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Politics

Protests postpone MacDill zoning meeting

The City Council acted after angry e-mails and confrontations about land use changes.

By JANET ZINK
Published September 22, 2006

TAMPA - People who live near MacDill Air Force Base say land use changes proposed for the neighborhood will lower their property values and increase their insurance rates.

A public hearing on the issue was scheduled for Thursday night. But after City Council members received dozens of angry e-mails and residents confronted city officials at a neighborhood association meeting Monday, the council postponed the hearing until Nov. 16.

The suggested changes resulted from a yearlong study to determine how to protect the Air Force base from having development encroach upon its flight line.

Among other things, recommended code changes include labeling portions of the neighborhood as "accident potential" zones and "military installation," banning future development adjacent to the base, and reducing the density allowed in nearby neighborhoods.

People in the neighborhoods south of Gandy Boulevard, which has seen an explosion of development, have long said they wanted to limit density and height, said Sally Flynn, vice president of the Ballast Point Neighborhood Association. So the board passed a resolution supporting the changes.

But at a neighborhood meeting Monday, dozens of people took exception to this, and forced the board to send a letter to the city saying the group no longer supports the measures.

Those who object to the zoning changes say it won't allow recreation centers, restaurants, day care centers and retail businesses.

They also worry that identifying some areas as potential crash zones will increase their property insurances rates, and that requiring a disclosure for real estate sales will lower their home values.

"I don't think we as a majority disagree about minimizing development and restricting increases in the density," wrote Philip Friedman in an e-mail to City Council members. "But there is certainly an issue about prohibiting facilities which may help property values .... or scaring people with unnecessary disclosures."

Others say the rezoning looks like a ploy to expand the base and simply bends to the will of the U.S. Department of Defense.

Council member John Dingfelder said that's not the case.

"This is first and foremost about public safety," he said.

The study of land uses around MacDill started last year around the time the Pentagon announced plans to close military bases across the country.

At the time, members of the committee overseeing the study, including Dingfelder and County Commissioner Kathy Castor, said it would demonstrate support of the base's mission.

In addition to protecting citizens from potential crashes, Dingfelder said in April 2005, "We want to continue to show that we're good neighbors with the base. We want to do everything we can to encourage them to stay."

MacDill was spared during the Pentagon's round of closings.

Flynn said that despite the large number of protests about the land use changes, she and other board members still support the effort.

Yes, she said, insurance rates are going up. But the insurance companies have always known that the neighborhood is near an Air Force base.

"We're in a lot more danger of it going up from water issues than anything else. We're in a flood zone down here," she said.

Many of those who object, she said, "either don't know or don't care about the economic asset of the base and how much they do in the community."

City officials will schedule a meeting in October to discuss the concerns of residents and possible adjustments to the proposal.

Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3401.

[Last modified September 22, 2006, 06:23:05]