Digest

Tampa wants a seat on Environmental Commission

By Times wire services
Published June 29, 2007

TAMPA -- In the wake of a preliminary 4-3 vote last week by the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission board to eliminate the agency's wetlands division, the City Council is asking Gov. Charlie Crist and the county's legislative delegation to give Tampa a seat on the board.

Right now, the Environmental Protection Commission board consists solely of Hillsborough County commissioners.

Council member John Dingfelder said it's important for the city to send a message to the County Commission that the wetlands division, whose regulations are more rigorous than the state's, is important to the city.

Commissioners still must schedule a public hearing before they can eliminate the division.

City Council seals Moffitt research deal

TAMPA -- The City Council approved the final taxpayer-funded financial commitment the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer and Research Institute Inc. needed for a more than $100-million research project.

The city will give Moffitt $1.2-million worth of land and a grant of up to $800,000 over a decade.

Moffitt intends to create a for-profit subsidiary called M2Gen that will study ways to tailor treatment of cancer patients based on the characteristics of their tumors.

Merck said it will invest about $95-million in the project.

Moffitt promises to create 165 jobs paying an average of $80,000. The jobs would have to be maintained for at least 10 years.

The state has contributed $15-million to the project. Hillsborough County has chipped in $28-million.

Neighbors object to proposed hospital

WESLEY CHAPEL -- University Community Hospital won a coveted state permit two weeks ago to set up shop in Wesley Chapel.

But it picked a site on State Road 54, opposite Saddlebrook Resort, that triggered an outcry from neighbors.

Backed by two petitions with 136 signatures, at least 10 residents took to the Development Review Committee podium to protest a land use change that's a first step toward allowing the three-story, 80-bed hospital.

"We just think it is going to negatively affect our community," said George Kuenning, who lives in a subdivision next door.

The committee approved the plan but told residents there would be further opportunities to sound off. The request now moves on to the state Department of Community Affairs and the County Commission.

[Last modified June 29, 2007, 02:54:26]