city council approves intown expansion
Mr. BillWith the approval of new designs and expansions, Old West Tampa’s Intown Homes will now be moving to build a total of about 150 new homes in the core blocks just north of the interstate and surrounding N. Howard and Armenia. A late night vote of the Council last night did not come without some serious discussion.
Intown President Ed Turanchik beamed with pride as he talked of his neighborhood commitment and efforts to improve the old West Tampa neighborhood. Almost 20 citizens spoke at the meeting and most voiced support of the homes and Intown’s efforts. The Overlay District/CDC group had recommended against approval of the expansion. Council member Gwen Miller was most supportive of the CDC’s opinion, but Council member John Dingfelder expressed it clearly that the CDC group and the City Staff were there to provide input and suggestions to the Council, but “at the end of the day, it is the Council that will decide this.”
Of special note at the meeting were the residents that expressed concern about being forced to sell their homes/lots or of being forced to make changes to their homes. Council member Charlie Miranda provided a fatherly type of reassurance to the public that they would only sell their homes if they wanted to.
Most of the controversy centered around the design of those homes with a flat roof that the Overlay District members did not like. Ed Turanchik’s presentation showed that this was not an uncommon roof design from the area’s past, but the main justification was the cost savings of approximately $10,000 per home by building a flat roof, making the homes more affordable.
Turanchik claimed that the Intown homes are the only affordable, energy efficient, environmentally green homes in Tampa. He further indicated that the energy efficiency level would save residents 40-60% on their energy usage - a significant number.
The offices of the Tampa Marketing Company are surrounded by the new Intown Homes and lots where additional homes are planned.
In my opinion, the area has improved significantly with Intown’s efforts and we believe as one citizen stated: “If you don’t like the flat roof, just don’t buy it. Let the marketplace decide.”
See TMC’s additional thoughts of West Tampa and Intown Homes.
Tags: development, west tampa
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June 7th, 2007 at 12:28 pm
What Ed and the Intown Homes project are doing in The Beautiful Historic District of West Tampa is Wonderful. I’m glad to hear that the new project has been approved.
Revitalizing these areas are important for our community and for the foundation of growth in the City of Tampa.