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Palm River Focus Of Public Hearing

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By D'ANN LAWRENCE WHITE, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 12, 2008

Updated: 01/10/2008 05:56 pm

PALM RIVER - The Tower Dairy on 78th Street that sits against a backdrop of industrial buildings and is surrounded by grazing cattle, is among the last remnants of the way Palm River once was.

Today, Palm River consists of a mix of tract houses and strip malls mingled with various industrial buildings.

At one time, cows outnumbered people in the community sandwiched between Brandon and Tampa. During the 1940s and '50s, Palm River consisted of 12 major dairy farms and a smattering of small family farms. Its main thoroughfare was 50th Street. Causeway Boulevard ended at U.S. 301, and Palm River Road crossed through the community and connected to State Road 60 to carry travelers into Brandon.

After World War II, it began developing into working-class neighborhoods to house employees of the nearby American Can Co.

Growth continued in the mid-1950s, when South Tampa developer Mel Larsen purchased the Lane Dairy, which encompassed the area from 70th Street to U.S. 301, and built prefabricated houses. He named the community Clair-Mel, after his wife and himself. He sold off an area west of 78th Street that was developed into Winston Park.

To the south, Progress Village was Tampa's first low-income housing project, established in the late 1950s through the 1970s. More than 5,000 homes were constructed.

The changes during the past 50 years weren't always kind to the community. Residents and business owners say county and state governments ignored them when it came to building roads and providing water and sewer services. Crime plagued the area, and growth was helter-skelter.

Now residents are getting a chance to shape Palm River into the kind of community they would like it to become through the county's community-based planning process.

A public hearing before the Hillsborough County Planning Commission on the Greater Palm River Area Community Plan will be held at 5:30 p.m. Monday on the 18th floor of the Frederick B. Karl County Center in downtown Tampa. The plan then will go to a public hearing before the Hillsborough County Commission, with a projected adoption date in May. Once adopted, the vision that residents have for their community will become part of the county's comprehensive land-use plan.

"It's been an arduous process," said Liz Gutierrez, executive director of the Palm River Point Community Development Corp., a community advocacy group that spearheaded development of the community plan. "This meeting on Monday is the beginning of the culmination of a three-plus-year planning process."

The Planning Commission is working with communities throughout Hillsborough to develop community plans.

The county has adopted 11 community plans, including the Riverview Community Plan and the Brandon Main Street Plan.

The plan for greater Palm River, which includes Palm River, Clair-Mel and Progress Village, started in 2005 when Palm River Point received a Community Development Block Grant.

"There'd been a lot of disagreement around development, and developers and residents were clashing," Gutierrez said. "So we decided that the best role for Palm River Point to play is to get everyone around the table and push for a community plan so we have these guidelines in place before the developers come with their proposals."

However, the area wasn't scheduled for community planning until 2011.

"We said we needed it sooner, so we got the grant and spent two years knocking on doors, holding community workshops and meeting with people in their kitchens and dining rooms," Gutierrez said.

Hillsborough County got involved in March 2006.

It didn't take an expert to pin down the root of Palm River's woes, Gutierrez said.

"The big revelation is there is no big revelation," she said. "Just turn on the water. That's the thing that continues to hinder this community."

Since the 1960s, the county has had an agreement with the city of Tampa to provide water and wastewater service to some residents and businesses.

Some residents want to continue getting city water. Others want the county to extend water and sewer lines.

Residents note environmental issues as well. Nearby Delaney Creek is prone to flooding, and saturated septic tanks contaminate well water.

Residents in the mostly low-income community are worried about the cost of hooking up to county water lines.

The first goal of the community plan is to ensure that water and wastewater services will be affordable and dependable.

Other issues have been raised consistently throughout the process, said Yeneka Barnett, a community planner for the Planning Commission.

Residents want the county to develop a citizen liaison process with law enforcement to monitor residents' concerns, enforce laws governing the sale of alcohol and tobacco and improve code enforcement. They also are pressing for the availability of safe, affordable housing; better enforcement of litter, dumping and signage regulations; and involvement by community groups in landscaping and cleanup projects.

Because many residents do not own cars, another goal is ensuring that neighborhoods serve walkers, bicyclists and bus riders with crosswalks, lighting, signs, crossing guards, bus-stop shelters, turn lanes, bike lanes and trails, sidewalks and traffic signals. At the same time, residents want assurances that the county will enforce existing truck route regulations to protect pedestrians.

The plan also calls for construction of the Progress Village Sports Complex, as well as more community parks around wetland areas.

Residents want business incentives for 78th Street, the main thoroughfare through the community from Palm River Road to south of Causeway Boulevard.

Finally, residents would like to preserve Palm River's rural and civil rights heritage by pursuing grants through The History Channel, the Preserve America program and the Florida Division of Historical Resources.

"The most important thing is the fact we have a unified vision for change," Gutierrez said. "Hundreds of people have come together and forged a new vision for the redevelopment of Palm River for the betterment of those who are here so new investors, both public and private, will be attracted to this area."

TIME TO SPEAK OUT

WHAT: The Hillsborough County Planning Commission has a hearing scheduled on the Greater Palm River Area Community Plan.

WHEN: 5:30 p.m. Monday.

WHERE: 18th floor of the Frederick B. Karl County Center in downtown Tampa.

WHAT'S NEXT: The plan will get a second public hearing, and could be adopted in May. The document then becomes part of the county's comprehensive land-use plan.

Reporter D'Ann Lawrence White can be reached at (813) 657-4524 or dlwhite@tampatrib.com.

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