[{"_1":2,"_99":-5,"_100":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,75,87],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},"mediaId",6286280,"mediaKeyId","2563204-459322350ece1fdc2355c8f037beb1f9","parentId",2563204,"title","Planning commission adopts FY26–27 budget, finds Port Tampa Bay permit consistent; both motions carry unanimously","audioSeconds",3189,"startMs",609000,"endMs",3798000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2563204-459322350ece1fdc2355c8f037beb1f9&start=609&end=3798","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2563204-459322350ece1fdc2355c8f037beb1f9/thumbnail_609000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6286280/Hillsborough-County/Florida/Planning-commission-adopts-FY2627-budget-finds-Port-Tampa-Bay-permit-consistent-both-motions-carry-unanimously","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6286280-953d7103ee5edfee20bf7db846771020/orig.mp4?Expires=1770440258&Signature=Y5gDIqN1Y54~rceuQcqc5s2HQ1tWjvghk~14vQAeB~HT4N5pp9YaKEgWm9fNW6vCls9ZbW7O67rlvgdrwTCKs3WeD3cm-XZmGphG1JIrM7OKysAXZzjG2qZ6yNAJOk8B4pPxCFmml65k-u8fowoAKRtvG9ax~qDZZ3pRG3YJ49OHSTph08B~P5XmADGMX~PdBqAuf6Ta6JgMEq0UUSg71jWRnvj0t0vubtDbBGqpNsDJLzdiKebqqh4zEDI1cSVrU8h~HEgBP63iSsXOU5DrBAR43Zq1GNTZZ5CVLpv3lySTZVW6zyG4cN4bS824D9yPdV8b0Tyd~inlHDTOOfevUw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Hillsborough County, FL","date","2025-03-11T09:26:44Z","article","At its March 10 meeting the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission approved several procedural and action items.

The commission voted unanimously to approve minutes from January and February meetings. Later the body adopted the proposed FY26–27 two-year operating budget after hearing a short explanation from Executive Director Melissa Zornita. Zornita said the request consisted of one decision unit increasing the operating budget by $17,400 to cover higher costs for four categories: contractual services (including a USF fellowship), rentals for meeting facilities, increased staff mileage reimbursement as the agency reduces vehicle fleet size, and a training increase that included a $2,500 line item. \"We are proposing one decision unit to increase our operating budget by $17,400 to address four areas in which we are seeing increase in costs due to inflation and other items,\" Zornita told commissioners.

Commissioner Buza moved to adopt the budget; Commissioner Kona seconded. The chair called the vote and the motion carried unanimously.

The commission also issued a consistency determination for Port Tampa Bay’s standard work permit application for a proposed boating facility at West Tyson Avenue. Planning staff recommended the permit be found consistent with the City of Tampa comprehensive plan, noting the site is in an existing industrial shipping area with adequate depths, limited natural shoreline within the project footprint, and proposed educational signage about manatees and seagrasses. \"With those considerations, staff has recommended you issue the resolution in your packet with the recommendation that it is found consistent with the City of Tampa comprehensive plan,\" staff member Sean College said. Commissioner Soria moved the consistency finding and Commissioner Linkus seconded; the vote was unanimous.

All formal motions recorded in this meeting were carried without opposition.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","Planning Commission Regular Meeting - 3.10.25","oneSentenceSummary","The Planning Commission approved its two-year FY26–27 operating budget and issued a consistency finding for a Port Tampa Bay dock project; both were adopted unanimously. The commission also approved meeting minutes earlier in the session.","taxTitle","Hillsborough County, Florida","taxId",2865,"location","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":76,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":77,"_41":78,"_43":79,"_45":80,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6286285,"Tampa Bay Partnership report flags housing affordability and rising commutes as linked regional challenges",951,2356000,3307000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2563204-459322350ece1fdc2355c8f037beb1f9&start=2356&end=3307","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2563204-459322350ece1fdc2355c8f037beb1f9/thumbnail_2356000.jpg","/articles/6286285/Hillsborough-County/Florida/Tampa-Bay-Partnership-report-flags-housing-affordability-and-rising-commutes-as-linked-regional-challenges","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6286285-8a5aa0278732416ffbffc1dff8b24558/orig.mp4?Expires=1770440259&Signature=cBg4rfJXK2rp67cOdS~VufOoKvJ-t4Ras188bmkK9H795idGFH1sdNmVuAhzuDcmOU~XLe7O9x5hxbeTnD5RlvC5SXJMjKGxu2dEC6Ec-aFQCZBbs4FdznHXjSlP1l5GVOzUMr3klML9ZvpBmtTwJNG4V15Rm1995eD6PD9nhw6REVvED4Nx~ii4BSyLrPmJmLRJNpkoDiNdI9zUdpSRZS5CV1HTOqBPpLJF344KVhmBTOsMVvG0WSDgQEmYTmdJLGz9RYD8BRcSqQA436gd5t1ZLyPNkHSH9EfZY7KCyDBf9tzT84bj6xgxku8ASRt-nhvrorbdfhvbRHwIOKFfVw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Sarah Burgoyne of the Tampa Bay Partnership briefed the Hillsborough County Planning Commission on March 10 about the partnership’s 2025 regional competitiveness report and a Duke Energy Foundation–funded study on housing affordability titled “Beyond the Front Door.”

\"The partnership is a coalition of the region's top employers who are working together to improve the lives of all Tampa Bay residents,\" Burgoyne said, explaining the organization’s scope and that the report compares Tampa Bay to 19 similar metropolitan areas. She highlighted county-level findings when possible and noted that Hillsborough County remains the region’s largest destination for new residents.

The report found improvements in several economic and education indicators but flagged affordability as a growing constraint. Regionwide, residents spent an estimated 55 cents of every dollar on housing and transportation in 2025 (down from 57 cents in 2024), but county-level data show housing expenditures rose in Hillsborough, Manatee and Sarasota from 2024 to 2025. Burgoyne said migration of residents to outlying counties is tied to a search for lower housing costs, which has produced nearly 35,000 additional residents commuting an hour or more each day for work (totaling roughly 200,000 residents commuting an hour-plus).

The Partnership’s housing study interviewed more than 130 stakeholders and residents and emphasized that housing affordability and transportation must be tackled together. Burgoyne said nearly half of interviewees reported that transportation costs and long commute times affect overall well-being and that more integrated transit-oriented land-use strategies and incentives for affordable housing near jobs are needed.

Commissioners asked about demographic trends and program responses. Burgoyne pointed to increased educational attainment and noted local programs — including early childhood interventions and community organizations like the Boys & Girls Clubs and United Way Suncoast — as contributors to improved outcomes for youth and workforce development. Commissioners praised the region-level comparisons and asked for follow-up detail on transit, wage data and county breakdowns.

Burgoyne encouraged commissioners and staff to review the full 56-page report and county-level dashboards available at stateoftheregion.com.","The Tampa Bay Partnership presented its 2025 regional competitiveness report and a companion 'Beyond the Front Door' housing affordability study, which found residents are moving outward for cheaper housing, increasing one-hour-plus commutes and stressing regional transportation systems.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":92,"_47":93,"_49":94,"_51":95,"_53":96,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":97,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":98,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":68,"_72":73,"_74":73},6286290,"Tampa Bay program: wet 2024, storm runoff and river flows drove algae spikes despite long-term nitrogen gains",1122,684000,1806000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2563204-459322350ece1fdc2355c8f037beb1f9&start=684&end=1806","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2563204-459322350ece1fdc2355c8f037beb1f9/thumbnail_684000.jpg","/articles/6286290/Hillsborough-County/Florida/Tampa-Bay-program-wet-2024-storm-runoff-and-river-flows-drove-algae-spikes-despite-long-term-nitrogen-gains","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6286290-2d053ae5578036bf71e368c90b58082d/orig.mp4?Expires=1770440259&Signature=bBJHD62pTcIeiPk5RhVoXr1se5Ho57KlDlsK6-JYQ4ygK~gFWp0zfoQ3Thv-PqXwXjC7zV4in3TOg8IWJy8gXexhxNBWoZcMNrMRQZlbjj5KCOkYKzaQIDGJmjH1a0nIpQxffPTaHv4-EozM72B8Rri0GtwT8iRDwcKC4RZjkSUfCeet58btaBkEFc2Mhceb3SYylOK~l6JwxBWsTOFAhNMgq1ntGl8ICxGXhSWyEUXbgbW5mVIWEeegIpbqFhDq9AGoQESfij14FUOYwe1chb-WzAIHYnPZGKSBj-8lMQOIJFvCOksPUdkn-elCm7q5MinvwKTqG7CeP2WfEJHLcg__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Maya Burke, assistant director of the Tampa Bay Estuary Program, told the Hillsborough County City-County Planning Commission on March 10 that 2024 was one of the wettest years on record and that the extreme storms drove unusually large stormwater and river discharges into Tampa Bay.

Burke said the region has made substantial long-term progress cutting nitrogen inputs — from more than 9,000 tons in the 1970s–80s to roughly 3,000 tons today — largely by upgrading wastewater treatment, but that the top remaining sources are stormwater runoff and atmospheric deposition from mobile sources and power generation. \"2024 is actually one of the wettest years on record,\" Burke said, and that rainfall pattern, plus several tropical storms and hurricanes, shifted the bay’s conditions.

The report the program presented uses a stoplight-style assessment of bay segments tied to management goals for seagrass. Burke said most bay segments remained in acceptable condition for seagrass after 2024, but Lower Tampa Bay moved into a cautionary state because it exceeded both chlorophyll (algae) and light-attenuation targets. Old Tampa Bay continued to show persistent seagrass losses, the program reported.

Burke emphasized that the peak impacts in 2024 were driven by surface-water flows: \"Over the course of those three major hurricanes, we really saw about 250 times more volume being pumped over the land and out those rivers into the bay than anything that I'll talk about on the wastewater side.\" She said that the region recorded about 90,000,000 gallons of partially treated or untreated sanitary sewer discharges to the bay in 2024, concentrated around storm events and power outages that stressed aging facilities.

The presentation outlined priority actions tied to the stoplight conditions: continued wastewater investments to prevent overflows; stormwater control through low-impact design and fertilizer management; and measures to reduce atmospheric nitrogen, including transportation investments and cleaner vehicles. Burke noted circulation projects (causeway or bridge modifications) can improve local salinity and temperature conditions and thereby support seagrass, but cautioned that circulation changes do not remove nitrogen loads and should be evaluated on expected ecological benefits.

Commissioners asked about local signals, heavy metals, and airport contributions to atmospheric deposition. Burke said benthic monitoring and targeted research with local universities track heavy metals and microplastics; depositional areas such as Old Tampa Bay show hotspots of metals and tire fragments among microplastics. On air sources, she said current regional atmospheric deposition estimates are coarse and that more focused monitoring near Old Tampa Bay and other urban hotspots is a research priority.

The Estuary Program made its data and dashboards available publicly and highlighted an upcoming seagrass aerial mapping release by the South Florida Water Management District later in the month. Burke closed by urging investments that increase the bay’s capacity to absorb shocks from storms and sustain seagrass over the long term.","The Tampa Bay Estuary Program reported that 2024’s heavy rainfall and multiple hurricanes produced elevated algae and sanitary sewer overflows that worsened water-quality conditions in parts of the bay, even as long-term nitrogen loads have fallen since the 1970s.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Planning commission adopts FY26–27 budget, finds Port Tampa Bay permit consistent; both motions carry unanimously

Tampa Bay Partnership report flags housing affordability and rising commutes as linked regional challenges

Tampa Bay program: wet 2024, storm runoff and river flows drove algae spikes despite long-term nitrogen gains