Council is back this week with a 79 item agenda; 67 requiring a vote. Highlights include final approval for “The Wheel” both for the height and lease as well as a request for $4.1 million to begin preliminary work for the South Howard Flood Relief project. This project has been contentious to say the least and I’ve previously tried to capture where things stand. To be clear what is being asked of council Thursday is to approve a Guaranteed Maximum Price for work related to that project. In order to go beyond that much spending, the administration would have to request a change order which requires council approval. For more details (and easier reference) I’ve written a longer post.

As to the remainder of the agenda, I may have gotten a little into the weeds this week but I think this agenda demonstrates the diverse issues that are routinely decided on Thursday mornings.

The Wheel

Thursday council will be voting to approve the development agreement (item 61) and lease agreement (item 32) between the city (as property owner of the Florida Aquarium) and Tampa Bay Wheel LLC to allow them to erect a 250 story climate controlled ferris wheel on a third of an acre currently used as surface parking for the aquarium. The city legal team characterized the development agreement during the first hearing as “straight forward”— whether to allow the height above 175 feet to the requested 250 feet or not.

The details in the lease reveal the actual rent being charged to the operators: $421,499.70 a year—54 parking spots at $21.39 a day, 365 days a year (that’s what’s in the contract. The actual math on that works out to $421, 596.90). Additionally, there is language about a “pass through rent” and a “true up amount” Tampa Bay Wheel LLC would pay based on gross revenue. If gross revenue is less than $7 million, the pass through rent would be $75,000 annually. Above $7 million, the pass through rent would be 5% of the gross revenue. However there is a clause about a pass through commencement date that relates to bonds being paid in full. I’m sure there’s a perfectly legal reason why there’s a pass through rent and a separate true up amount that might be for the period between when the lease starts and when the pass through revenue starts but this non-lawyer can’t decipher it.

The lease does go up roughly $20,000 a year every 4 years over the first 20 years reaching $512,335.52 annually in years 21-24. But that’s assuming this thing survives the first couple of years. The terms of the lease seem pretty explicit the agreements solely apply to a 250 foot tall ferris wheel. Any change of use would require approval of the city. So the question boils down to does the community want to trade guaranteed parking revenue for 54 parking spots to give up using that land for anything else for the next 24 years? We don’t know how often those spots are used now, but one could imagine they’d be used more as the area continues to grow. So it’s not really a matter of “making a profit” and it’s assuming there wouldn’t be a better use of that land in the near future. Then why?

Additional Agenda Highlights

There will be a closed door meeting at 11am to discuss item 62, settlement negotiations in the case of Hopps v City of Tampa. Tony Hopps was wrongfully convicted of burglary of a dwelling with a firearm and robbery with a firearm for which he received concurrent life sentences. He served 31 years before being released. Robert Dubois — also wrongfully convicted as the result of improper police work by Tampa PD — negotiated a $14 million dollar settlement with the city after 37 years of wrongful conviction. In the Hopps case:

Despite knowing that Hopps was not one of those seen fleeing from the stolen car and that he did not match the description the Dycheses had provided, McNamara decided to pin the robbery on him; McNamara had a dislike for Hopps because Hopps previously refused to identify a suspect in another crime that McNamara was investigating. O’Nolan and Strickland went along with this plan.

The detectives compiled a photo array that included six men, all known or suspected robbers in cases unrelated to the Dyches case. One of the men was Hopps, but the detectives used an old photo of him without a beard because they knew using the photo that Strickland took on the day of the robbery would cause the Dycheses to exclude him as a suspect.

Items 4 & 5 are accepting a $229,821.90 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) grant for fire rescue to purchase a fire safety trailer for the purpose of “Community Risk Reduction Hands-on Student Fire Education Campaign”. Teach kids fire safety in the home. Great idea. But I mention it because it’s a DHS grant which means it comes with the stipulation of complying with Trump’s illegal executive orders around diversity, equity, and inclusion. These types of strings are why the Racial Reconciliation Committee was shut down and why the Women and Minority Business programs were halted. No kings and all.

Item 21 is closing out the final change order to the Hanna Ave design build contract. One of the more contentious projects of the Castor administration. Time will tell if it was a good idea. Ironically the final change order ended $112,825.67 less than budgeted.

Item 39 reduces the FY26 CRA budget by $574,757 due to a reduction in millage rate by both Hillsborough County and Port Authority. City adopts their budget before the rates are adopted so finance does their best to guess where it will land. On the plus side, item 40 is a sweep of interested earned on the CRA funds adding $4,468,840 to the FY25 appropriations.

Item 41 is approving the transmittal of the code changes reverting the Ybor City parking lots changes. If you missed it, the city adopted new ordinances related to safety and standards in private parking lots in Ybor City on September 5, 2024. Due to language stuffed into SB 180, the private lot operators threatened legal action against the city for violating provisions in the bill. SB 180 was supposed to deal with hurricane recovery but turned into a developers dream to usurp home rule. The ordinance was adopted prior to any hurricanes. The sponsor of SB 180 is allegedly going to introduce language to restore the bill to its original intent but that doesn’t mean the language will be changed. I contend this issue is one the City Attorney should have pushed back against but then again, I’d like a Mayor and City Attorney who were more vocal on a multitude of issues. I also think the City Attorney should be elected but that’s another discussion.

There was a lot of discussion during the budget process about “Social Actions & Arts Funding”, what should and shouldn’t be classified in which bucket. There was never a real resolution; something passed. Two items that weren’t discussed because they weren’t included the SAAF bucket were items 44 & 45. $84,100 for the Hillsborough County Entrepreneur Collaborative Center (located in Ybor) and $100,000 for the Tampa Hillsborough Film and Digital Media Commission Inc. Council can weigh the benefits but I felt its worth noting these smaller project fundings garner a lot of time and energy during budget discussions.

Item 64 is an update to the City of Tampa Code of Ethics. Most are related to complying with state statutes—including one that prevents elected officials from lobbying for pay on behalf of 3rd parties with the city for 6 years after leaving office. One relates to a 2022 Ethics Committee report and letter from the mayor. Another the memo says “This revision removes an impediment to the police and fire departments’ ability to obtain volunteers.” However it also modifies language related to “appointment, employment, promotion, and or advancement of relatives.” The proposed language eliminates the restriction on “advocating”. This is another item one would expect a workshop prior to bringing the proposed changes so that there’s clarity in exactly what’s being changed. Especially when it comes to ethics.

Upcoming

Next week (10/30) council will be holding a workshop which will include the final public worksop for the multi-modal transportation impact fee rate adjustment. More details should emerge as to what kind of rate adjustment is being suggested. There was total agreement that extraordinary circumstances exist to justify increasing the fees more than 50% but that’s where to discussions stopped. Additionally there will be an update on the Sulphur Springs community action plan during the workshop.

Who will be sitting in the seat for District 5 for those discussions will be determined Tuesday the 28th when the polls close. I have previously shared I’m voting for Naya Young and more recently wrote about the role of experience in the debate. However I encourage everyone registered to vote in District 5 get out and vote for their preferred candidate. If you don’t want to vote for either candidate, write in someone else. There were a significant number of write-in candidates in the last (mostly uncontested ) mayoral election.

In August there was an agenda item related to Borrell Park that inspired some thoughts. There will be a community update and outreach event Wednesday evening 10/22/25 at Ragan Park from 6-8. City calendar has more details.

Finally, this might have flown under the radar in the news but a neat project with the parking division adding 54 2′ x 4′ raised beds for a parking community garden. 41 are being made available to residents through a lottery selection. The city’s website has more details and how to apply.