Commercial Challenge
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Everybody wants to see the commercial area improve. Some see Seminole Heights as having the same constraints as areas of Hyde Park and South Tampa with just less desireable businesses. It has been at least 5 years since I looked at land use maps of the commercial areas and I had never compared them to other parts of the city. We really do have a distinct problem. The only area that comes close to our commercial limitations are Howard and Armenia north of 275 and south of Columbus. But our problem is more than double the size.
It is why we need City Council members and city staff to think outside the box. It is also why I have advocated for a commercial overlay district that could serve our unique situation.
Those red (mostly) and pink strips are what we have to work with without losing any residential area. It ain't much folks! That is what is making it so difficult for places like Cappy's and other new businesses to take hold.
The maps below are taken from the Planning Commission maps. The map to the left is Hyde Park. The map to the right is Dale Mabry & Henderson..jpg)
What you see with regard to red, pink, and brown are generally larger areas of similar zoning. Places to put the parking that the city would require. A luxury that doesn't exist for 95% of our commercial corridor..jpg)
While a band-aid may help Cappy's. How many potential businesses have the deep pockets and patience to make such a gamble? A lot of people don't like the car dealers and junk car lots. Others don't want a homogenized commercial district of chain stores. But the typical independent merchant can't afford to reinvent the wheel with the various permitting hurdles.
That is why there is the need to push more rapidly for a commercial overlay district. Such a district could accommodate the zoning realities, the stormwater retention issues, provide for parking solutions, and make the commerical areas pedestrian friendly and safe. It would provide a clear set of rules for redeveloping our commercial areas. (no I am not promising world peace as well).
Parking is by far the biggest challenge. There are solutions via city purchase, owned and maintained mini-parking lots. The creation of a Community Redevelopment Corp oriented to the commercial district with a nominal millage tax to aquire and maintain the quasi-public parking and other commerical enhancements.
It is great that the City Council has signed on the Seminole Heights Strategic Plan but we as a community need to move beyond a plan and advocate for some concrete remedies. Surely if the City can make a huge commitment to The Heights project to the south of us surely a few dollars can be found to try the mini-parking lots.
Otherwise, will another 20 years will go by without substantial change?
Link to Planning Commission land use map:
http://theplanningcommission.org/maps/adoptedpdfmaps/AdoptedMaps/Adopted_Tampa_Flu.pdf
Links related to some of the posted comments:
http://www.qanrg.org/files/Seattle_Comprehensive_Plan_-_Urban_Village_Element.pdf
http://www.mainstreet.org/content.aspx?page=3§ion=2
http://www.mtairyusa.org/
12 comments:
I'm amazed the sheer need for commercial development hasn't solved these issues and forced leaders to craft solutions.
The gap between residential development and commercial development in Seminole Heights is getting larger by the day.
At what point does something give?
the issue is not that commercial development has not happened - the issue for Sem Hts is that it has happened in other areas that are easier to redevelop. It is a hard enough enviroment to run a business day to day so why would any potential business owner take on a delay of up to one year (and associated interest cost to carry the land) while trying to get a donw zone/rezone or change in use or wavier for parking/stormwater etc, etc to get the business going? Hell, just go to Temple Terrace where they will help you with open arms.
It is time that we demand from the city and zoning, changes that make realistic redevelopment happen. Not to bring up a sore point but it took Starbucks a while to jump through the hoops that zoning and the transportation department put out there to make it work and their location is one of the larger parcels in the hood for redevelopment. Even using the bare bones parking requirements look at how gummed up it stays - Publix is the same thing. Their store is not larger because the parcel would not allow a larger store and accomidate the parking requirements. As the customer count at Publix only increases then the parking issue only gets worse with no way to resolve it.
Why are Tampa officials so retarded and hell bent on always hiring consultants and trying to re-invent the wheel. With Tampa still being in the dark ages, there are many cities light years ahead of us. Why doesn't someone research what is on the books with zoning laws in other cities, other states, similar neighborhoods.
Instead, our officials stand around scratching their asses for decades, in the meantime they pass bad ideas and kill good ones not looking at the whole picture.
Some things to note on the SH Zoning map:
Bright Red squires are "commercial intensive." The colors tell you what sort of zoning it is. CI is one of the most generous zones where nearly anything that doesn't require a special permit (adult, toxic, explosive) is allowable. Yes, that's right, your neighbor on Mohawk in Hampton Terrace can put a helicopter pad on his property without any special permit from zoning. Notice the relative amount of CI (red) in SH vs CI in Hyde park or Dale Mabry? Who wants to open a restaraunt next to a fiberglass repair shop? A crematorium? Yuck!
Commercial General (the brown, I think) is less generous and geared towards retail and non-industrial uses. This is a better zoning that encourages more retail growth because there is less risk of incompatible businesses moving next door.
Something else to note is lot size. It's not easy to see from the maps, but SH commerical lot sizes are relatively small. If you need 70 spaces and a drainage pond for a small restaraunt and the lot sizes aren't much bigger than the residential lots, you basically cannot put anything there except, well, a used car lot. The Family Dollar had to change its corporate classification to reduce parking requirements just to fit on the lot they have now, and it's one of the largest lots in SH on Nebraska Ave. (what a waste.)
If you look at a land use map (the way the land is actually USED vs how it is zoned), most of the red would be brown and some of it would even be peach (residential). Land with a CI zoning is worth more because it is available to more potential buyers. And this, more than anything else, is what has a lot of the current business owners fighting any sort of commercial overlay. They are afraid they'll have their zoning downgraded from CI to CG.
And finally, if you look at the lane widths on Nebraska through Hampton Terrace, you'll see that they're very narrow. So narrow, in fact, that the side mirror on my standard dodge 1500 pickup will travel uncomfortably close to the sidewalk as I drive down the right-most lane. Big rigs, like Publix delivery trucks, will actually ride with a tire in the gutter and the mirror is well into the sidewalk. There is a reason you don't see many people walking down that part of Nebraska--it's dangerous.
Add all that up and it just isn't worth the time or money to move into the area.
Shawn-
Actually the brown on the maps is a residential zoning classification with the city. Note the brown on the south side of Hillsborough in the Seminole Heights Historic district and Oaks at Riverview at Florida and Broad.
The pinkish color (see SESH area) is more in-line with the CG. The red takes in the CI and the very few parcels that actually have an industrial zoning.
Why is there no red along Nebraska between Hillsborough and MLK??
Would someone post a link to the source of these maps and a key to show what the colors mean. We should be careful to not confuse a zoning map, with an existing landuse map or a future landuse map. They all tell us different information.
I think one key point is that the lots along these old highways are too small to accomodate drainage, off-street parking necessary for new development. There will either have to be exceptions made to the rules (transportation concurrency areas for example) or the neighborhoods will have decide home much encroachment will be acceptable to expand commercial uses into the residential areas for parking and drainage.
Count it as a blessing. It is likely part why your part of Nebraska mostly devoid of the junk car lots and used car lots that are elsewhere in the neighborhood.
Keep in mind I am using the planning commission maps which do not correspond neatly to the city's zoning classifications.
Rick: Thanks... you're right. The brown is some sort of higher-density residential zoning.
I'm going to take a guess at why Nebraska South of Hillsborough is CG and not CI: I think it may have something to do with the fact that South of Hillsborough, Nebraska is a regular old city street and North of Hillsborough it is a state highway. Perhaps the state highway designation gives it more of an "industrial" classification?
The zoning map for Drew Park would be an interesting comparison, too, I bet.
Drew park doesn't have any low density residential. It is 80% light industrial or commercial intensive.
But has a lot of nonconforming residential use.
I was sent a check by NAIOP Environmental Pac, an Engineering PAC, Henry Echezabal from LULAC and Elenor Cecil from NOW.
I’ve been ignored, called a MILF and remembered as a Princess but the fact remains that I am the best qualified, most educated with varied experiences and commitment for Hillsborough County Commissioner. The current County Commission race is straight out of Jerry Springer. Here there is a local candidate that served as a Combat Medic, worked for the Health Department and even had foster children and all the media wants to write about is how Norman has hurt us and Redner is a loose cannon. Yes I’m a Geography Teacher meaning I understand world governments and world religions in a County that has international ports. And yes I went to Leto c/o 88 meaning I understand the uniqueness of each area and all 3 cities within. I’m a member of the Sheriff’s Hispanic Advisory Council, CTA, NAACP and just asked to join the Veteran Parade Committee.
Yamel Christina Arronte
www.arronte2006.com
813-385-1220
The post immediately above is yet one more reason I'll be voting for JOE REDNER
-Rick
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