UPDATE: After this was published the Tampa Monitor was made aware Council Chair Alan Clendenin intends to motion to continue this vote until July 23rd CRA meeting. In a text message he stated “negotiations continue behind the scenes.” When asked what’s changed in the MOU he replied “we shall see.”

Council sit this week as the Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) Board at 9am Thursday for the much anticipated vote on the Rays MOU plus 8 other agenda items. At 5pm they reconvene as council for an 11 item agenda focused on land use changes.

Last on the CRA agenda but the item most of Tampa Bay will be watching is the delayed vote on the Ray’s stadium MOU. I’ve written a fair amount on the issue already but if you need to catch up I wrote up another post with some links to previous pieces and a few additional observations about the topic of the CRA and negotiations. I have no idea what is going to happen but I do know at the end of last Thursday’s meeting the the future land use amendment for the stadium and related parcels was scheduled to be heard in late July. Someone thinks this is moving forward.

Ultimately though it is going to require 4 votes from the CRA Board for the non-binding MOU to move forward to a final funding agreement vote and change to the Community Investment Tax project list. Not to mention all of the necessary CRA steps. I’ve seen less reporting on the subject the past week with the last I read Hillsborough County Commissioner Ken Hagan predicting a mid-July vote by the county on the funding agreement with city soon to follow. When the mayor requested a special call meeting for July 23rd for the budget presentation instead of the anticipated July 16 meeting, I asked the administration if the two were related and was informed the “administration was unaware of” Hagan’s statement and that there was no connection. (Related, council declined the July 23 date because the CRA meets that day and scheduled it for July 30th. The mayor will be out of town that day “so her budget presentation probably will have to be videotaped.”)

As to the remainder of the CRA agenda, Item 3 is a $5 million funding request from the East Tampa CRA district for a development consisting of 31 units plus ground floor retail. The units would be capped at 80% AMI and below. Ironically as the CRA Board contemplates a $100 million request from the Rays, item 4 will be an ongoing discussion about “funding limits on Special Requests”. Item 5 is a presentation on housing funding in each district. Two years ago the CRA Board set a mandate that each district budget at least 30% for housing related projects. Some have suggested that’s unrealistic in certain districts and and budgeting funds doesn’t mean the projects are there to build. And finally I’ll note another topic of the Rays in Drew Park is the need to update the Community Redevelopment Plan (CRP) to include the stadium. As I’ve previously noted, other district CRP updates have taken years to complete. The plans are supposed to be the guide book for the district. Item 8 on the agenda this week is the final draft for the East Tampa district. Even if the board approves the draft, it still must be transmitted to the Hillsborough Planning Commission for a consistency review, returned to the CRA Board for final approval before being sent to themselves as Tampa City Council for final approval, tentatively scheduled for November/December 2026.

One final note on Thursday’s meeting. If there is a high level of public comment and any amount of debate on the MOU, it’s unclear how much of the remainder of the agenda will be addressed. They could break for lunch and come back for a couple of hours but they have to consider staff’s time, including the clerk and CCTV. They can’t go past 5pm due to the scheduled public hearings that evening which can’t be moved.

Evening Land Use

There are 10 land use items on the evening agenda and while in the past I have tried to review applications I’ve since ended that practice for smaller residential rezonings. What I have focused on is making it easier for folks to find projects in their neighborhood with the interactive map included with my version of the agenda.

To that end, a new feature I’m working on is keyword notifications. Something readers asked about when I first launched. I get that most weeks folks don’t have time to comb through the whole agenda or even read my entire preview. But you don’t want to miss a project that is being proposed on your street or neighborhood. Or you follow a particular issue like bike lanes or sidewalks. I’ll have you covered. Every Monday you’d receive a separate email digest for any items that match your list. At least if the word or phrase is included in the agenda item title, summary sheet or staff report. It would not include other supporting documents.

The goal is to launch it in private beta when council returns from their 2 week break in July. Anyone who has ever made a contribution to Tampa Monitor is invited to the private beta and as it gets closer I’ll send out an email. Eventually the goal would be to open it to the public for free for a limited number of keywords with supporters having a higher threshold. A lot will depend on the tool’s popularity as to where those numbers land as there are fixed costs for the backend infrastructure.

Quick wrap up on last week

Both the issue of speed cameras in school zones and changes to public comment moved forward. The modification to the school zone camera ordinance was passed on first reading setting up a final vote June 18th. TPD stipulated that the vendor, RedSpeed, would submit an affidavit stating the cameras would not be connected to Flock. I’ll have more in that week’s preview.

As to the changes in public comment and council rules, they also agreed to set a public hearing on the proposed changes. Tampa City Council Attorney Martin Shelby noted no less than 7 attorneys weighed in on the changes including City Attorney Scott Steady and CRA Attorney Cliff Shepard. Mr. Shelby stated it’s his preference that council hear directly from Mr. Steady who was unavailable for last week’s meeting.

Council sit next week for their final regular meeting in June, followed by a workshop agenda and evening land use hearings to close out the month. They will then be off the first two weeks in July. The Tampa Monitor will joining them in taking time off from the weekly preview/newsletter during their break.