Tampa council refuses to transmit Hillsborough College land-use amendment after public objections

Tampa City Council voted on a motion not to transmit a proposed comprehensive-plan amendment for the Hillsborough College Dale Mabry campus to the state, after several council members and public speakers raised concerns about the timing, scale and lack of clear public benefits.

Planning staff described the amendment as a public, out-of-cycle request covering about 121.73 acres to convert public semi-public land to Urban Mixed Use 60 and Regional Mixed Use 100, which staff said would define maximum residential and nonresidential intensities. Jim Schimberg, counsel for the applicant, said the purpose of the council’s transmittal would be to allow state review and that “we would respectfully ask you to transmit it up to the state and then we’ll have a full discussion in September,” and that the project had received unanimous planning commission support. Public commenter Laura Lawson urged the council to pause, warning that the change would “fundamentally alter the value and the potential of that land” and argued for a community benefits agreement before any land-use change.

After deliberation, Councilwoman Hertek moved not to transmit the amendment; the council then took a roll-call vote. The motion passed with Councilmembers Young, Viera and Clendenin recorded as voting no. Council members emphasized the transmittal is not a final decision on the substance of a plan change but a procedural step; the council’s action prevents the state review step that would have begun the formal review process and means the amendment will not proceed to Tallahassee at this time.