As Tampa City Council sits as the Community Redevelopment Agency Board the final time in 2025, they have a light agenda with one final, major vote to cast—the CRA services agreement with the city. Led by Board member Carlson, there has been friction on this topic for several years. While the intent is that the city simply performs “services” for the CRA and are not meant to impart policy influence, that hasn’t always been how the agency operates. It has been part of a broader defense by some on council to establish more autonomy from the administration. Separation of powers. This year’s services agreement has been continued a couple of times as details have been worked out. Not that there’s been a lot of discussion of those details; the board seems comfortable letting Carlson take the lead.

There is a vote related to a previously awarded grant of $2.125 million for a surface parking lot on the Ashley East development in East Tampa. This vote doesn’t alter the grant rather it’s a procedural step in the funding agreement which includes placing a lien on the land until the related housing development begins. The rezoning for the project appears on the evening agenda. Additionally in grant funding the Centro Asturiano De Tampa is requesting up to $416,995 for their $1 million renovation project.

The final item on the CRA agenda I’ll highlight is a presentation on “East Tampa Wayfinding Signage Project”. The idea that the entirety of the East Tampa CRA, the largest in the city, can be branded is absurd. This idea came out of a discussion a couple of years ago when the Channelside Citizen Advisory Committee (CAC) budgeted a bunch of money for signage and way finding. This was still when the individual CRA districts were still running as separate entities in practice with different policies and processes. From there the idea turned into some kind of branding exercise applying the same concept to each district. Channelside has money to burn. Funding new neighborhood signs in the East Tampa CRA district is one thing, trying to turn arbitrary geographic boundaries that were drawn 25 years ago for the sake of economic development into an identity is another. Reminds me of bike shedding.

As to the second half of the twilight double-header, council will sit for a 14 item agenda with the final 3 items not to be heard due to one being withdrawn, one requesting a continuance and the last item mis-noticed. That item, a proposed massive u-storage development in Seminole Heights has already been continued once and is facing public opposition. The first item on the agenda is not land use related, rather a required public hearing on the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) annual report.

Items 2 and 6 are both related to the Ashley East project noted in the morning CRA agenda. Item 2 is to vacate an unimproved alley and item 6 is the related rezoning to build 118 affordable housing units. Included in the waivers requested is to remove 4 non-hazardous grand trees and a 30% parking waiver. This despite the CRA funding $2.1 million to purchase surface parking and $9.7 million overall for this project. It always seems backward for the city to fund projects before the rezoning is approved. Like, this is all a charade, right?

Of the remaining land use items, item 3 is a continuation of a proposed future land use change for SE Ybor and what may include a new Tampa General Hospital facility. Item 10 is a proposed hotel south of Gandy Blvd near MacDill AFB that would consist of 2 6-story buildings. The remaining are residential in nature.