Tampa CRA approves $10 million toward West Riverwalk multimodal project after split public comment

The Tampa Community Redevelopment Agency board voted Jan. 1, 2025, to approve a $10 million allocation toward the West Riverwalk multimodal network and safety improvements project, a three-year effort officials say will add pathways, safety features and shoreline work along the Hillsborough River.

The vote followed nearly an hour of public comment in which neighborhood residents, business owners and advocacy groups made competing arguments about the project's local benefits and the best use of limited CRA dollars. Proponents called the project a connectivity and safety priority for West Tampa; opponents said the money should be used for housing, basic infrastructure or programs that directly serve low-income residents.

Supporters included Mary Beth Williams, chair of the Downtown CRA community advisory committee and a representative of Friends of the Riverwalk, who urged the board to "approve this funding and help us to realize a connected, thriving riverwalk that reflects Tampa's bright future." Williams told the board the project would "fill critical gaps in a 12.2-mile multi-use pathway along the Hillsborough River" and improve safety by separating people walking and bicycling from vehicular traffic.

Jeanette LaRosa Fenton, representing the West Tampa Chamber and a member of the West Tampa CRA Community Advisory Committee, said the project is a "generational, once-in-a-lifetime game changer" that will "vastly improve mobility, safety, neighborhood connectivity, recreation and economic development, especially in the Main Street area." Fenton told the board the West Tampa CAC had supported the project.

Small-business owners also spoke in favor. Lanice Germany, chief executive and executive chef of Librios Catering, said her planned restaurant in the West River renaissance building — Culture Kitchen — depends on improved transportation and access and that the project will create local jobs.

Speakers opposing the use of CRA funds included Valerie Bullock and Stephanie Pointer, who argued the $10 million should instead support affordable housing, job training and basic neighborhood needs. Pointer cited state planning restrictions and asked why the city had not used earlier funding to build similar amenities, suggesting the project could be a "vanity" spend if it diverts money from core services.

Pointer and others also invoked Florida law in public comment. Board member and attorney discussion later referenced section 163.370(3)(b) of the Florida Statutes, which can bar CRA tax increment funding for projects the municipality would have built anyway if they were on the public capital improvements schedule within three years of CRA-plan approval. The CRA board attorney, however, said the statutory exclusion did not apply to the West Riverwalk funding because the West Riverwalk project was not in the CIP within three years of the West Tampa CRA plan’s approval; he concluded the project, as presented, could be funded by CRA increment revenues under the facts stated at the meeting.

CRA interim director Cedric McCray told the board the $10 million request is expected to be delivered as approximately $3.3 million over three years and that the project also leverages federal funds and other sources already secured for the corridor. He said design work had begun and that staff would continue to coordinate acquisitions and implementation steps.

The board approved the item in a roll-call vote. The chair declared the motion carried; the official record shows the outcome as approved with two board members recorded as opposed. The board's action authorizes the allocation and allows staff to proceed with implementing the funding plan described at the meeting.

Board members and staff said the project will return for additional implementation details and contract-level approvals as design and procurement progress.

The West Riverwalk project was the most contested agenda item during a meeting that also covered housing program allocations, CRA staff updates and community appointments.