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Residents mount a three-hour offensive before the Architectural Review Commission, which unanimously agrees with them. Next: the City Council.
By BRADY DENNIS, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times, published April 10, 2003
TAMPA -- They chartered a bus and came armed with letters and petitions and e-mails.
They brought prepared statements, some neatly typed, others handwritten. They argued and reasoned and pleaded for more than three hours. But they left happy, if only for now.
Nearly 70 Hyde Park residents showed up at the Architectural Review Commission meeting Wednesday evening to protest a planned high-rise at the corner of Bayshore Boulevard and DeSoto Avenue.
At 31 stories, the proposed Desoto Tower easily would become the tallest building on Bayshore.
It even would rival some downtown skyscrapers, like the circular "beer can" building at 400 N Ashley Drive that stands at 31 stories.
Neighbors near the 1.1-acre site want none of it.
"If you approve it, you might as well take your guidelines and tear them up and start over," homeowner Dominick Graziano told commissioners. "There could be nothing more foreign to the Hyde Park historic district than a 412-foot high-rise."
A line of residents stretched behind him to the back of the room, all waiting to say the same thing in their own way.
Developers came Wednesday asking the commission to recommend the City Council approve certain setback variances for the project.
Citivest Corp., which has offices on Barcelona Street, has proposed 75 units, which are allowed under the current zoning.
The company, which built the Stoval farther south on Bayshore, wants to build closer to the street on both Bayshore and DeSoto than what the city allows.
Even though the City Council will hear the issue again on May 8 and have the final say, residents on Wednesday responded as if construction were set to begin this weekend.
They presented commissioners with a thick notebook, separated into 15 sections, detailing reasons the condominiums should not be allowed in that neighborhood. They brought diagrams and charts, spreadsheets and pictures.
At times they booed John Grandoff, a Tampa attorney representing Citivest Corp.
"It's our intention to have a full discussion on this project," Grandoff said early on. "We're not trying to rush this project by any means."
Currently, the tallest building in the area is the Bayshore Royal Condominium, which sits next door. Across DeSoto, the street is lined by bungalows with big porches.
A similar house used to sit on the proposed high-rise spot. It was torn down during the 1980s, and city officials rezoned the lot to allow for an apartment complex.
According to current site plans, a parking garage will occupy the first four floors, an idea that especially repulses neighbors. A swimming pool is planned on the fourth floor, above the garage.
Condos will be three and four bedrooms, about four units per floor. The top three floors will be penthouses, each with five bedrooms.
Residents said Tuesday that's far too much in far too small a space.
"They're basically building a neighborhood above our neighborhood," said homeowner Dennis Vann.
Agnes Stanfield, vice president of the Hyde Park neighborhood association, echoed that sentiment. "Allowing this could set a dangerous precedent," she said.
Commissioners agreed, unanimously recommending that City Council members not approve the requested variances. Several said that architects should try to plan the new complex within existing guidelines.
But they warned that there is only so much they can do.
"There's going to be a tall building on this site," said Commissioner Jose Gelats. "That's something people in the neighborhood have to realize."
Still, the residents counted Wednesday as a victory in an ongoing war. Next stop: City Council on May 8.
Several talked after the meeting of celebrating over drinks at St. Bart's Island House restaurant on Howard Avenue. Outside, a charter bus driver sat waiting.
It had cost residents $300 to rent the bus for five hours. The driver smiled.
"I didn't think they'd use all five hours," he said.