Palma Ceia Neighborhood Association

Meeting Minutes

Meeting Minutes March 8, 2005

Discuss Palm Bank's revised building plans. Palm Bank has indicated that it will ask for a continuance to be heard on April 14
Brent Baris, Palma Ceia Neighborhood Association (PCNA) Vice President, stated that when rezoning is requested, PCNA gets an outline of issues to the developer expressing the neighbor's concerns about the rezoning.
Mike and Danni Gallagher's letter to the Tampa City Council will be used to address these concerns including: The request to rezone to a PD will open this property to future development that may not be acceptable to the neighborhood should the bank decide to vacate. Brent stated that a waiver can be placed on the PD to limit the use of the property.
There were also concerns about parking, security lighting infiltrating the neighbors' property, buffer zones and traffic patterns. Discuss the Grand Tree Removal Request for 3208 W Granada.
Lori Jennis, President of PCNA, stated that 3208 W. Granada is a new single family home and the tree is between two houses. Lori spoke to the Parks Dept. about the tree and was told the tree was not a great tree.
The 30 day period to protest the removal of the tree ends March 25,2005.
There is also a request for a grand oak tree removal at 3001 W. San Miguel because it is a hazard. The tree is dying and it is close to the home on the property. There are two other healthy oaks on the property. The 30 day period to protest the removal of this tree is April 1, 2005.
Discuss the request to increase the density of the lot located on Mississippi Ave. between Georgia and Carolina from R-10 to R-20. The agent for the developer advises that he will ask to continue the hearing from its scheduled date of March 10. As of the morning of March 3,2005 this has NOT been done. IF IT ISN'T DONE, it is VERY IMPORTANT that bodies are there.
The developer for the property is Westshore Holding. There are currently no site plans for this PD (Planned Development) requesting the construction of townhomes on a single family lot. There are 7 properties involved. Anni Ellis, PCNA member, stated that Rose Petrucha, City Planner, conducted a Planning study (Tampa Comprehensive Plan Amendment 04-20) and it was recommended that the property stay R-10.
The representative for the developer misrepresented some of the facts in his presentation to the Hillsborough County Planning Commission on 2/14/05. Anni Ellis got a disk recording of the meeting to confirm these misrepresentations.
Using the transcript of the 2/14/05 meeting, available from the City Clerk's office in a few weeks, Anni Ellis will attempt to get Hillsborough County to require anyone speaking at a Commission meeting to be sworn in. Sworn testimony will have greater penalty if the testimony is proven false. Tampa City Council passed the ordinance last year that requires all people who speak in any quasi-judicial meeting to be sworn in.
The developer has asked for a continuance, which will probably be in June. PCNA will need support from its members to discourage the Council from approving the Planned Development.
The Tampa City Council has passed an ordinance that allows only one continuance. The Council will allow only 2 or 3 slots in each agenda for continuances.
Discuss proposed Preservation Agreement and proposed Deed Restriction to be used collectively by people selling their Palma Ceia home.
Homeowners in Palma Ceia are unsuspectingly selling their homes to developers. Brent Baris is working on a Preservation Agreement that requires the buyer to pay damages to the seller if townhomes are built on the property.
PCNA would like to send out Deed Restrictions to all the realtors and prospective sellers to restrict multi-family development through a deed restriction process.
Update from Special Interest Committees
Anni Ellis will draft a sketch of the enclosed sign that PCNA will use to post information pertinent to the neighborhood. There will be three signs, one of which will be on the Palm Bank property on MacDill Ave. The other locations will be determined at a later date.
The meeting attendees voted to place the PCNA membership dues at $12.00 a year. There will be no further prorating of dues.
Lori Jennis thanked everyone who participated in the 3105 Granada victory, especially Brent Baris, Tom Gordin and Tom & Janet Rockey, who were at the 3/8/05 PCNA meeting. The PD was denied by the Tampa City Council largely due to the participation of concerned neighbors.
Other issues were discussed:
Phil Moody informed PCNA that there is a lot on 3211 W. Tacon St. that is selling as a tri-plex. The previous owner was told that the property would be used as a single family home.
Phil Moody also commented on the low environmental impact fees that Hillsborough County charges. The fees are $200. In comparison, Pasco County fees are $3200 and Osceola County fees are increasing from $7000 to $9000. Phil will follow-up on the low impact fee issue.
Lori Jennis said that the townhomes at 3410 Barcelona may be illegal. The Tampa City Code, Official schedule of district regulations, Sec 27-77 (2)b. states that RM-16 residential multifamily provides for low-medium density residential uses, similar to those provided in the RM-12 district, including single-family and two-family developments, at an increased density. Multiple-family development may be permitted through the special use permit procedure.
Special Use permits allow no construction unless approved by the City Council. John Dingfelder will bring this issue up at the March 10 Council meeting.
The goal of PCNA is to stop the construction of townhomes on Mary Mitchell's lot at 3406 Granada St. The developer can not build without going through the PD (Planned Development) process first.
Parking Issues continue to plague the neighborhood. There are 8 more classrooms proposed at Roosevelt Elementary School. There is not enough parking currently at the school.
Palma Ceia Presbyterian Church and Plant High School continue to park in No Parking areas. W. San Miguel has become a dangerous parking lot for construction workers and Plant High students. Police enforcement is rare.
The Palma Ceia Dog Park has caused undue hardship on the homeowners surrounding the dog park. Parking and noise constantly plague the neighbors. Two City employees are stationed at the park for a few hours each day to quiet the dogs.
There is concern about parking with the new Palm Bank on Mac Dill and San Miguel.
Denise and Gaspar Monte are on the Parking Committee and are scheduling a meeting with John Dingfelder to address the parking issues in the neighborhood. The meeting will be scheduled for March 29th or April 12th at 7PM.
There is a meeting with the Tampa Parks Dept. about the Palma Ceia Dog Park on Thursday, March 17th at 6PM at Kate Jackson Community Center, 821 S. Rome Ave.
An overlay district like Seminole Heights was discussed as a solution to the problems with developers changing the character of the neighborhood as well as parking and traffic issues.
The Land Use Plan Meeting is April 7th. There are committees for Parking and Storm Water. PCNA will present that the neighborhood infrastructure will not support the continual growth of high density development. The committee will regroup in the next few weeks to work on presentation materials.
Meeting adjourned: 9:00 pm
Minutes Recorded by Dee Monte

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