Hillsborough County Planning Commission Executive Director Melissa Zornita briefed commissioners June 11 on recent developments in the Tampa City Council’s review of the city’s Future Land Use update and related outreach plans.

Zornita said the Tampa City Council continued the Future Land Use public hearing to Aug. 28 and asked county and city planning staff to conduct “additional outreach including four meetings, one in each council district, as well as some virtual meetings to get additional input and do some additional education of the community.” She added the Council asked staff to re‑evaluate two elements: the depth and applicability of proposed transit‑ready corridors and criteria and mapping for limited townhome allowances in the R‑10 category.

"There was some misinformation in the community that definitely permeated, and grew as we went towards City Council," Zornita said, noting residents often confused density‑mapping with rezoning. She described options under consideration, including narrowing corridor depth in some locations or applying corridor designations to nodes rather than entire segments and revisiting townhome mapping criteria to clarify where townhomes would be allowed.

Zornita also reported the Planning Commission received a Future of the Region award from the Tampa Bay Regional Planning Council for the FLIP (Future Leaders in Planning) program and that the commission will support outreach with short contracts for firms to help with education and meetings over the summer. She told commissioners that Tampa City Council requested demographic briefings related to redistricting and asked that Planning Commission staff present demographic trend analysis at the charter review board and at a July meeting.

Zornita said staff will provide outreach materials and a series of meetings over the summer to inform the public before the Aug. 28 City Council hearing. She encouraged commissioners to expect additional public engagement requests and noted the agency’s methodology for redistricting work will be discussed with the commission at an upcoming meeting or retreat.