Gas Station denied wet zoning.

A bit ago I wrote about this gas station and the alcohol zoning in Seminole Heights. This article is interesting because as reported the owner of the gas station contradicts himself, saying the station is not for sale but then saying the people who are leasing it plan to buy it. All those who testify at City Council are sworn in, so did the owner perjure himself? Good detective work by Beverly Morrow. My wife had read in the Tribune an add for a gas station for sale and she had wondered if that was this station. it seems like maybe it was.

Station's Wet Zone Request Has Snags
By KATHY STEELE

SEMINOLE HEIGHTS For more than two years, Neil Yildirim has pursued wet zoning for his gas station on East Hillsborough Avenue.

He came close last week to a one-year provisional beer and wine license, but the city council balked when two neighborhood associations and a church congregation objected. It wasn't the first time they have come together to block the license.

His response to his latest loss?

"Go home. Cry," he said. "It's not fair."

Yildirim said he will try again in six months.

The 6-1 vote came amid some language confusion and mystery over how Yildirim's gas station appeared on a real estate company's Web site for sale at $825,000.

Yildirim, a naturalized citizen from Turkey, seemed to tell the city council that he "listed" his property.

But council member John Dingfelder said, no, Yildirim said he "leased" the station.

Beverly Morrow, president of the Southeast Seminole Heights Civic Association, showed the council a printed copy of the Web page with the property listing.

Yildirim insisted he didn't know how the property wound up online.

"I own the property. I know nothing about this," he said. "I don't give permission about that."

Yildirim said he was leasing it to "good family people" who might buy the station from him.

"I think he's been straightforward," said Dingfelder, the lone council member to champion his cause.

Council member Rose Ferlita differed.

"I think there is a great deal of deception," she said. "I'm not happy."

In denying the petition, council members said there was no hardship to justify waiving the rule that bans alcohol sales within 1,000 feet of a church.

Afterward, Dingfelder said, "This is the American dream. He bought this business. I think we're treating him differently from people on other corners."

Yildirim's station, named Valero, is at Hillsborough Avenue and Interstate 275. Immediately across the six-lane road is Seminole Heights Baptist Church.

A Citgo station at Hillsborough and Nebraska avenues, and a BP station at Hillsborough and Central Avenue, are in the area. The stations sell beer and wine.

Neighbors said they had no problem with Yildirim's business and shop at his gas station.

More than six months ago there was neighborhood support to give Yildirim a year to show that package alcohol sales would not result in more vagrancy and public drunkenness.

"We tried to open our hearts, if you will," said Bill Duvall, a member of the Old Seminole Heights Neighborhood Association.

Last week, neighbors heard the gas station was up for sale and Yildirim was no longer its on-site manager.

"As you know, wet zoning goes with the property," Duvall said. "We feel like we're not dealing with the current owners. There went the good faith."

Morrow said church members worry that alcohol sales will be a temptation to people attending a recovery program.

She also gave city council data on the number of police calls in that area. She was aware of no service calls to Yildirim's station.

"But do I assume that will remain the same?" she said.

Church members have reported problems with vagrants. Beer bottles, debris and human excrement have been found on church land, Morrow said.

"To put more liquor there, it serves nobody's purpose except those we don't want to help," said Susan Long, a member of a Seminole Heights mobile crime patrol.

Yildirim said he felt like the victim.

"I'm small business. What difference it make one more beer sale?" he said.



This story can be found at: http://www.tampatrib.com/News/MGBHZ2L2CDE.html