtis Hixon Park. Maybe the bathrooms but cant chew up all the lawn and all the pavement, so well include in the rfq points for being strategic about how you phase the work. Conservatively its like a notice to proceed sometime in novemberdecember of next year and try to put the bulk of the work in the summer after the event season next time around. I dont know that we can get there any quicker than that. They have the option to do early work and can come back and say well give you an initial gmp to do some of the first stuff and we get stuff done potentially in the summer, like next summer.
Guido Maniscalco 2:09:02PM
E-mail, I dont know if it went to all council members, one event, I dont know if it is an oktoberfest event, but its a signature event. Its this business' main item. They were concerned about the date that they had scheduled at Curtis Hixon and the start of this. And that they would have to cancel and all the chaos. We work with our office of special events. We looked at the events for the last few years, and October is pretty heavy, November, oddly light. [Technical difficulties]
Bill Carlson 2:10:03PM
First to Madam Chair's comment about the budget, yes by charter, City Council is in charge of the budget, but in practice were not. [Technical difficulties]
Bill Carlson 2:11:35PM
All that could have gone to pay for this. If they said, well, could pay for this in the general fund, but if you paid for it through the CRA, then maybe well go fix the Parks in south Tampa or somewhere else. Adding on to what board member Clendenin proposed, continue this until January and ask the staff to go back to all the people they said no to and say bring all your proposals to whatever the next downtown Cac meeting is, lets present all the proposals. And they said -- the Cac said yes to this out of context. If you have 20, 30 proposals and the Cac still says yes, then fine, we can move forward with it. But they at least need to know the context of it. Because we cant keep, what I dont like, if the city has a project, we hold the money, the same thing with the Edc. We kept telling people in east Tampa we didnt have money but it was $9 million hidden there or reserved there. One of the things I put into the draft contract is nothing should be put in the budget until it is approved by the CRA board. We should not be holding money for anybody else. It should be clear what the money is. Instead of talking about one nonprofit, lets open it up to all proposals and have them present to the Cac and see which one they prioritize. Would -- to Council Member Hurtak's point, Parks And Rec is pleased to improve these Parks from whatever fund source. I laid out for council member Maniscalco sort of the time that were looking at. And the benefit of this fund request is the timeliness of it. If it goes to fiscal year '27 capital budget, well continue to chase the repairs and keep the park serviceable until then and make the improvements then. However the will of the board is, but there is a timeliness to this process and request. There May be benefit there. [Technical difficulties]
Alan Clendenin 2:16:09PM
Its just a matter -- the project has to happen. Just a matter of where we find the pots of money. And what that looks like. So I think that we probably should continue this discussion until after we have a City Council discussion about some of this other funding.
Lynn Hurtak 2:16:54PM
That will be the last meeting of December.
Alan Clendenin 2:16:57PM
Last meeting of December. I would suggest We continue this until the January meeting.
Lynn Hurtak 2:17:07PM
We have a motion from Board Member Clendenin. We have a second from Board Member Carlson. Board Member Maniscalco.
Guido Maniscalco 2:17:12PM
I was going to say, you said you had not met Mr. Monk. Our Office has worked with him several times. Really great to work with. You always go above and beyond.
Bill Carlson 2:17:23PM
I was a great relationship with Tony Mulkey. Havent met you yet. Well set up something.
Lynn Hurtak 2:17:39PM
For me, this is a question of are we rebuilding this park or fixing things? If we are fixing things, thats not in the spirit of the CRA. Thats my concern here. Thats not what CRA funding is for. Cra funding is for transformational work. I am confused.
Alan Clendenin 2:18:11PM
Lets ask Shepard.
Lynn Hurtak 2:18:12PM
I get what were trying to do. Obviously, it has to be done. I completely agree with board member Clendenin. Has to get done, but how do we get it done. If we dont spend the money from the CRA, then the people who want their Parks fixed in the rest of the city will be mad, if we spend 5.5 Million of general fund on this. I completely see their point. This is one of those things we need to see what kind of money we have. We need to see the availability and talk about it. Im worried that we are going to push this to January and then still be in the exact same place we are right now. If thats what you want to do.
Bill Carlson 2:18:49PM
Hopefully the Administration is watching and They will be collaborative and figure out some solution. There are two tracks. One is the Administration can look at other funding sources and see if theres some way to propose this. Or number two, well go back to the Cac and present all the difference options and the Cac will decide. If They pick this still, then youll have my vote if They pick it in the context.
Lynn Hurtak 2:19:10PM
But the point being -- im going to go back to this. We own the budget. We own it. If We want more money in that Parks budget, We are all going to have to dig in and fight for it. Board Member Young.
Naya Young 2:19:27PM
So I am definitely hearing and seeing both sides of the coin, but I feel like, Cedric, youre trying to answer our question up here.
Cedric McCray 2:19:42PM
Cedric McCray, Tampa CRA director. Ive confirmed with staff, this is the only formal application submitted through the approved process by this board. For this amount. We havent received any other. There are no other applications in the queue. Did follow the process of going to the Cac and then coming to you all with the process that you all have previously approved last year. Thats where we are. But there are no other formal requests that have been going through the application process with the approved Grant process that you all have approved.
Lynn Hurtak 2:20:25PM
Board member Maniscalco.
Guido Maniscalco 2:20:26PM
I look at it as if We allocate the CRA money for this, it gives US more general fund money to put to those other Parks. As already has been mentioned, just like We move the money around for paving to increase the paving budget. Now, just because We move the money around doesnt mean it is guaranteed that theyll spend it. Thats why when We talk about the charter and any idea, one of the things that I want to bring up is when City Council or CRA -- well, City Council in this case, when We move money for something, it should be in the charter or written that that money needs to be spent within that budget year on that project. But if We use CRA money for this, again, im happy to support the continuance. It just gives US more flexibility in the general fund because council member Carlson is right. There are Parks in the city, I visit a lot with my step daughter. We try to go to all the Parks that You forget they are even there. Either not advertised, You get there, and they are in a state, they just havent been touched in years. We look for a swing or a picnic table or something. Just minor improvements, but they make all the difference people that have kids and families, that is the closest park they have. Not everybody has Curtis Hixon or like me, Al Lopez Park. Im happy to support the continuance. Well talk about other available funds in December, and You told me the timeline. I dont think its going to throw things off. Were talking 60 days at this point, and then We take it from there.
Lynn Hurtak 2:22:05PM
Why are we going to wait? Board Member Clendenin, you have your mike on, did you have something you wanted to say?
Alan Clendenin 2:22:12PM
No, sorry. Forgot to turn it off.
Lynn Hurtak 2:22:14PM
Board Member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 2:22:16PM
Heres the thing, the Administration found and fought for the money for fair oaks while all the other east Tampa Parks dont get anything. And then $43 million or whatever, they found the money for 56 or whatever for the west Tampa riverwalk project. They found 120, 140, whatever the latest number is for hanna avenue. They are looking for 40 for police building to do evidence. They find all that money and most of it is debt, unfortunately, but they find money for that, but we know that this is needed. So why is there the expectation that they didnt find money for this? Its not like theres money sitting in Parks that were -- that were not going to use now. I want to push them to put more money in Parks. If they put -- if they find an equivalent 5.5 Million or something, to fix other Parks in the city, then I might support this also. But im trying to -- because we dont have any power to control or change the budget during the year, so we only have that one shot. As I said, its already baked in. In theory we have the power but really dont. Id like to push them to come up with another solution. If they are creative and collaborative, theyll come up with something. Lets try to get more money. Last thing, Cedric, you May not remember this, but in the last six months, how many people in downtown did you say, well, you could apply but a theres no money? If Somebody is told theres no more money, then they wouldnt apply. Why would Somebody apply if theres no money? Do you know how many people havent applied?
Lynn Hurtak 2:24:07PM
Please come up. State your name. Cra. Since 2024, We only received five requests for downtown, for funding requests. Out of that, This Board already approved one of them and this is the second one. Were still working on a couple of applications. We have not received any requests that We have told --
Bill Carlson 2:24:29PM
If We approve this will We have money for the other three?
Bill Carlson 2:24:34PM
But my point is, the ones that might have come to You verbally, anecdotally told by several organizations they asked, oh, theres no money in east Tampa. Two different tracks, if we delay by two months, again, im in favor of doing this, depends what bucket. One, let the Administration try to work on a collaborative solution to give US more money for the Parks or put this in and use it a different way. Andor we make sure that the public knows that it is open that they can put other applications in in the next month or so, present them before the Cac and the Cac still prioritizes this, then You can come back and show US that this is the highest priority.
Lynn Hurtak 2:25:17PM
Board Member Clendenin.
Alan Clendenin 2:25:20PM
Do you have money currently budgeted for Army Navy? For CRA. Different from the commercial.
Alan Clendenin 2:25:36PM
How much do you have?
Lynn Hurtak 2:25:41PM
We dont have a request for Army Navy.
Alan Clendenin 2:25:43PM
I dont know if theyve had money set aside.
Lynn Hurtak 2:25:46PM
We have quite a bit of money. The 30% for the downtown CRA is significant. If that is what is in your hand, why dont you put it on the wolf for US. I want to say its like 15 millionits Insane. If we talk about the east Tampa $9 million, we owned that property. We are the ones that wanted to do something with that. 25. Im sorry. 25 million. So 25 million. We have quite a bit of money. Its true, we are kind of holding off because we own that Army Navy. As board member Carlson said, we own part of that. The city owns some of it, too, which is why they are the ones doing the project.
Alan Clendenin 2:26:54PM
25 is more than I thought We had.
Bill Carlson 2:26:57PM
Said this before but with my CRA hat on, my understanding is that as part of that deal we were just providing the land. If there is a big expectation that youll put in a lot of money, that needs to be cycled through at an amount because otherwise people can just write whatever check they want. The other thing is the Rfp was stopped. I dont know if anybody else got an explanation as to why, but a lot of questions in the public and questions about lobbyists and things. We need transparency into that process and not just have a blank check. Even though we had 25 million, it doesnt go very far in downtown compared to east Tampa and other places. We need to be really careful about how we spend it and make sure there are projects in the pipeline.
Lynn Hurtak 2:27:42PM
From my understanding, They put it out again because They didnt like what They got. Yeah, maybe We do need to get a briefing on that. If anybody wants to do that tonight, go ahead and write yourself a motion. We are right now at the point We need to decide what were doing. I understand the possibility of postponing it, but I dont believe in postponing it so that other things could possibly come forward. This is a priority to do for the city. If We want to postpone it, thats fine. My vote doesnt change.
Alan Clendenin 2:28:18PM
The question is the schedule. If im hearing you correctly, were not talking about construction until May of '27, right? The risk that We run is decided this isnt how the money should be spent --
Alan Clendenin 2:28:42PM
I think well find the money. Fiscal year comes out, capital or CRA wants the fund some other way. I think once they get through design and permitting, end of summer, early fall anyway. My guess is they will do a gmp and wait for all the money to become available. I think that 60 days isnt a deal killer.
Bill Carlson 2:29:10PM
I believe Board Member clendenins motion was simply to continue it until January. I tried to add amendments, but he didnt accept them. I think the motion on the floor is to continue it with no ties.
Alan Clendenin 2:29:22PM
Then we have more information. I have more time to chew on it, too.
Lynn Hurtak 2:29:27PM
How about this. I hate to say lets move it forward and then were at the same place. What about We move it forward and then get some individual briefings so We can kind of figure out which way We want to go with it?
Alan Clendenin 2:29:45PM
Can you set up a meeting with me, Museum, just a sidebar.
Lynn Hurtak 2:29:51PM
Why dont We each have our own meeting? Why dont We sit and talk about this and talk about the funding and talk about where else We want Parks money to come from because thats really what were saying here, We need to solve this. I do not want to come back to January and have the exact same conversation. Thats my only ask.
Alan Clendenin 2:30:12PM
I agree. I still motion to move this to the January 11 meeting.
Lynn Hurtak 2:30:19PM
Or 15th.
Alan Clendenin 2:30:20PM
15th. January 15th.
Lynn Hurtak 2:30:23PM
Yes. It is 15th. But with individual briefings. I have a motion from board member Clendenin. I have a second from board member Carlson. Any more discussion? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?
Alan Clendenin 2:30:44PM
Just for your confidence, I have no doubt that either this Board or The Council will find the way to fund this project.
Lynn Hurtak 2:30:52PM
Okay. Thank you.
Alan Clendenin 2:30:54PM
Without the rubber. [ laughter
Lynn Hurtak 2:30:58PM
I dont think the rubber is bad. If you are going to cover a portion so people can do yoga, maybe that is the way it goes.
Alan Clendenin 2:31:07PM
If You promise to do zumba in one of the zumba outfits, ill personally pay for the rubber.
Lynn Hurtak 2:31:14PM
Okay. Oh, my God. Did you all shake on that?
Alan Clendenin 2:31:21PM
We did.
Lynn Hurtak 2:31:22PM
You start with karaoke and then all of a sudden --
Alan Clendenin 2:31:27PM
Hes out there in a leotard --
Lynn Hurtak 2:31:33PM
With that open mind in thinking about the open mind, We are about to go into the meat of our agenda, which is number 6, the update on the commercial Grant policy.
Cedric McCray 2:31:45PM
Good afternoon again. Cedric McCray, Tampa CRA director. The next item on your agenda as just stated the commercial Grant policy update. As you know, we had the first iteration that was approved by this Board sometime around June of last year, 2024. Since that time, we found some things that we could have tweaked. Thats based on community feedback and input as well. Im going to call forward ms. Dee Reed to present. The presentation youre going to see is going to be very similar to the engagement session we held on October 13 at the boards request to field any questions and explain some of the changes that will be made and suggested in the policy update. I will tell you that a majority of the tweaks that have taken place we believe will be in the benefit of the applicant and the end users of the funding. Some of the other changes have been based on our CRA Board attorney and making sure that were in compliance with chapter 163 and out of the crosshairs of folks a little farther north.
Lynn Hurtak 2:32:54PM
I do want to mention that we do have a copy of the questions that were asked at the October 13th community workshop in front of US. I want to say thank You for those who -- [audio drop] -- are the only new construction that the CRA can fund. Multifamily uses are considered residential uses and that mixed use development May still be funded under residential grants. Here we provided a side by side wording of the policy regarding the prohibition on new construction and provided examples of the types of projects that will or will not be eligible. We provided a side by side list of the policy language related to the cap on requested amounts and emphasized the new wording being added. To the boards concern regarding city project requests, we detailed the restrictions that applied to city requests, including having to receive cac recommendation and Board approval at the con -- of the concept prior to an application being submitted. We provided a side by side of the policy language referencing direct and progress payments and explained that the only change is to allow monthly payments to the contractors. Here we used scenarios to show the difference in that payment process. We provided a side by side list of the policy language on legacy credit and explained how the tif contribution cap removal increases the potential credit amount for each project. Again, we used the scenario to show the substantial increase in credit a potential project could receive. We went over the less substantial changes to the policy related to funding principles. Staff did introduce a policy change that was made after the August presentation. We learned that per the City Attorney's Office, the citys ethics policy prohibits cac members from receiving cac -- sorry, CRA grants or funding. Cra Attorney Shepard fielded several questions during the question-and-answer session of the October 13th workshop on this topic. Other changes include clarifications within the application submission process regarding pre-application meetings and the ability to obtain permits prior to award. We explained changes to the award process and the addition of an appeals process. We informed the community of the revisions that are proposed to the individual grants. Here are the changes for predevelopment Grant or the proposed changes for predevelopment Grant. As well as the commercial exterior Grant. When it came to the changes to the interior Grant, as suggested by Board Member Hurtak, we included presentations of items -- im sorry. We presented images of the types of improvements that would be eligible for funding in a restroom of a commercial building. And the changes that would be eligible in the kitchen of a restaurant. We also displayed images of the types of improvements that would be ineligible for funding in a restroom of a commercial building as well as those that would be ineligible in the kitchen of a restaurant. We explained that special project grants will only be used for non-city requests under a million dollars. We officially incorporated the existing funding request for requests for funding of one million. We also emphasized that city requests will be required to receive cac recommendation and Board approval at the concept level in order to request CRA funding, which must be submitted as a funding request. So during the workshop, Staff was asked to provide underline and strike-through copies of the policy and Grant document for their review by the first week of November. As of Friday, October 24th, a link to a new policy and grants update page was added to the CRA commercial grants page. As promised, both the presentation and the video of the workshop were made available. On November 7, the underline and strike-through documents were uploaded. These documents were significantly delayed in order to complete the required rounds of review before putting it out for the public. Id like to just pause and just kind of go back to one of the statements that was made earlier regarding the franklin street being an example of the policy update. I just want to clarify that the project, along with others, are projects that were initiated prior to June of 2024, when there was no policy. And that was a part of why we were asked to go through the restructure so we can create a process in which those types of projects and requests, they could go through from a transparent position. So id like to just clarify that this policy is designed to help those types of situations. Also, as we mentioned during the briefings, on the topic of concept approval, what our question was from a Staff perspective is whether the boards intent is that that be applied to request of a million dollars as well. You also received copies of the changes that would be made if that is the desire of the Board. Those have not been made officially in the documents, but those are how -- those are the changes we would have to make if the Board decides to apply that same concept approval thats applied to city requests to request for a million dollars. Staff recommends the Board approve the proposed updates with an effective date of January 1, 2026. Im here to answer any questions that You have.
Lynn Hurtak 2:42:07PM
Board member Maniscalco.
Guido Maniscalco 2:42:09PM
Yes, maam. Thank you for the presentation and the briefing as well. I saw City Of Tampa is ineligible, I saw certain different slides. Cac members, are they as of now ineligible for any kind of Grant funding? I know we have a lot of people that have interest in real estate and whatnot.
Belix Parks 2:42:32PM
That.
Dee Reed 2:42:34PM
That is correct. Initially when we presented to the Cac as far as what Staff was aware, it was only special projects grants because they come to the Cac for recommendation. So we were under the impression that they were only ineligible for special project grants. However, since that time, we were made aware that based on the citys ethics code, they are ineligible for any CRA grants.
Guido Maniscalco 2:43:01PM
Even if they were to recuse themselves from the Cac Board recommendation vote?
Dee Reed 2:43:07PM
Yes. Unfortunately, that is the direction that we have been given from the City Attorney's Office. We have asked those questions. We sent a list of scenarios trying to understand which cases people would be able to apply. According to those scenarios, they are not eligible.
Guido Maniscalco 2:43:28PM
Thank you very much.
Lynn Hurtak 2:43:29PM
Board Member Clendenin.
Alan Clendenin 2:43:30PM
It blows my mind that weve ever done that. I think its a conflict and I think it doesnt look good. Weve had these discussions. I think that obviously this Board, this is like were taking shots at rear view decisions made by the Board passed by four votes and second-guessing the votes made by the Board on some of these larger scale projects that have been approved. We always have the authority to say yes or no on things. As we discussed when talking about arbitrary caps on the things, I think ridiculous. Again, there might be some -- I dont even know what the future project is in the future. Maybe the facade of Tampa theatre falls down and we have to -- we have to put it back up. Who knows. You have to say that you have to get the votes of the Board, period. If you get four votes to the Board, its worthy of passing. Creating a rule that forces US in a position of having to waive our own rules is not good policy. That is a bunch of people whining. Im sorry. I know that will make people mad, but thats what it is. People did not like the decision of the Board and they are second guessing the boards decision economic roi and return of the investment, the worthiness of the straz or worthiness of the museum or worthiness of the $5 million we gave somebody else and thats all this is. I dont like it. I dont like it one bit.
Lynn Hurtak 2:45:14PM
Okay. Board member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 2:45:19PM
The ones you mentioned were purely political because the Mayor objected to Straz but didnt object to the Aquarium or the Museum Of Art or the Tampa Theater. It doesnt make sense. Why would you be against the Straz? Just because the last Mayor was against the Straz doesnt mean this Mayor should be. They are city owned facilities and they are matching. Were putting in 25 cents on the dollar at most that they are matching and thats a pretty good deal. [ technical difficulties these are our staff, even though they officially work for the city, we need to make sure they are given the best tools they can to be able to make a fair decision.
Dee Reed 2:46:29PM
If I May just clarify, while that is a cap on what can be requested, there is no cap on what the Board can authorize or approve in terms of funding towards a project, which is the cap is literally to just kind of minimize what people can come in and request for, so that we can consider more projects.
Alan Clendenin 2:46:50PM
How does it get to US if its not requested?
Dee Reed 2:46:53PM
If they are requesting a million or less, in the presentation, youre going to get the full project cost. Youre going to get what the CRA is recommending. So You have that information. We can convey --
Alan Clendenin 2:47:07PM
Its an attempt to make staff -- this is staff ripping control and decision making authority from the Elected Board. It is the same thing that happened, we had the argument about the other issue we had, which ended up I was right. [ laughter youll admit, I was right. Because these policies, again, we vet these things and we think these things fairly well through and from different perspectives. Not just from administrative but also political, as Bill Carlson just mentioned, there are various different issues that enter in these discussions. I understand from a staff perspective creating a clean, easy policy that can move across a desk and move through staff quarters without entering the political realm is nice and clean and sweet and all these good things. But unfortunately, a lot of the stuff, it is political. It is political. A lot of these things, its also decision making based on -- not just administrative kind of decision making but political decision making.
Dee Reed 2:48:24PM
Just so you know, that was implemented at the direction of the Board to implement the cap, but --
Alan Clendenin 2:48:30PM
[Inaudible]
Dee Reed 2:48:31PM
But were here today. If its the desire of the Board for US to proceed without the cap, We just need to receive that direction from the Board, and We can make that change.
Lynn Hurtak 2:48:43PM
I havent had a turn yet on this one. Honestly, that is the thing that bothers me is the cap. And I dont know what the solution is to it. For sort of the same reason, just today, we had to go and correct it. You werent here. But the ask was for two and a half million. Staff and the Cac agreed to 1.75 But the 2.5 Was still in there and we approved the motion and had to go back and say, no, only supposed to be for 1.75. I think this just needs more debate right here, right now over how do we do this? When looking at those two projects that just came to US from east Tampa, we need to kind of see whats not in the pipeline but the possibilities line. We kind of need to see everything at once. Thats what makes it difficult. Thats where Ms. Kopesky is sitting in because we need her help with that also in looking at the budget for each of these Cras as we navigate how to spend this money. But I dont want to put an arbitrary million-dollar cap when if they need 1.25, Then they have to come here and basically beg for it. I dont think thats appropriate. First of all, put your mike on. Secondly, im concerned about the appeals process. You can appeal decisions made by Staff -- who are we appealing to?
Dee Reed 2:50:32PM
The appeals are submitted to The Board. They would come before The Board and present the information as it was presented to Staff. They get to present why They feel as though They should not have been denied and Staff would present as well.
Lynn Hurtak 2:50:47PM
Again, thats something that I worry about too. If we get denials and have like 20 cases in front of US. How do we find that balance? This is why we should be having this conversation today. Im going to send it to Board Member Carlson and then ask others to contribute more as well. Board Member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 2:51:07PM
Just narrowly, to one of the issues, You all said lets put it all on the table. Sorry, I dont remember if this was in the new rules or not, but I think We ought to pick to either approve or prioritize quarterly or twice a year because as We were talking about in some of the other cases, the cases come up and out of context, its a great idea. But if there are 20 proposals -- there are two things. One is that You heard a lot of people in the back of the room this morning who were upset because they represent small Nonprofits or for profits, and they still are frustrated. They dont know how to apply. They think they have been turned down unfairly and all kinds of stuff. You are trying to work through that with them because I sat in some of the meetings. One thing is to help more folks participate. Thats one reason potentially support a cap. But We need to build capacity, train, educate, get people involved to help them apply. The second one is timing. If it is first come, first served, the best one might not be the first one. And then if the city knows the timing and presents theirs first, then they get the money and with our other hat We are the city, but where We are now, I call US a grant-making organization, so We need to look at all the different projects. For example, with the Straz Center, were putting in 25% and they are matching it with 75%. That is a really good deal versus if We are paying 100% for a city project and the same with most of the others that We partner with. Even the Aquarium they are matching like 2:1. I think We ought to just maybe to have this discussion, We ought to have the criteria but maybe Staff would prioritize, the Staff would rank them and then present them to US maybe once a quarter and say, here is our recommendation or here is our weighting of it. And then We would look at them, maybe there are some that dont qualify at all that would be knocked off and then We would evaluate them and decide. The reason is, there needs to be a broader context. We created the strategic plan for the CRA, not the Crps. Created the strategic plan for the CRA so that We could guide all that decision making. And other than housing, it still seems ad hoc that people are just applying to US. I dont think following our strategic plan We ever would have funded the Edc project. We would have gone to Nonprofits in east Tampa and We would have funded them to build capacity and supported them directly instead of paying somebody else to give them a little bit on the side. So I think We need to at some point go back to our strategic plan, especially since We have a New Member, make sure its working correctly and look at the context and make sure were looking at all the different applications out there.
Dee Reed 2:54:00PM
If im understanding correctly, were saying for special projects and funding requests You would like US to look at accepting those on a quarterly basis or accepting them but then presenting them on a quarterly basis.
Bill Carlson 2:54:13PM
Thats my proposal. I dont know how anybody else thinks.
Lynn Hurtak 2:54:16PM
Board Member young.
Naya Young 2:54:17PM
So we heard a lot from The Public this morning, and my question would be how would this help to answer some of those questions or address some of the comments that came from The Public this morning, specifically in terms of like the grants policies?
Dee Reed 2:54:40PM
I do not remember all of the individual comments. Go ahead.
Naya Young 2:54:47PM
Just in terms of -- pretty much what board member Carlson was saying earlier. The actual process, who can and who cant. Is it new builds? Is it not? Im trying to figure out -- and then seeing from all the board members as well, how does -- how does this address some of the questions that the public had earlier, the grants process?
Dee Reed 2:55:22PM
Ill try to take a stab at it. A lot of the questions, and I cant remember if They were all specifically said this morning, but in general going through the process, most of the concerns or questions or issues that We hear are dealing with new construction and then the change to the interior Grant. Fortunately, those are not things that staff can -- unfortunately, those are not things staff can make changes to. That is the Florida statute. We have our Cra Attorney that has advised US in that direction. He did a whole presentation or workshop during the conference where he detailed why were unable to fund new construction unless its infrastructure or affordable housing. No, it does not come out and say in the statute that you cannot fund new construction, but it does specify what you can fund. Because new construction is not on that list, We cant fund it. In terms of the interior Grant, and I can defer to Attorney Shepard or attorney -- im sorry -- Brackins, They can explain it better than me, but in terms of interior Grant, our job is to improve the appearance, right, how it looks. When you come into an area, does it look safe? Does it have a nice appearance? Is it welcoming? Those are things We can do from repairing and making improvements to the exterior of the building. Repairing or improving the interior of a building does not accomplish that. So those are -- that is the best way that I can explain why were making the change to the interior Grant. Some of the questions in terms of people saying that Mixed Use is ineligible, I dont know how many times I say this, but I keep trying to convey that Mixed Use is not ineligible for Grant funding. When it comes to the residential piece that has to be funded through residential and it has to go through whatever that process is. In terms of my division, We fund commercial. So with a Mixed Use space, if its an existing building and They are rehabbing or renovating or making improvements, We can fund it. However, if They are building new, if They are building a new development, Commercial Funds cannot go towards the commercial space of that new construction. But that has nothing to do with what They can or cannot receive from the residential funding. Just from memory, those are the main complaints that im hearing, and those are -- theres nothing -- this policy, whether you approve it or not, it doesnt change any of that because its statute. In terms of things that the policy helps, We have legacy credit. As it stands, legacy credit exists. One of the examples -- or the example that We presented at the workshop and I dont remember the exact numbers, but lets just say someone was eligible based on their project, They were eligible for legacy credit of say $15,000, but right now, its also capped by how much They have paid into the tif. If you think in terms of cras, its blighted properties, right? A lot of those property values are low. So that means that the amount that They are paying into the tif on an annual basis is much lower than whats paid in other areas. Their cap, while They May be eligible for $15,000, if They only paid $3,000 into the tif, We can only give them $3,000 worth of credit. With this policy update, We are removing that cap. So the cap becomes $100,000. So no matter how much They have paid into the tif, if They have resided in that property -- im sorry, if They resided in the district or They have owned that property in the district for I think its 20 years, for 20 years, They are eligible for hundred percent. That means They could get hundred thousand dollar credit towards their project. The percentage does decrease because it starts at five years, then 10 years, then 15, and I believe 15% at 5 years. Is it 25 -- 25 at 10 years. 35 at 15 years, and then 100 percent at 20 years. Staff is not trying to not spend the money. We spend countless hours in team meetings trying to figure out how do We make this easier. We ran into someone who came into the office and applied for an exterior Grant. There is a scoring sheet. This Person was five points short of the required points. And They could have gotten it if They made site improvements. However, because of the area They are located and the way They are boxed in, They dont have site. So that was an unintended consequence. We sat down, how do We fix this? Now in that scoring criteria, We found a way to where if They dont have adequate site, then They get additional points in a different area. So were constantly trying to find ways to help people, but We have to do it within the guidelines of the statute and the crps. So our hands are somewhat tied but We do the best We can with what We have.
Alan Clendenin 3:01:08PM
One, that was outstanding and accurate based on my understanding of what you are dealing with. Perfect description of everything that were having to contend with. I think its kind of frustration because there is a lot of very assertive people that insist on things, but its not in line with Florida statute and what the Cras responsibility and ability, even though some things are worthy, its not something that the CRA can do. This might be for Cedric. Cedric, I kind of feel like -- Cras are everywhere, right? Does anybody do this process better -- or have a process better than this?
Cedric McCray 3:01:52PM
In some form or fashion. Throughout the discussions and our conversations with Attorney Shepard, we have looked at different models. Along the i-4 corridor, I know he has connections with other Cras that he actually serves as their legal representation for and what that looks like. So, yes, there are other entities, but I can tell you this is unique in Tampa. Weve gone through the process.
Alan Clendenin 3:02:20PM
Were special.
Cedric McCray 3:02:22PM
Weve heard the concerns from the community. Were trying to assist and subsidize however We can to assist Residents and business owners in all the cras.
Dee Reed 3:02:35PM
I would like to add to that, just in conversations with Attorney Shepard, he has actually given US credit here in Tampa for doing things that other cities or areas havent been doing and he wishes that they would implement policies like what we have. He has actually requested some of our documents to recommend to some of his other cras.
Alan Clendenin 3:02:57PM
The cras are unequal parts. And I think that is the struggle. What seems like a good policy in one -- I mean, in -- what is a good policy in east Tampa is really, it might be kind of just not applicable to channelside versus downtown or something as small as Tampa heights. So small. Or drew park. I think were creating a CRA policy of all of these unequal parts and thats difficult. If we were just talking about east Tampa, I think I might go with everything you just described. If this was just an east Tampa policy. But its difficult to extrapolate that to some of the scale -- scope and scale of some of the other things were seeing in like the channelside downtown and potentially somewhere in the near future Ybor City or, hell, depending on where certain something goes, drew park. You just dont know what the future holds. Thats my concern. I think you heard it. Heard it from myself. Are you Chair Pro Tem on the CRA? Just chair today. Chair Hurtak. I think this needs a little bit more baking, a little more thought on how that works. Again, I think this board would like to be able to vet these things with all the information and then make a determination based on what is presented, the worthiness of that. Im very sensitive to saying the same thing Councilman Carlson did. I feel this way about a lot of different projects. What was the determination made that this was the most worthy way to spend x number of dollars. When wearing council hats, we talked about that with the south howard project. Theres no doubt south howard is worthy. It needs to be done. When you compare it to everything else around the City Of Tampa, did somebody say, okay if we spend a hundred million dollars here, maybe -- best place to spend? Was it done, I dont know. I dont know if we saw that. I think we should do better about that. If that means corralling it all together and weighing multiple projects against one another and rating them, maybe thats what the future is, Bill. I dont know.
Dee Reed 3:05:21PM
My question would be if your concern or hesitation is that You want to see them all, We just removed the cap and You see them all. I dont know that the whole policy needs to be delayed. Like We said, there are several Applicants waiting in the queue --
Bill Carlson 3:05:43PM
Few things. I think it is necessary to have this to and fro, especially since We have a new member because We never get to talk about how We feel about things. Here is the reason, the city, as well find through charter review, the way it is written, equal divisions of government. Not always been equal in the way its worked but they are. Federal Government has three. We dont have a judicial branch. In this system, the city, the Mayor controls all the Staff, except our Staff and can set policy and direction and We react as City Council. Push our own agendas and negotiation. Because the Mayor controls all the Staff, it puts US in a slightly weaker position. In theory our powers are the same. In the CRA, the Mayor is not involved at all in theory. Its like were sitting as the Cdc or Edc or some other group. We are a totally different organization that happens to outsource to the city. We can take credit or blame, especially blame if We dont do this right. We set the policy. Thats why We created a strategic plan so We can guide this. And I would suggest, all of you, take the draft of the contract I wrote and take the one thats from last year and circulate them. Show your friends, show your supporters and let them tell US what We should do with it. Its really important that We make sure this money is spent correctly. You talked about other cras. I dont know if you heard me say this before, I dont want US to follow other cras. Might be some We can learn something from. The reason were struggling is were on the bleeding edge. Were restricted by 163 and some case law. Ive had long conversations with Cliff also. Were on the bleeding edge of where We are on this stuff. The reason is We had a bigger vision. When Predecessor, Nicole, Alis and Erica and others, We had like a Mcintosh vision of how We were going to use this as a small little division within the city. That was the whole purpose of the strategic plan. We were going to make transformative change in the communities. Even though restricted in how We spend the money, the money spend within 163 could be spent in a way that would move other pieces that would change things. This team came on in the middle of it because unfortunately they left and We know why they left. This team came in and they have been trying to advance it to the next level and further refine everything that was left. I want to say that I have full confidence in the Staff. I think We have great Staff. Obviously, they are very knowledgeable and We can work together on these things, but We have to understand that its -- within this, although they are employees of the city, it is a different culture. We can create a positive, innovative collaborative culture within the CRA working with our Staff and then working with The Community. Unfortunately, after the folks left this morning, you probably saw at lunch, We got blasted on social media by a whole bunch of people because of the decisions We made this morning. We shouldnt react to -- im not saying We should react to every response on social media, but the point is that there are folks in The Community, some influencers in The Community who still havent bought in to the fact that were trying to create something different and better and that We should all have confidence in this process going forward. So I think my recommendation would be that We have a workshop to discuss some of these things so that We can hear from the public directly and that the public ask questions and go through it. If not, We can pass this per the change you said and then We come back to it another time. I think it is worth a CRA workshop to have the public really come in and post all the questions. The Staff is responding privately to them but We dont get to hear the responses unless We ask. It would be good for US to hear everything back and forth and then help support the Staff in trying to create the right structure for The Community. Thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 3:09:53PM
I will say They did have that. They had a community meeting in October. I was the only one who went.
Bill Carlson 3:10:00PM
Im not talking about a meeting they invited US to. A meeting here for US.
Lynn Hurtak 3:10:05PM
It was a back and forth with the community. They did a phenomenal job of having people come up. They responded. Mr. Shepard was there in person. He responded. It was a very -- and these are all the questions that were answered. It was a back and forth. It was great. I would hesitate on doing another one because we have done it. But my question is, I think the idea of possibly looking at these quarterly, but by CRA. I hate to add a little drama into the mix, but if we are looking at different Cras, because we cant do it quarterly and April come and were here for 17 hours looking at each different CRA. But that would be something I would be interested in you all debating amongst yourselves. If we were to do that, if we were to go to quarterly or six month looking at reviewing a policy for a particular CRA, looking at all of those, putting an application deadline in, and we take a look at all those, what does that look like to you all. Is that something that you think is even feasible or is that just like extrapolating your workload?
Cedric McCray 3:11:27PM
Cedric McCray, Tampa Cra Director. Hearing the conversation, it appears that The Board would like to look at some type of funding cycle very similar to what we talked about with the housing applications. Which we potentially could do and would be happy to have that conversation. I will tell you we spent a tremendous amount of time over the last six to nine months in the development of these programs and a lot of conversations and reviewing of documents and we brought it forward in july-august time frame. We had anticipated going live October 1. There was some consternation. We went back as The Board requested in October and now were looking at January 1 to go live with the updates for the policy and grants. We would just like some specific direction from The Board as it relates to what you all would like to see and move forward so that we can then adjust.
Lynn Hurtak 3:12:33PM
I have one question. When did we pause accepting applications?
Dee Reed 3:12:40PM
It was September the 10 was the last day to accept.
Lynn Hurtak 3:12:45PM
We have gone two months without accepting an application and right now were thinking about not even opening it until January.
Dee Reed 3:12:53PM
If we get an approval today, then that would allow US to prep, get the documents. To be ready in January. If that is delayed, that date gets pushed out further.
Lynn Hurtak 3:13:06PM
Thats what I wanted to set the table before we continue the conversation. Board member Clendenin.
Alan Clendenin 3:13:11PM
I would like to make a motion to approve the grants program without the caps and then with the understanding that staff will revisit -- okay, ill end. Full stop. I make a motion to approve the Grant program without the caps.
Lynn Hurtak 3:13:32PM
Do we have a second for discussion?
Dee Reed 3:13:36PM
Can I ask a question? This May help. Is there a desire or would it be palatable to approve the policy minus special projects and funding requests. Then We can sit, look at the quarterly, the option for quarterly or biannually presenting them to the board by Cra District, so We would come back and present that to you. But We would be able to start processing applications in January, standard grants, im sorry. But not special projects and funding requests.
Lynn Hurtak 3:14:15PM
First of all, we have a motion on the floor without a second.
Alan Clendenin 3:14:19PM
Ill amend my motion to staffs request, minus -- that wouldnt include the caps anyway.
Dee Reed 3:14:27PM
We would have to modify the caps -- the cap applies to special projects. Yes, it would not include the caps. The cap only goes to special projects.
Lynn Hurtak 3:14:38PM
I have a second from Board Member Young.
Bill Carlson 3:14:42PM
I want to ask Mr. Mccray, he is our executive director, and youve heard what your colleague said. Answering to seven people is like herding cats. I would like to ask you, as executive committee, considering everything we said, you May support that, but do you have anything else that you would recommend at this point? You talked to the community? What do you recommend?
Cedric McCray 3:15:10PM
There is feedback. You have seen it, gotten e-mails, phone calls, attended engagement sessions, I think We have a group of folks ready to move forward in some form or fashion with the grants. With the special projects andor funding requests, those dont come through as much as standard grants. Ultimately in the first iteration, you all approved that on the staff level. Weve already been doing that, just with the minor tweaks that Ms. Reed alluded to --
Bill Carlson 3:15:42PM
Anything else besides this motion that You would recommend? Besides the motion She suggested, anything else You would recommend?
Cedric McCray 3:15:51PM
No not at this time.
Lynn Hurtak 3:15:53PM
I have a question. Is there a way -- didnt we separate these before and then we decided to mesh them together, Special Projects in with all of this? Or has it always been together but --
Dee Reed 3:16:08PM
At one time it was -- okay. It was originally just special projects. There was a point I guess when the staff that left, there were some things that were, I guess -- I dont know the best way to say it. We internally kind of separated them so that the funding request picked up at 500,000 and higher. That has to do with the cras Cba. Those cutoffs were kind of tied to the Cba which was not accounted for when We originally came forward. That was kind of an internal piece.
Lynn Hurtak 3:16:49PM
Is there a way that We could divest them again and have just the -- thats basically what were going to do today. Were going to approve it for your regular requests, and were not going to approve it for special projects. Whats the other thing called? Funding requests.
Dee Reed 3:17:12PM
There are special projects. Anything that is not a standard Grant is a special project.
Lynn Hurtak 3:17:17PM
What im saying is maybe we need to have the Special Project have its own little silo.
Dee Reed 3:17:23PM
Thats what were proposing. Yes. The Special Projects are going to be separate for funding requests. Special Projects is anything under a million. Funding requests pick up at a million. Essentially you could approve Special Projects with the standard grants and then just put a hold on funding requests.
Alan Clendenin 3:17:47PM
Well still get back with the bunching so We can evaluate the programs.
Lynn Hurtak 3:17:52PM
Thats what im saying. I think I would like Staff to come back in February to talk about those. January, if you can do it, but really, February, to debate how -- if you have time, if you think we can talk about it in January, move these regular ones forward and then in January or February really figure out, like, but in the meantime, talk to all of US, is quarterly best for you all? Is every six months? But we do one every single time we meet because we divided them up? So January is for -- I dont know -- downtown and ybor. And February is for drew park and east Tampa and March -- do we want to do it that way? Thats what id like to hear from you all as Staff, the amount of requests youre receiving for special projects -- funding requests, something like that, it US that work?
Dee Reed 3:18:57PM
Basically take this time -- we can process standard grants. Take this time to look further at special projects and funding requests, putting them on a cycle in terms of presentation to the board by CRA. And trying to figure out if it is best to do it quarterly --
Lynn Hurtak 3:19:17PM
You kind of gave me a face at January. I totally understand. Thats very close. February better?
Dee Reed 3:19:23PM
My only concern, the reason I kind of made that face, there is a lot of prep, if we are approving to start the standard grants, there a process that Staff has to do to be ready to start processing in January.
Lynn Hurtak 3:19:34PM
Thats why im asking. I think its one of those things that we need to know whats best.
Dee Reed 3:19:41PM
I think February or March would be better just to give US time.
Alan Clendenin 3:19:46PM
Anything in the hopper waiting for this?
Lynn Hurtak 3:19:49PM
Yes, and thats the thing.
Cedric McCray 3:19:51PM
As far as special projects, there are three. Funding requests. Funding requests. There are three.
Lynn Hurtak 3:19:58PM
Lets solve the first part first. Your motion was.
Alan Clendenin 3:20:02PM
My motion is to -- can you restate --
Dee Reed 3:20:07PM
To approve the policy with the exception of special projects and funding requests and for Staff to go back and look at the best way to break them up into cycles.
Lynn Hurtak 3:20:20PM
Lets start with the first one.
Alan Clendenin 3:20:24PM
My motion is to approve the Grant Program for standard requests and leave it at that.
Lynn Hurtak 3:20:34PM
My only change would be to specifically say not funding request and not special projects.
Alan Clendenin 3:20:41PM
Arent we --
Dee Reed 3:20:43PM
Those arent standard. If you say standard.
Lynn Hurtak 3:20:46PM
We have a motion to approve these commercial grants for standard projects from Board Member Clendenin. A second from Board Member Carlson.
Alan Clendenin 3:20:57PM
Young I think was the second.
Lynn Hurtak 3:21:03PM
It was a new motion. Any comment? All in favor? Aye. Its Carlson. Thank you for asking.
Alan Clendenin 3:21:14PM
I make a motion for Staff to return to the Cra Board at the February --
Lynn Hurtak 3:21:24PM
If We need more time, We can talk about it.
Alan Clendenin 3:21:27PM
February 12, 2026 to discuss, one, not having the funding limits on the special requests -- special projects and funding requests, and to discuss how to present the request to the board for evaluation on a cycle.
Guido Maniscalco 3:21:54PM
Second.
Lynn Hurtak 3:21:57PM
Anybody have anything to say about that one? I have a motion from board member Clendenin, a second from board member Maniscalco. We will talk about those three in just a second. My concern, im not accepting applications at this time. I have to wait until February. I have two already that I have to turn down or say they have to hold until this is approved. Aside from the three right now coming to you soon for review.
Lynn Hurtak 3:22:36PM
Thats why I said We should probably talk about the three applications We already have and see what We want to do. We definitely want to talk about this and definitely talk about it in February.
Alan Clendenin 3:22:51PM
Lets get this policy done. If you want to bring those before US ask for permission.
Lynn Hurtak 3:22:57PM
We have a motion from board member Clendenin and a second from board member Maniscalco. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Now to deal with the applications that We already have in the pipeline.
Alan Clendenin 3:23:11PM
When are you ready to bring them forward? They are going through the application review. Im hoping that a couple of them will be ready to come in front of you in January. January or February meeting.
Bill Carlson 3:23:27PM
Since were looking at putting it on a quarterly review basis, why dont We make a motion to continue with existing process through the end of January or the end of the year and anybody else who wants to apply and then present them maybe through the end of the year and then have people present in January and it will be more than just three, maybe. And well start the new process after February.
Alan Clendenin 3:23:53PM
Anybody that has -- how long does it take to you process one application?
Bill Carlson 3:23:57PM
The problem is there are only three and no other choices because they have all been turned down. Do we allow more choices? Due to the process.
Alan Clendenin 3:24:09PM
You can bring all three together, when would You have all three together? There are issues with some of them that I dont know if well resolve by January, but two should resolve by January.
Alan Clendenin 3:24:30PM
If You are ready to go in January, bring them before the Board.
Guido Maniscalco 3:24:33PM
Second.
Bill Carlson 3:24:35PM
The question is, should we allow the existing process to continue until January so She can take more applications?
Lynn Hurtak 3:24:41PM
The problem is you cant just take an application. As shes saying, there is all this work behind the scenes to make sure because somebody is missing this or missing that or fixing this or fixing that. Unfortunately, if they keep taking the applications, were just going to shove this -- were going to kick the can down the road and two processes at once. Which is why I said February and not March.
Alan Clendenin 3:25:13PM
Bring them forward.
Lynn Hurtak 3:25:14PM
Do we have to vote on that? Can you repeat the motion?
Alan Clendenin 3:25:20PM
The motion is that Staff will present to the Cra Board on -- at the January 11 meeting, 2026 any pending applications under the old process.
Lynn Hurtak 3:25:37PM
You are right. January 15.
Alan Clendenin 3:25:39PM
January 15.
Lynn Hurtak 3:25:42PM
We have a motion from board member Clendenin. A second from board member Maniscalco. Any more comments about that? All in favor? Aye. Any opposed? Okay. I have to say, this has been a really awesome conversation so far. Really appreciate this day. If there is a question, ask now or forever hold your peace.
Dee Reed 3:26:04PM
I want to make sure were addressing everything you want US to address when we come back. It is the cycles. Thats it. And removal of the cap.
Lynn Hurtak 3:26:12PM
Yes, removal of the cap. I think those two are great. Again, I think that solves the problem, if were looking at it in either a quarterly or biannual, well be able to see everything at once. Im sorry, Mr. Brackins. Appeal procedure was for staff denied applications at the cap level, am I right?
Dee Reed 3:26:37PM
No, the denials, it could be that They are just not eligible. It could be They dont have enough points. Whatever reasons that They are denied, then They have the ability to come for approval. In terms of applying -- I guess that is attached to the special projects. So never mind.
Lynn Hurtak 3:26:59PM
Again, though, as You work on this, do not hesitate. I always say for my office, but ill extrapolate it to the Board, do not hesitate to reach out to US. Give US an update on where You are. Make sure were all kind of on the same page or that youre getting the feedback. Because I think thats what has gotten it where it is so far. This is really hard. Seriously. This is really hard. I want to say thank You. I cannot believe we got through this in only three motions.
Alan Clendenin 3:27:32PM
By the way, You guys -- I want to say I really appreciate what You do. Your job is extremely difficult and You have seven of the worst bosses in the City Of Tampa.
Lynn Hurtak 3:27:44PM
Like herding cats. Speaking of, we are moving on to the housing portion of this.
Cedric McCray 3:27:50PM
Actually, if we could, Chair Hurtak, could we take 17 while ms. Reed is still here? I know that one was not listed under required approvals.
Lynn Hurtak 3:28:01PM
17 is the commercial Grant waiver. Well let Ms. Reed come up. I wanted to see how everyone felt about granting a waiver in the middle of this process.
Dee Reed 3:28:25PM
Do I need to go ahead?
Bill Carlson 3:28:33PM
I think what shes asking, if we feel we should not approve anything in the interim, then She would like to know now.
Alan Clendenin 3:28:39PM
I have no interest in approving a waiver at this point as were moving forward.
Lynn Hurtak 3:28:43PM
Anybody else?
Bill Carlson 3:28:45PM
Im okay delaying it till the new process.
Lynn Hurtak 3:28:48PM
When would that new process be?
Dee Reed 3:28:55PM
Were supposed to present to you in February, but this is a standard Grant. This is not dealing with special projects or --
Alan Clendenin 3:29:07PM
[Inaudible]
Lynn Hurtak 3:29:10PM
Thats what im here for.
Bill Carlson 3:29:12PM
Vote it yes or no. The other would be to say it needs to go through the new process.
Dee Reed 3:29:18PM
Would you like to at least hear what the circumstances are before making that decision?
Lynn Hurtak 3:29:26PM
Anybody? No. What is the pleasure of the Board?
Alan Clendenin 3:29:34PM
Councilman Carlson said, send it through the new process. Everything stands on its own and just goes through the process. Either goes through the process and no waiver.
Dee Reed 3:29:47PM
I need you to know this is because of direction Staff was given to the Applicant. Yes. Thats why I asked if you wanted to hear.
Alan Clendenin 3:30:01PM
Oh.
Lynn Hurtak 3:30:02PM
Give them five minutes.
Dee Reed 3:30:04PM
Hargrett Llc is in the process of rehabilitating a vacant fire damaged building located at 2409 lake avenue. You May remember the Applicant was our predevelopment Grant pilot previously approved prior to our June of 2024 policy. We completed that process. Hes transitioning into commercial interior and commercial exterior. As part of the application review process, Staff often provides suggestions to help applicants get the moss possible funding. In light of the proposed revisions that We were expecting to come forward with legacy credit, Staff advised the Applicant to delay initiating the exterior Grant so He could take advantage of the changes being made to the legacy credit. In addition to consistently applying promptly with all required actions and submittals, the Applicant did decide at the suggestion of Staff to delay submitting His exterior application despite having a tenant waiting to occupy the space. Unfortunately the policy and Grant updates were not approved in August as originally expected, so as a result the Applicant has experienced significant hardship, the inability to proceed with the exterior improvements have postponed the issuance of His certificate of occupancy thus delaying tenant occupancy. Staff is requesting the board waive the requirement for Grant approval prior to commencement of any proposed work to allow the Grant to proceed -- or the Applicant to proceed with the improvements required to obtain certificate of occupancy and still be permitted to utilize the exterior Grant. Essentially, Staff advised Him -- had He submitted the exterior application when He started the interior, He would be going through the process. But because Staff knew that it would benefit Him based on the changes that We were making, We advised Him to wait until October. He did that. The policy was not approved in October, so now its pushed to January which is impacting His ability to get permits and occupy the space with His tenant. We try to help them get the best that they can get.
Lynn Hurtak 3:32:37PM
What say you, Board?
Bill Carlson 3:32:43PM
-- District Five -- [inaudible]
Lynn Hurtak 3:32:48PM
What are your thoughts?
Naya Young 3:32:50PM
I just said were in a pickle.
Dee Reed 3:32:55PM
This speaks to what You have asked US to do. You asked US to help the small businesses.
Alan Clendenin 3:33:01PM
Is that all documented? Its fact.
Dee Reed 3:33:03PM
Absolutely.
Alan Clendenin 3:33:06PM
I know. Oh, Lord. Now youre making me go 180 degrees off where I was.
Lynn Hurtak 3:33:13PM
Board Member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 3:33:14PM
I want to put on the table what folks have been posting about online because its all out there. What happens is that if a proposal is by an Organization or a person who is well known, people think that theres some kind of insider deal or preferential treatment. What you said, it doesnt sound. Maybe the opposite. To address the concerns of the community because the applicant name is well known, we dont want to do the opposite and punish somebody because they have a popular name and legacy in community. Could you assure the public that they are not being treated differently than anybody else?
Dee Reed 3:33:57PM
I can assure you, We do not treat anyone differently than anyone else when they come into the office and request a Grant. That is the whole purpose of why We created this policy so that it documents the process across the board and We follow that process. With everyone that comes in, were looking at their application and their request. If We know there are changes -- this is not the only Applicant that We made the suggestion to. This was an Applicant, one that was spoken to this morning during public comment that received that same advice to submit for interior and delay submittal of their exterior Grant for the same reason. Its not just this Applicant. The only difference, well, there are other differences that prevented that person from being able to get the interior, but they are still eligible and able to submit for that exterior Grant.
Alan Clendenin 3:34:56PM
Because the interior wasnt in accordance with statute.
Dee Reed 3:34:59PM
Well, no, They were under the current policy. They just did not submit all the documents in -- by the due date.
Alan Clendenin 3:35:06PM
From what im hearing is this Applicant did -- was timely.
Dee Reed 3:35:12PM
Yes.
Alan Clendenin 3:35:13PM
Followed the procedures.
Dee Reed 3:35:14PM
Yes.
Alan Clendenin 3:35:15PM
Paused the procedures under advice of staff.
Dee Reed 3:35:18PM
Correct.
Alan Clendenin 3:35:20PM
Because of that, He fell in a crack and so now basically its Staff wishing to make It right.
Dee Reed 3:35:29PM
Correct. If I can, I do remember one of the comments that was made during public comment, and I hopefully can clear that up. There was a comment regarding it being approved knowing that there was going to be some level -- or I guess predevelopment, it was approved when we were telling the public that predevelopment was not available. If you remember, there was a version of predevelopment that existed and had been approved by the Board prior to the policy that was approved in June of 2024.
Alan Clendenin 3:36:05PM
Ill make a motion to approve the waiver.
Naya Young 3:36:12PM
I was going to second.
Lynn Hurtak 3:36:14PM
We have a motion from board member Clendenin, a second by board member Maniscalco. Anything else? All in favor, aye. Any opposed? Okay. Now We are on -- I think its a really good thing that Sam has ordered chinese because were going to need it. Our last, but not least, item is item number 7.
Cedric McCray 3:36:53PM
Tampa Cra Director. Item 7, as you recall we had discussions related to housing and the funding cycles. There was a request by the board to produce a survey. We have sent that out. We actually extended the time. The survey closed on October 31st. Ms. Parks is here to kind of share with you all the information synthesized and then well discuss further steps.
Lynn Hurtak 3:37:22PM
Wonderful.
Belix Parks 3:37:25PM
B. Parks. Community development coordinator for the Tampa Cra. Can I have the presentation, please? As you know, October 13, I came before the board to propose a standard application process and cycle for the unit creation and conversion program. We gathered some feedback at that meeting. Then, of course, its been about two years' worth of feedback for how we should shape the housing programs. But today our discussion objectives include housing survey community feedback based off of that survey overview of proposed timelines, and housing policy discussion. Lets start here with the feedback. We, like Mr. Mccray mentioned, we launched the survey on September 26. The survey did include 12 questions related to housing needs, funding cycles, evaluation criteria, community involvement. Survey included a section for additional input on CRA housing programs and we received over 90 responses. So lets move forward to the first question that was posed. The importance of workforce housing. We kind of already know this. Over 80% of the responses indicated strong support to address rising housing cost, neighborhood stability and access to ownership and rental options. As you can see, I placed that result right there, right next to it. As we move forward to the funding structure, which is what im looking for feedback today about, over 60 respondents did support the two application cycles per year. As you can see, as part of a formalized application cycle, should we have one or two funding cycles, it was a yes or no. The next question was if the process contains two cycles, then would you prefer one for larger scale development on its own and then one for smaller scale. So the survey did produce that they would like to outline opportunities for small scale Developers. Again, one for large and then one for small. As we move forward to the most needed housing types, I posed a question, what type of housing do you feel are most needed in your community? Number one came based off of those, the number one option was affordable home ownership opportunities. Number two was workforce rental housing. Number three was the need for mixed income units. And then, of course, the family size units which include two to three bedrooms. As you can see, and then on the left lower side were the options. So it was affordable multifamily rental apartments below 80% ami, affordable multifamily rental units for working families up to 140% ami, affordable single-family homes for purchase, senior housing, permitting, supporting housing for the specialized communities. As we move forward, this is another area that im looking for some feedback in. As you know, I proposed each CRA will have a five-member selection committee, including representation from CRA Staff and Housing and Community Development staff. In your opinion, which stakeholders or representatives should fill the remaining three seats? So we posed the suggested additional representatives came back as a Cac Member, a Subject Matter Professional, a community stakeholder which again included residents and the other option was community members which could be a Local Business or a Nonprofit Organization or someone who represents that district. Again, they answer that question. Other feedback collected, so please share any additional feedback, concerns, or suggestions about the unit creation and conversion program or other CRA housing initiatives, other feedback collected is as follows. Number one, they are looking for qualified Developers. Let me change that. They are looking for qualified Developers. The second feedback was make application process clear and simple. And then additional feedback was surrounding Community Land Trust. The fourth feedback was ensuring proper monitoring. I kind of already explained to the community that when I did the briefings that currently in-house we have a mechanism to ensure that our other loans are following a certain protocol and well put that into place as well. Number five was keeping Developers accountable. That was the other feedback. I also want to add to this which I discussed with each one of the board members privately was the other items that have come up. Youve heard this in the community. Legacy credit as it relates to residential, along with a rental, vacant rental program through the rehab program that we currently administer. Then they also wanted to see some type of predevelopment for existing property owners that have been here in each one of the districts for a while. That was also mentioned in the feedback. We posed the question regarding scoring criteria. Again, that was really a huge component in the community. Out of the three sections, income, Developer, experience, and property characteristics, when it came to income, the number one answer was serving the modern income families. So thats from 50% to 80% area median income. Second was servicing the lowest income households which is at the 30% ami. Then the third was serving workforce households which range from 80% up to 140% ami. They ranked it one, two, and three. As we move forward with the Developer experience in ranked order, number one, they said they expressed interest in supporting small-scale Developers. So under 20 units. The second area support is supporting Developers with strong experience, slash, capacity, over 20 units. And another option was again, noted creative out of box projects. Ms. Hurtak, you and I speak about this. Seeing whats out there as being creative besides your regular single-family homes. We speak about that all the time. Also just making sure that the Developer has experience to carry that out. So as we move forward to the project characteristics in ranked order, number one came up making sure that we ensure mixed income housing options. Thats very important for the community. The second is proximity to jobs and transportation was another one that was important. Number three, adding community serving spaces in these projects, such as retail, greenspace, et cetera. And then number four, ensuring energy efficient unit. So that was very important to see in these projects. As we move forward with the emerging theme, so after looking at the complete survey, what are some emerging themes? Number one stands out, resident representation matters in project review. So some of the solutions that we propose for that was having representation on the Cra Selection Committee as a resident representation. The second theme was the demand for family-sized unit. Again, this is -- involves with land availability issues as well. So the proposed solution for that is including all of this criteria in the upcoming rfps that are going to hit the Development Community. And the third theme was the desire for ongoing updates. So, again, I wholeheartedly agree, project updates on website and gis mapping page will help tell where the funding is really going to. So some updates.
Lynn Hurtak 3:46:34PM
Can We stop there? We do have questions.
Guido Maniscalco 3:46:39PM
Ill wait. Its fine.
Belix Parks 3:46:42PM
Are you sure? Yes, sir. So lets move forward. The initial proposed process, when I came in October was formalized application cycle will be implemented featuring a structure process and -- structured process and selection committee guided by defined scoring criteria. Key components include the Rfa, the request for applications, create transparent evaluation criteria, identifying scoring priorities per CRA, establish a selection committee of five members, including representation from the Cac, which is supposed to be the resident representation. So timeline and next steps. The next steps is to incorporate survey results, Cac feedback and community input into the final proposed process, develop the final program document to include standardized application, evaluation criteria. Funding cycle timelines and eligibility thresholds. And in January CRA board meeting, staff will present the final proposed process for discussion and approval. So this is how it looks right here. As you look on the fourth step here of final presentation, currently, were going through whats we -- what we call the public comment period. Were collecting all the information from the Cacs. After that will be the final presentation and approval. Hoping to do that January 8, which the details are there. Cra board presentation of finalized process and criteria. And then the next step after that will be primary funding cycle opens, which im looking for February 1st, first funding cycle is open with all funding availability. Questions.
Lynn Hurtak 3:48:36PM
Board member Maniscalco.
Guido Maniscalco 3:48:37PM
Thank you very much. A couple of things I liked in the feedback that you received was the attention paid to small-scale developers, 20 units or less. Its not about 100, 200 units, its people trying to get into the game essentially, but at the same time creating a product that is needed. What was interesting was that the lowest Ami was not at the top of the list. Because I would look at it as the most vulnerable should be the top priority. Get them out of that level of poverty, essentially, where they are struggling the most, but I saw that it was workforce that was prioritized above that. So its interesting to see how that was on the scale. Based on prioritization. We get a variety of projects that come before Council. I know that there is a goal of so many thousands of units of affordable housing, but at the same time, we have to look at all options and some of the projects that we approved today, some have been years, decades in the making and some are new. No. Thats it. Thank you very much. So the next step now is the open public comment period until the end of the year. And then in January you come back with the next steps.
Belix Parks 3:50:04PM
Yes, and also some feedback on the funding cycle that im looking forward to today and also the Five-member Committee to get feedback.
Guido Maniscalco 3:50:12PM
That is the last thing I want to say, the level of accountability, you have a member of the Cac. You have private, public, you have eyes on everybody making sure its a thoughtful and transparent process. As was mentioned in the last item, is there prioritization? Special treatment. This, I think, eliminates all that because you have so many levels of scrutiny and so many checks and balances that it is a transparent and fair process moving forward, based on the feedback and based on what you have laid out, so thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 3:50:46PM
Before Councilman Clendenin has to leave, does anyone need a quick bathroom break? Ive got things to say, too. Do you have anything you want to say before you leave? Well see you at 5:01. My comments on this is the thing -- and I didnt notice it the first time we talked about, but I noticed it in this. Everyones number one or the highest goal was single-family home ownership. That is simply not feasible in the City Of Tampa anymore. I think that was not an option was, like condo development or something like that, because that is the new reality. Like single-family home ownership is really for the wealthy at this point in this city. We dont have enough land. Weve got to start building quads, tri, duplexes and then that is your starter home and then you can go for a single-family home. That is not a starter home anymore. Unfortunately that is just not a reality here. Weve got to start presenting it that way. Thats one thing ill say. Budget-wise, that was my question. What are we looking at? Are we looking at dividing it between the big and the small? Are we looking at equal amounts of money? Are we looking for a little more for larger? Little more for smaller? Or is that something that you are looking for our feedback on?
Belix Parks 3:52:19PM
Yes, I am looking for your feedback on this.
Lynn Hurtak 3:52:22PM
Mine would be probably a 60/40 split toward the smaller because I do believe that we have to do better with infill that is not single-family.
Belix Parks 3:52:33PM
Noted.
Lynn Hurtak 3:52:34PM
What We need, that is where the creativity comes into play. Ive talked to You about this, want to do some pilot projects for some of our land where We can build triplexes and quads. Duplexes, weve got that down. We need to start looking at other things. Quads on some of our transit ready corridor, six-plexes, trying to figure out how to house the most amount of people affordably. You asked for one more thing. Oh the five members. I think my recommendation was two Cac members.
Belix Parks 3:53:18PM
Yes, that was the recommendation.
Lynn Hurtak 3:53:19PM
Instead of a Neighborhood Person, that would be pretty difficult to do for every single project. That would be my recommendation.
Bill Carlson 3:53:28PM
I agree with the idea of smaller projects, if you meant -- the indication in the past is that we only benefit big developers. We need to support the small developers and the Nonprofits. There was an example yesterday, the pittman -- Dante Pittman, that is a great example. Folks that grew up here, went to atlanta, came back, they are entrepreneurs. We need to support them and also the small Nonprofits and make sure were not just supporting big ones. You talked about ownership. Maybe a discussion for another day, I think we ought to be 70/30 promoting ownership versus rentals the feeling of the public is when we give a bunch of money to the developer for rentals, even though they might be for 50 years, the perception of the public is that were subsidizing a developer. Whereas if we are subsidizing a quad with a nonprofit or a small business and they are selling those to people who live in the community, they dont look at that as gentrification and they look at it as an investment in the community and people. Also, I dont know if you heard the numbers yet, but the Housing Authority says like 25,000 people who are on the waiting list but probably really 50,000. If we put in a hundred thousand each, thats $5 billion. Were never going to be able to do that. We have to figure out where is our niche? Where can we be most effective? There is tremendous need. If we can help build intergenerational wealth and help people find homes, there are people in port Tampa down in my district African American communities in the Longshoremen that have been in for five generations in these houses. One of the problems they had is they didnt insure them because they owned them so long. If we can help people find intergenerational sustainability with housing that costs a lot less in the long run than subsidizing the developers. The other thing is you talked about the committees. Again, as I said over and over again, the perception is The City puts its thumb on the scale on these things. I would recommend, if I had a choice between neighborhood and cac and City, I would pick the neighborhood and cac, not The City. The City can provide you all with advice, but this should be a pure process of the CRA, not The City. This is a cras housing policy, not The City's housing policy. And with City Council sit with The City's hat on, but if The City puts their thumb on the scale and pushes something that the public doesnt like, well get blamed for it. We need to make sure that we have hundred percent autonomy because if our butt is on the line, we need to make sure we are the ones really making the decision and the community with US is making the decision. The other thing that got dropped out is the concept of neighborhood commercial districts. Before the staff changeover, that was central to everything. And the cdcs project was supposed to be that. Several others, several of our projects. The idea is to provide density on four corners. The Planning Commission messed it up by creating transit ready corridors instead of transit ready development in little pockets. But the idea is to provide density of housing on four corners, and then underneath each one, one would have a coffee shop, one would have a grocery store. The coffee shop would be a center of economic activity. We can only invest in the bricks and mortar. Somebody runs a coffee shop and able to bring in entrepreneurs, no place in east Tampa for entrepreneurs to meet right now. They have to go to Nebraska or go to ybor or the outer skirts. Imagine in ten different neighborhoods if we had little grocery stores. An example of grocery store, jackson market. I know thats privately owned. If the family, if the Mother did a deal with housing developer, they could have a bigger space that they owned and then take the money from the rest of the land and put it in the bank but also buy better deli equipment and other things that they want and there could be affordable housing upstairs which would create a natural market for them. That would be a win-win for everybody. This is the macintosh team thing I was talking about with Erica and Alis and Nicole that we were working on, its thinking ahead. If we cant subsidize directly supporting entrepreneurs we can create a space where entrepreneurs can meet. Through The City or nonprofit activities, try to bring successful ceos to coach them, help them network and help them help each other. I was at a networking event recently where there is a Lady who has a Janitorial Company and couple of others, this Lady has done her marketing so well she is now a referral service to the other janitorial companies. Brilliant idea. She was working with one or two of them in the room. She goes to a meeting, meets a Janitorial Company. She says, hey, I can be a referral service to you because im really good at marketing if you want and I get a percentage. It is a win-win for everybody, but we have to provide the spaces for them to meet. So I would encourage US to think not just about housing and not just about subsidizing, but how are people going to use the space and what does it mean for the neighborhood and for the community? Thank you.
Lynn Hurtak 3:59:09PM
Okay. Anyone else? I believe You have marching orders.
Belix Parks 3:59:15PM
Yes. Thank you so much.
Lynn Hurtak 3:59:18PM
Do we have any old business? Do we have any new business? Yes. Board member Maniscalco.
Guido Maniscalco 3:59:27PM
This is on behalf of Council Member Viera. As noted in a previous memo, he would be out of town, so im doing this. A motion to amend Council Member -- board member vieras December 11, 2025, motion regarding wheelchair accessible playground equipment to include an update on existing disability park funding in the budget and an explanation for the amount spent so far and a plan for implementation for Parks within the CRA.
Lynn Hurtak 4:00:00PM
Do we have a second?
Cedric McCray 4:00:04PM
I was going to ask for a point of clarification. Is that in the cras budget?
Guido Maniscalco 4:00:09PM
Yes, Sir. Within the CRA. I have a copy of the motion here.
Lynn Hurtak 4:00:14PM
I have a motion from board member Maniscalco. A second from board member Carlson. All in favor? Aye. Any opposed?
Guido Maniscalco 4:00:20PM
Move to receive and file.
Lynn Hurtak 4:00:23PM
I have something as well.
Bill Carlson 4:00:31PM
Number one, there was a tragic incident the other day, and we talked about it this morning. But one of the things weve got to address as a city is racing. Theres way too much racing going on through the city. Ive actually had people who raced as kids who said maybe we ought to create a racetrack where people can go there. I dont know if the CRA can help. Talk about this at City Council but we need to solve the issue of racing. The beginning of all this was people racing and driving too fast and then the other issues. Throw out an idea not to vote today, a lot of projects coming to US with 140 and higher ami. We dont have $5 million to solve the entire housing problem. If were going to the -- the community is asking to focus on the 30, 40 percent ami. I think we should put across the board rule of not going above 100% ami or not going above 80%.
Lynn Hurtak 4:01:35PM
I think We do that in every district except downtown. Downtown is a difficult place to do that. I think the only place We ever approved 140 is downtown. Now, for home ownership with the citys urban infill projects, weve had to go to 140 because People cant afford to buy them. By and large, I think We could say that. Her housing study showed that People want to 80%, 50 to 80.
Bill Carlson 4:02:05PM
Another thing, I have no choice but to talk about this publicly and try not to talk about names too much. There is one case, you all know who I am talking about, Hair Salon that has other spaces next to it that they wanted to get a Grant. Because of the change in the Grant process and everything, they went through a lot of difficulty and it caused quite a bit of concern in the community because of all that process. I worked with Cedric and his team on it and Cliff and maybe others have worked on it. But I wonder if we could as a case study bring one like that forward and just have everything presented in public so we can figure out, is there a solution for that and how could we have fixed it. Have you all worked on that case at all?
Lynn Hurtak 4:02:50PM
Yes, somewhat. I think that, yeah, its definitely a discussion to have, but I think were trying to fix that with both the commercial and the housing.
Bill Carlson 4:03:01PM
Maybe since we have Board Member young on, maybe you know what im talking about and you could follow up with them and see if you have any ideas. Maybe sometime in the future if we cant resolve it individually, maybe there is a way that -- one short form that happened, She thought She was following the rules, hired the Contractor and turned out the Contractor didnt have the right license. That changed the process and then we changed our process in the middle. The last thing real fast, I cant send this to you outside. I go to london about once a year. They just put in bollards that look like -- there is a -- here, ill give you this one. London, the westminster bridge, the one next to big ben, it is an historic area. They had an incident a few years ago where somebody drove a truck through a crowd on the bridge and hurt and killed a bunch of people. They had huge bollards and barriers up for several years. Recently they put up these ones that look like they are historic and fit in with the ambience. There are lots of solutions about what to put in ybor. If were going to do something like bollards, I would recommend we do something that fits in with the architectural style of ybor.
Lynn Hurtak 4:04:29PM
Thats exactly what I was going to make a motion about is having a community meeting to talk about the next steps and the CRA needs to be intimately involved with that because we can use the money. We can use money from TPD. Board Member Maniscalco.
Guido Maniscalco 4:04:46PM
Ive walked across I guess this bridge here. I have seen these in person. What I was thinking, when you go to the riverwalk at Water Works Park, there are two things. No. This will be at the River Center, near the River Center at julian lane. They have I guess they are bollards but three in a row. The center one has a lock that is removable. If a maintenance vehicle needs to get through, you can do that. I know were talking about 7th avenue Ybor City, thats one thing we have up but also you May have seen them in downtown on the sidewalks, but as you go to the riverwalk from Water Works Park going into the riverwalk toward the first overpass, they are the blue metal, like l shaped. You cant drive a car onto the riverwalk, but if they are talking about closing 7th avenue or peak hours, those are things we can put out at least temporarily. If there is an issue with the historic design or cant figure something out, at least we can put that up and that will prevent or can prevent a car coming in.
Lynn Hurtak 4:05:58PM
Thats exactly it. Were going to be talking about this -- like, im bringing a motion tonight for Council to talk to encourage the Administration to do a community session to talk about this. I think that everything needs to be on the table. I think we need to do something with the CRA being able to fund it. I think that is the issue.
Bill Carlson 4:06:19PM
One last thing. As Tom Degeorge said this morning, people jump to conclusions real fast. After the shooting a couple of years ago, folks said we need to shut down ybor at midnight. We didnt have full information. We found out the people were underaged. Didnt go into the bars. If we jumped to that conclusion it would have been the wrong conclusion. It appears part of the reason that happened is 7th avenue was closed early. Police Chief talked about it, but about 2:45, it was closed about 2:00. So these young people came racing in. Video going behind the Italian Club and going out and then shooting. We know from the '90s that closing 7th avenue didnt work. The Mayor and I rarely agree, but she believes we shouldnt close down 7th. Bercaw believes we shouldnt close down 7th. I think we need to, if we have a public forum, I think we need to at least put some philosophy and ideas out there and then we can hear all the ideas with the public. I definitely would not vote shutting down 7th for safety reasons. Orlando, you can google it, but orlando in January, because they had an incident before that. They reopened the streets in orlando because it was too dangerous to keep them closed.
Lynn Hurtak 4:07:41PM
But here is the thing. That is exactly what we just asked -- thats what weve been saying all day is well listen to The Community. The Community is telling US they want to talk about shutting down 7th avenue. Im not going one way or the other. Im just saying The Community wants to have a space to talk about it. I think thats where we should go. Councilwoman Young.
Naya Young 4:08:05PM
Im glad were talking about it. One of my main concerns is I want to be sure we did not leave the meeting without bringing it up with the course of action. Im sure all of US have been seeing the discourse and people really wanting to know what are we going to do as the next step. I think its important for US just as Cra Board, wearing our CRA hats but later this evening, our City Council hats, figuring out what is an actionable item and a next step. I know Cedric and I did talk. I think there is something that CRA can do to help with that. If its some kind of study, a workshop, just something to get the conversations and then actually have like an actionable, tangible item where the community can feel safe. Ultimately I think we all want to be sure that 7th avenue is safe but also pedestrian safe as well and that people can go out and enjoy themselves on 7th avenue. I want to be sure that we leave here today with an actionable item and the community can say, okay, they are doing x, y and z.
Lynn Hurtak 4:09:21PM
Well hear from Director Mccray, but also with our CRA hats on, theres not as much we can do. Probably bring it forward in December if we actually choose to fund something. Director Mccray.
Cedric McCray 4:09:37PM
December would be very tight because of the deadline that were under for next month due to the holiday and the like. I think January would be a little more palatable.
Lynn Hurtak 4:09:48PM
If we need to bring something back in old business, we could probably squeeze it in then. It depends on what the community wants. To refresh the publics memory, what are some things we can spend that on or would you like me to ask Mr. Shepard?
Cedric McCray 4:10:02PM
I think hes ready to opine. He sent me a message saying he was ready. What Board Member Young is referring to are some funds within the Ybor City CRA budget for Police and Community Innovations. Ill yield because we have to be able to justify that expense. Attorney Brackins or Attorney Shepard.
Lynn Hurtak 4:10:25PM
Start with Mr. Brackins. Sorry. Mr. Shepard. Go ahead.
Cliff Shepard 4:10:31PM
Im sorry that I missed out on the commercial grants discussion because I tried to weigh in but I couldnt be heard. But I definitely want to be heard on this. There is a very specific provision of the statutes in terms of what You can spend CRA money on that talks about what are called community policing innovations. Ive been asked multiple times what does that mean and the answer is, I dont know. But thats not a bad thing. And here is why. To me, in terms of being defensible, what You need is someone who is an expert in Law Enforcement and community policing. And those folks are all over the place. Your own TPD May have some examples of people that You could reach out to. But the bottom line as far as im concerned is if an expert properly credentialed in Law Enforcement says that what we are trying to spend money on constitutes, in his understanding or her understanding, a community policing innovation, then we could spend money on it. If that is bollards, if thats pop-up bollards, if You are familiar with those, if it is any number of things, cops on bikes, I cant even go through all the possibilities because I am not a police guy nor did I stay in the holiday inn express last night. But what im telling You is what You first need, to get to the place where You can justify the expenditure, is someone telling You that what You want to do is a community policing innovation.
Lynn Hurtak 4:12:04PM
Thank you. Board member Maniscalco.
Guido Maniscalco 4:12:06PM
No.
Lynn Hurtak 4:12:08PM
Board Member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 4:12:09PM
If I could add to that, first of all, I mentioned street racing was the beginning of all of this. Ybor City was very unlucky because Ybor City always gets blamed for being a dangerous place. Like a day or two before this I had 40 private equity people in Ybor City with others trying to tell them it is a safe place and then this happens. The same thing happened a couple of years ago. This was a different situation, but there is a general worry about crime in Ybor City. Ive talked to a lot of police officers, talked to TPD, talked to Chief Bercaw, and there are things that they can do that some of the people in ybor are so frustrated they went to the state to fund the Sheriff to help. But weve got, because of the changing nature of ybor, weve got to make sure its safe. Along those lines, maybe Chair Hurtak was going to say this, but I think we ought to either ask Chief Bercaw to come back with some recommendations and or the city outsource to a Professor at Usf a few years ago, who is a crime specialist. We need the answer on the city side and also the CRA side. Specifically for CRA, if we are allowed -- cliff, are we allowed to pay a Usf Professor or reimburse the TPD for some of the time, but if they can come back specifically with recommendations to look at the situation and come back with recommendations that the CRA can fund, that would be very helpful.
Cliff Shepard 4:13:47PM
Yes, I can answer that briefly and tell You that studies, among those things You can spend money on. So a study of what would be the appropriate Community Policing Innovations is one of the permitted expenditures under the provision that says You can only spend money on these things. Its one of the only.
Bill Carlson 4:14:07PM
Not a six month long study. If we cant do in December, come back in January.
Lynn Hurtak 4:14:13PM
Studies arent that fast.
Bill Carlson 4:14:14PM
They know, for example, that closing down ybor is a really dangerous idea, for example. There are some pros and cons to bollards. Pros and cons to other solutions. Were not going to be able to anticipate everything, but in general we need to make ybor safer.
Lynn Hurtak 4:14:48PM
Yes, I agree that we need to make ybor safer but I think the larger discussion is -- and people dont want to talk about -- is the chase policy of the Florida Highway Patrol. Folks say that the guy didnt stop, but thats ultimately were asking those folks to protect US. Tpd does a fabulous job protecting US and doesnt have a chase policy. That is what im hearing from the community that they want to talk about. We cant do anything about that here. We can talk about other safety measures, but I dont want to ignore the elephant in the room, which is if there wasnt a chase, this wouldnt have been a thing. So I think that ultimately we can ask -- we need to talk with our city hats on because we have a lot more latitude as City Council people, but ultimately I think the community still needs to be heard before we put money into anything, hopefully Chief Bercaw can do a community meeting in ybor. Weve had them before, to listen to the whole community. Not to say, no, were not going to do this, but to listen and hear what people have to say. I think now is the time for listening and then action shortly thereafter. If we need funding, we can come back and do that in December. I still think that we can easily slide it under new or old business if we need to do some type of funding request.
Bill Carlson 4:16:27PM
I think with a certain bit of information, I agree with you We need to listen to the public, but We also need to put out certain information, if the public says We want that, then We can try to figure it out. But another thing in looking at hybrids, I know you all had a lot of conversations like I have, one of the issues also was that the person was able to get off 275 and go straight down 7th. One thing would be to block nuccio and 7th so that you have to go around. Not to block off all of 7th. But block off the entrances to keep people racing in at high speed. If they had to go down to the roundabout and back, they would have had to slow down.
Lynn Hurtak 4:17:12PM
Sure, sure. Board Member young.
Naya Young 4:17:14PM
I would also say having a workshop and listening is part of the action. Im pretty sure all of US have done our research. There are so many different actions that we can take or May not. I think that is where we have our Community Policing Innovation that can maybe have a listening workshop and once we put on our City Council hats, where we can go a step further. These are like safety, you know, solutions, not just for, you know, right now before the long term and what that looks like. If its, you know, the traffic lights, if its crossing off the exit that goes to 7th. If it is the bollards, bollards for a patio, so many options out there, but I think actually having the conversation and putting everything on the table, talking with law enforcement, talking with mobility, talking to everybody. What is out there that is something we can adopt for the long term. Especially as a city, if we continue to grow, we might have other entertainment type districts that we can take the policy and adopt it to make sure that throughout the city we have pedestrian safe and just safe entertainment districts in general.
Lynn Hurtak 4:18:38PM
Absolutely. Okay. To be continued. Ill do a motion tonight because its not really here. I hate to say it, this isnt a City Council decision, more or less. It is the Administration that does this. But we want to help. And I think any way we can help is to encourage the conversation. So, yes, ill do a motion with our City Council hats on. Board member Carlson.
Bill Carlson 4:19:13PM
Can I also just say, Board Member Young mentioned Entertainment Districts. You May have seen the meetings that we had before, but there actually is no designation for Entertainment Districts. Ybor became an entertainment district because in the '90s -- and I was talking to a Former Council Member the other day who helped approve them -- they approved a whole bunch of them because they thought that would spur economic growth. Inadvertently it created a bar district. The people in the community didnt necessarily want that. It was one license at a time. And then howard avenue, I used to be on one of the boards adjacent to it, it was never designated entertainment, but it became one because of all the alcohol licenses. That is another issue we have to wrestle with, do we really have Entertainment Districts? Ybor, people who own the property dont want it to be entertainment district in the future. We have to wrestle with that. Where are people congregating? South howard, people are walking on the streets. If we do bollards, probably need to do them there or figure out a safety issue. Also concentrations in Seminole Heights and near Tampa heights. How do we deal with the pedestrians, some of those roads really fast as well?
Lynn Hurtak 4:20:26PM
Ultimately, this is a conversation about speed. Its definitely something we need to have. Im glad beer talking about it now. Definitely want to continue the conversation, but we have a motion to receive and file. Do we have a second? Second on that. We also have some folks who want to come in and congratulate you. So well stay here for a minute. All in favor say aye. Aye. Okay. We are adjourned for 40 minutes. [ sounding gavel disclaimer: this file represents an unedited version of realtime captioning which should neither be relied upon for complete accuracy nor used as a verbatim transcript. Any person who needs a verbatim transcript of the proceedings May need to hire a court reporter. © - City Of Tampa (813) 274-8211