March 29, 2024

Alex o'Loughlin

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Harbour Island residents push back on 14-story hotel plans

Harbour Island people are pushing back against designs to establish a 14-story hotel on the island. The Tampa Town Council is set to vote on the issue at their conference Thursday, where’s it is envisioned to be a packed residence. 

The silent serenity of Harbour Island dwelling is one particular of the primary advertising details for its residents. Some stress a new resort will modify that. 

“It undoubtedly would make persons come to feel a minimal bit uneasy. A great deal much more website traffic. A whole lot more out of towners. And vacationers and website visitors coming that usually are not area to the space, so we will not know what that could provide,” Harbour Island resident Maria Loyacona explained.

The proposed land for the resort located at 800 South Harbour Island Boulevard is at present zoned for a small office environment. The building – which made use of to be a financial institution – is places of work for the Liberty Group which occurs to be the identical developer asking the Tampa Metropolis Council for a variance request to alter the zoning from compact business office to resort.

“We don’t want a hotel, we you should not want a zoning transform. We do not want something crafted on that assets,” Harbour Island resident Greg Fagioli claimed. “It was a financial institution ahead of, and it had quite several autos coming and going.”

Fagioli is 1 of the a lot more than 4,000 people who phone Harbour Island home. He said he never ever would have moved below if it wasn’t for the quaint residential atmosphere.

“It is really a quite undesirable thought. It will do practically nothing but damage us and devalue the properties,” Fagioli reported.

A number of citizens have despatched letters to council members urging them to vote no on the variance request. Other folks have decked out their cars with signs urging the Tampa Metropolis Council and Mayor Jane Castor to reject the Liberty zoning request.

“I know a lot of us are nervous about crime,” Loyacona reported. “We will not know who’s going to arrive to city. A lot of the neighborhoods are gated, but you could very easily hop the fence.”

Inhabitants also stress the plot of land is just too compact for a 14-tale hotel. The exertion to deliver in a new resort started about a yr in the past. People mentioned the robust opposition revealed back again then hasn’t modified.

“I consider the property should be donated. It need to be a park,” Fagioli mentioned.

The Tampa Metropolis Council is set to vote on the Liberty Team variance request at their assembly Thursday at 5 p.m.