Council sit this Thursday as the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) in the morning with a 9 item agenda and return in the evening for a 10 item agenda hearing land use applications. The last 2 items on the agenda are requesting a continuance and the remaining items are all residential and small scale office in nature. A reminder if you want to check if any of the hearings are in your neighborhood, you can view an interactive map with zoning classifications on the version of the agenda the Tampa Monitor publishes each week.

Of the CRA agenda items, the main one I wanted to highlight this week is item 9, Drew Park CRA — Safety and Speed Management Study- Scope of Work Expansion. In 2022 the Citizen’s Advisory Council (CAC) recommended a mobility & safety plan study. Upon completion of that, in 2024 the CAC voted to expand the study. On11/19/25 the CAC voted to recommend authorizing next phase of design based on “construction affordability estimates at the time.” They recommended Tier 1 improvements for the two corridors and Tier 3 improvements for the four intersections which would equate to $1,562,000 in permit-ready design work.

Since then, CRA staff have “reviewed the project scope and available funding…and identified additional capacity that allows for consideration of further improvements that were previously not constructible (emphasis added). On 2/18/26 the CAC voted to amend previous recommendation to increase scope to include $7 million more in construction costs. All together, the costs are currently estimated at $9.5 million.

Thursday the CRA Board are only being asked to approve an additional $182,130 in design costs. The construction would come after design is completed and the available funding is identified. Staff do not identify in the supporting documents the source of the funding they identified. Drew Park’s total FY26 budget is $3,617,252.

Which gets to the elephant in the room. The proposed baseball stadium in the Drew Park CRA district. Tampa City Council Chair Alan Clendenin has characterized the city’s return on investment in the stadium as the revitalization of the Drew Park CRA district. He’s used dollars and job numbers that haven’t been independently verified to pitch the project.

But no one is talking about it. The focus has been on the Community Investment Tax and whether that can even be used for the stadium. It’s a valid debate but assuming a loophole is found, how will it stack with any CRA tax credits?

The Drew Park CRA district is set to expire in 2034. One would have to assume then there’s a plan to extend the CRA district beyond its 30 year intended lifespan in order to use any long-term Tax Incremental Funding (TIF). Which requires county approval. Currently the county keeps 20% of tax revenue from the CRA districts (after a 100% contribution the first 10 years). Will they still get 20%?

Opening up the CRA agreement opens up other districts. There have been calls to extend East Tampa beyond 2034 as well. Council member Bill Carlson among others has voiced a desire to sunset the downtown district—possibly even Channelside—though those calls have quieted except around budget time. Some like Council member Luis Viera have suggested creating a new district for Sulphur Springs.

When the Tampa Monitor inquired who was negotiating on behalf of the CRA in this process, the mayor’s office simply said they were still gathering information. Clendenin stated “CRA staff works closely with city staff, they are city employees.” Carlson believes Chief of Staff John Bennett is handling the negotiations.

If the Drew Park CRA district is part of the equation, there must be a lot of confidence the state legislature isn’t going to attempt to end the practice or curb how they are used any time soon. I’m not aware of any attempts in the 2026 legislative session but there were two in 2025 that would have had impacts on CRAs around the state and the potential for new districts moving forward.

And all of that is ignoring whether the broader Drew Park community wants this once it’s all spelled out.

One Last Thing

Something I’d been meaning to put together since I built the iCal feed for City of Tampa calendars was an at-a-glance, what’s on tap for the week page. I started generating it last week and have a new one for this week. I sort the out public meetings scheduled for the week first, then special parks & rec events, then general events followed by what’s going on at the convention center. There’s always some interesting things I see, especially the classes at the Tampa Museum of Art and the Florida Museum of Photographic Arts. Feedback as always appreciated, noting the events link to the city’s page and I’m limited to what information is passed with the calendar event. But I intend to better surface the art classes using what’s there.