Developing a Future
Tampa Tribune
Published February 4, 2006
By Michael H. Samuels
http://www.tampatrib.com
SOUTH TAMPA - Life south of Gandy Boulevard is changing.
The South Tampa of expensive homes, chic boutiques and upscale restaurants is making its way south.
But the transformation is not without growing pains for the neighborhoods that share space at the tip of the peninsula: Sun Bay South, Port Tampa and Ballast Point.
Ballast Point wrestles with the balance of single-family homes along Bayshore Boulevard and town houses on MacDill Avenue.
Sun Bay South wonders how to limit flooding and traffic congestion.
Port Tampa, still smarting from its annexation more than 40 years ago, worries about trucks rumbling down its streets and hundreds of new houses sprouting.
The neighborhoods are home to thousands of ranch-style houses, narrow tree-canopied streets, tidal ditches, an industrial port, a fishing pier, and mom-and-pops with names such as Pinarama and Mama's Kitchen.
The communities also are home to almost 2,800 residences recently built, under construction or on the drawing board.
"South of Gandy is a great place to live," Tampa Mayor Pam Iorio said at a groundbreaking for one of the high-rise condominiums planned along Old Tampa Bay. "It is close to downtown. It is close to Pinellas County."
That proximity appeals to Carrie Buck.
With a 7-month-old son, she and her husband, Kerry, wanted to move from their town house just north of MacDill Air Force Base to a community such as Westchase in northwest Hillsborough County, just not so far away.
Carrie Buck, who grew up in Brandon, has lived in South Tampa since attending the University of Tampa. It's home, she said.
The family is among the first residents of the Westshore Yacht Club, a 539-unit gated complex being built on a former industrial site off West Shore Boulevard.
"It's convenient to everything," said Carrie Buck, who commutes to work in Pinellas County. "And there's not that much traffic down here.
"Growth has made everything more convenient," she said. "All of the building going on is great for the community."
Growling At Gridlock
For many neighborhood leaders, however, traffic is a constant headache and frequent topic of discussion.
The city is conducting a months long traffic study of the area, and Iorio said roads and infrastructure need improvement.
West Shore is the hub for much of the redevelopment, including major projects such as the Westshore Yacht Club, New Port Tampa Bay and Casa Bella on Westshore. Other properties, such as the former Wenczel Tile site, 6608 S. West Shore Blvd., are attracting attention from developers.
West Shore was widened to three lanes between Gandy and Interbay Boulevard about a year ago, but there are no plans to add more lanes. There also are no plans to widen the road north of Gandy, where the Georgetown and Cove apartment complexes are slated for redevelopment."
We need to find out where people are going and what roads they are using before we can come up with an enhanced traffic pattern plan," Iorio said.
The state plans a $20 million Gandy improvement project, and the city recently broke ground on a widening of Manhattan between Gandy and Euclid Avenue.
Civic groups also have been pushing developers to help pay for traffic lights, sidewalks and crosswalks at major intersections, and other traffic upgrades.
But it's not much, residents say.
Traffic was among the issues that prompted the Gandy Civic Association last year to call for a moratorium on multifamily development in Sun Bay South. The city council rejected the moratorium.
"In essence, we live on a little island," said James Walker, a south of Gandy resident for 32 years. "Traffic is just the most obvious problem."
He also worries about stormwater issues. He said his property, on Ballast Point Boulevard between West Shore and Manhattan, has had flooding since West Shore was widened.
"I'm not an engineer," said Walker, a retired Hillsborough County sheriff's deputy. "But I do not think this area can stand the [residential] density that's being put in here."
Although West Shore is the site of the larger redevelopment projects, other areas south of Gandy are buzzing with building projects, with developers scooping up parcels for houses, condos and town houses.
In Port Tampa, 100-year-old, bungalow-style homes are being replaced by so-called McMansions. Large swaths of land close to the Air Force base have no infrastructure, and water and sewer lines must be installed for projects there.
Residents say the development is affecting the system of tidal ditches that protects the area from severe flooding.
They also worry about trucks speeding through the neighborhood on their way to and from the base and the port.
Charlie Trezevant, a lifelong Tampa resident who has lived in Port Tampa for four years, said trucks should be banned from Interbay between West Shore and Manhattan, where children cross the street several times a day.
"I do not think anybody has a clue just how ugly it's going to be when the people are actually living in those developments," Trezevant said of the traffic. "We're just getting lip service down here. We're not getting any working solutions."
He said city departments have ignored his complaints, although he credits police for putting the brakes on speeding in the neighborhood.
A former Hyde Park resident, Trezevant calls Port Tampa, "Hyde Park with a beach" because of its proximity to Picnic Island.
"For me, walking around Port Tampa today, it literally reminds me, as far as the plants and animals, of basically Florida 30 years ago or so," he said.
Upgrades In The Pipeline
City officials and developers say the redevelopment will benefit residents south of Gandy.
"These projects will actually help improve their infrastructure problems," Iorio said.
Projects such as EcoGroup Inc.'s New Port Tampa Bay include water and sewer upgrades that will benefit surrounding neighborhoods, officials say.
The city also recently imposed a new impact fee on developers to pay for a 10-mile, $48 million pipeline to improve water service in downtown and South Tampa.
EcoGroup President Ed Oelschlaeger said that, in addition to providing infrastructure improvements, his 1,200-unit project will open the waterfront to the public, with amenities such as a boardwalk, shops and cafes.
South Tampa Chamber of Commerce President Anita Ramirez said she expects more people will relocate south of Gandy when they see what's planned there.
"It's a no-brainer," she said.
Thom Snelling, the city's land development and zoning manager, said the boom south of Gandy isn't unique. He paralleled Florida's growth-related difficulties with California's boom in the 1940s and 1950s.
"Hopefully, we will learn from it," he said.
The city is completing an evaluation of the anticipated development during the next 15 to 20 years, Snelling said. "I think growth is good compared to nothing," he said. "It has to be handled in the right way."
'Too Many Homes'
Some longtime residents say that has not been done. They say the city council continues to rezone single-family lots for multifamily projects.
Joe Marchitto lived south of Gandy for 33 years. He moved to the Regency Cove Mobile Home Park just north of Gandy in November after selling the house he bought for $22,000 in 1973 for $194,500.
The neighborhood had changed, Marchitto said. The fast pace and speeding cars became too much.
"I couldn't get out of my house anymore," he said. "They started to build too many homes down there."
For Monroe Berkman, however, life south of Gandy is the future.
Berkman and his wife, Suzette, bought two units in the Castillo condo tower at the Westshore Yacht Club. The condos are an investment for the Berkmans, who live on the water north of Gandy.
"We do not know what we necessarily want to do," Monroe Berkman said. "We may want to move."
He's excited by what is happening south of Gandy.
"I've been watching the growth of Tampa for a long time," he said. "It's really incredible. I feel like I don't want to see this pass us by."
Michael H. Samuels can be reached at msamuels@tampatrib.com.
