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Neighborhood report

Day care wants city to help bail it out

The center has asked that city land be leased to it so it can relocate and keep the federal funding that's now in jeopardy.

By SHERRI DAY
Published July 1, 2005

Darlene Guzman's family depends on the Palmetto Beach day care center.

Without it, Guzman doesn't know where her two grandchildren would go for day care.

But the center may have to close if its administrators don't find a more suitable home.

The day care's proximity to large fuel tanks threaten federal funding that center officials say they need to renovate and continue operations. The day care center must be at least 1,000 feet from the fuel tanks to qualify for a $90,000 community development grant.

The Palmetto Beach Community Association owns the center, which serves about 30 children in three modular buildings at 2014 Davis St. Last week, Guzman and other members of the association appealed to the Tampa City Council for help.

"We are not looking for the city to buy us anything," said Guzman, the association's treasurer. "What we're asking them is to help us find a city-owned property within our neighborhood and be so kind as to lease it to us so we can receive those funds."

It is not the first time the association has asked the city for assistance. In 2001, the city sold the association two lots on Corrine Street for use as a day care center. The association was supposed to pay off the land through a deferred payment loan.

The association moved a house donated by the state Department of Transportation to the property to use for the day care center. The group eventually abandoned the house and the Corrine Street site after discovering that renovations would cost more than $340,000.

To continue operating, the association began leasing modular units on Davis Street from a private company. When the day care fell behind in rent, city officials helped to broker a settlement deal with the landlord. Under the city's auspices, the association sold the Corrine Street property to Richard Markham, the former Port of Tampa doctor in the Channel District, and kept the profits to help pay down debts.

But the Davis Street site, which borders a petroleum tank farm, put the group's longterm funding in jeopardy. Association leaders thought they had solved the problem when they reached an agreement with the city to move to DeSoto Park. But the city scrapped the idea after deeming the day care inappropriate for the park, said Karen Palus, director of Tampa's Parks and Recreation Department.

Earlier this year, the association asked city officials to help them find an alternate location. So far, nothing has turned up.

"We have been looking in the Palmetto Beach area for some sites, but we haven't really found anything," said Jack Rodriguez, a manager with the city's real estate division.

Rodriguez said there are no vacant city-owned sites in the area so his staff is querying other property owners in the neighborhood including the Hillsborough County school district, the state transportation department and private individuals.

But given the group's history with the city, some council members balked last week at their latest request.

"I'm not familiar with us funding and subsidizing day care facilities across the city," council member John Dingfelder said. "I'm not trying to be mean. I'm just wondering why we're getting deeper and deeper into it. It sounds like we made a nice contribution at the front end. At what point do we cut?"

But council member Kevin White, who represents the district, said the group deserves the city's aid.

"It's the right thing to see if we can get them some help," White said. "I know the city is not in the business of bailing out private industry and private nonprofits. But one of the things we need to do as a government is to try to help our citizens at large."

Harry S. Hedges, who serves as a consultant to the association, said the group would not be in this situation had its members known that the Corrine Street site would ultimately prove too costly and that the Davis Street property was too close to fuel tanks.

Hedges said the day care could remain in its current location if the city would award the association $90,000 from a funding source that does not have rules regarding the center's proximity to fuel tanks. If not, he plans to ask city officials to reconsider a move to DeSoto Park.

"They've put thousands and thousands of dollars into that park," Hedges said. "There is so much they've invested in that for entertainment purposes. How about caring for the children that are growing up in that community?"

- Sherri Day can be reached at 226-3405 or sday@sptimes.com

[Last modified June 30, 2005, 09:10:08]