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GRAHAM BRINKThe Architectural Review Commission may give the post more time to come into compliance, but the VFW has doubts.
The controversy over the look of the new windows at the local Veterans of Foreign Wars post is scheduled to go to the Architectural Review Commission next week.
Del Acosta, the city's administrator for the commission, said the VFW's planned appearance Wednesday could be postponed a few weeks, depending on how efforts go to remedy the problems.
After a meeting Monday with the VFW's quartermaster Terry "Mac" McMillen, Acosta said he felt confident issues could be worked out. He is willing to give the post three or four months to bring the windows into accordance with the commission's rules, he said.
"I honestly believe they were unaware of the procedures they were supposed to go through before putting in the windows," Acosta said. "Our meeting went well and I see this getting resolved without too much trouble."
McMillen wasn't nearly as optimistic.
"Sometimes it feels like they just want us to sell the property and leave," he said. "I will say that as long as I am alive. there will be a VFW on that site."
Earlier this year, volunteers at Post 4321 on Morrison Avenue installed $10,000 worth of new windows in an ongoing effort to spruce up the drab building near the Lee Roy Selmon Crosstown Expressway.
A neighbor complained and, soon after, the post received three notices saying the new windows violated rules for improving property in a historic district. The city said the windows were tinted, didn't open and had metal frames - all violations.
VFW officials countered that the windows are a vast improvement over the painted and dilapidated windows they replaced. On top of that, the windows open, they said, and have only a slight gray shading.
The commission meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. at City Hall, 315 E Kennedy Blvd.
- Graham Brink can be reached at (813) 226-3365 or brink@sptimes.com