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Davis Islands residents lose expansion fight with hospital

A judge says the City Council was right to allow rezoning for a Tampa General Hospital construction project.

By SHERRI DAY
Published January 26, 2006

TAMPA - The long-simmering fracas between a group of Davis Islands residents and Tampa General Hospital reached an apparent end Wednesday, as a county judge sided with the hospital.

Residents wanted the court to overturn a City Council decision that allows TGH to expand by 167,000 square feet and erect a parking garage on a parcel of Marjorie Park. Hillsborough Circuit Judge Richard A. Neilsen ruled Wednesday that the council followe d the law.

Hospital officials cheered the outcome.

"We're obviously pleased," Tampa General spokesman John Dunn said. "We felt all along that the city's process was extremely thorough and, in fact, at some points exhaustive in their review of the project. I think the judge's order reflected that."

Led by the Davis Islands Civic Association, the group filed a petition to overturn the council's vote in August. The petition came before Neilsen in December.

Lawyers for the civic association charged that the city's rezoning process was flawed on several fronts. The group argued that the city staff violated code by allowing hospital officials to chang e the site plan after the filing deadline. The group also contended that the hospital withheld a full description of the site plans, which kept the public from having complete knowledge of the project.

Residents were upset about losing parkland and gaining traffic.

In his decision, Neilsen wrote that the city "had the authority to allow revisions to be made to the site plan both prior to and during the public hearing to satisfy concerns raised during the hearing."

He also ruled that the city was not bound by a 2003 rezoning approval for a separate construction project that set height restrictions on new TGH buildings at 100 feet. In the most recent expansion plan, hospital officials want to build a 134-foot structure.

"There is nothing on the record to establish that this height restriction was written to apply to all future construction," Neilsen wrote. "Furthermore, even if the condition had been intended to apply to future construction, the city has the authority to depart from such a condition."

The residents' lawyer, Susan Fox, declined to comment on the decision. Association president Steve Stanley said Wednesday he had not yet read it and therefore could not comment.

Hospital officials said they expect to begin work on design and engineering plans for the expansion soon.

Sherri Day can be reached at 813 226-3405 or sday@sptimes.com

[Last modified January 26, 2006, 01:01:17]