Hillsborough planning commission considers adding thousands of multi-family homes to Tampa Bay Area

Tampa considers allowing more multi-family homes

Aaron Mesmer reports.

TAMPA - Hillsborough County's planning commission met Monday to discuss potential changes to Tampa's comprehensive plan, which could open up some crowded neighborhoods to even more growth.

The City of Tampa is expecting to see 74,000 new residents move to the area by 2045. As a result, members of the planning commission want to consider allowing a series of zoning changes.

The commission's proposal impacts communities from South Tampa up through the University area. It would allow developers to turn some single-family properties into multi-family townhomes and duplexes in certain parts of the city.

Hillsborough County's planning commission is considering adding thousands of multi-family homes to the Tampa Bay Area.

Areas identified as "Transit-Ready Corridors," meanwhile, could see developers permitted to allow up to an additional 50-percent more units. According to the commission, Transit-Ready Corridors are generally neighborhoods adjacent to major or intermediate roads.

There's also a proposed affordable housing bonus, which would allow qualifying projects to expand its capacity between 10 and 100 percent.

What they're saying:

"South Tampa has had the highest rate of growth in the city for 10 years," said Carroll Ann Bennett, Vice President of the Tampa Homeowners Association of Neighborhoods and a member of the Virginia Park Neighborhood Association. "This is a very big concern for South Tampa because we're so low lying, we're vulnerable to storm surge and flooding. The tremendous increase in impermeable surface has really drastically increased the flooding in South Tampa. We're very concerned about evacuation times."

Hillsborough County's planning commission is considering adding thousands of multi-family homes to the Tampa Bay Area.

The commission, however, said the majority of the growth should be outside most residential areas.

"We are trying to focus any growth that would happen along the corridors as opposed to in the heart of neighborhoods," said Melissa Dickens, a division director with the planning commission. "We're also trying to direct the most growth -- most of the 74,000 people -- to our regional activity centers. That's downtown, the Westshore area and then up by the university."

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Dickens added communities in areas designated as "Coastal High-Hazard Areas" would not be re-zoned.

The other side:

Councilman Bill Carlson, however, isn't convinced this is the right plan.

"We need density, we need more units, but South Tampa has had more than its share in the last 15 years. It's time to start putting the density somewhere else," said Carlson, whose district includes South Tampa. "If they bring it to us, almost certainly we'll just reject it outright."

The commission has laid out its proposal in an interactive map.

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The Source: Information for this story was gathered by FOX 13's Aaron Mesmer.

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