Residents had a say in the new guidelines, which set design standards for renovating and building.
By DENISE WATSON BATTS
Published January 16, 2004
The City Council unanimously approved the West Tampa overlay district last week, another step in fueling the community's comeback.
The district creates commercial and residential design standards for renovating and building structures in the area, roughly bound by Tampa Bay Boulevard and the Hillsborough River on the north, North A and B streets to the south, Rome Avenue and North Boulevard on the east, and Habana and MacDill avenues on the west.
Current buildings will be grandfathered in.
The guidelines specify how building facades should look, what type of landscaping can be used and where, and how homes can be built on the area's narrow lots. New businesses, for example, must have pedestrian access and shelter, shade and/or protection from the weather, such as trees, awnings, balconies or overhangs. Homeowners cannot install chain link fences in front yards nor build homes without a crawl space.
Resident Margaret A. Fisher worked closely with the city when it brought the idea to the community nearly two years ago. She said many in West Tampa were suspect. Fisher lived through the urban renewal push of the late 1960s, which forced her and other residents to move. Finally having a voice is as important as the new guidelines, she said.
"The community has a sense of control," said Fisher, who also leads the board of the West Tampa Community Development Corp. "It gives us the opportunity to say what's coming into our community."
City Council member Mary Alvarez, who grew up in West Tampa, says creating the district is an important move for the neighborhood. The district can improve the quality of life and spur economic development.
"It means a lot to me," Alvarez said. "We did a good thing for West Tampa."
Restoring West Tampa has been in the works for years. It has been designated an enterprise zone and the city has matching funds for businesses remodeling their exteriors. The area made the National Register of Historic Places in 1983 for its bungalow, craftsman and Queen Anne architecture.
And it has a rich history.
West Tampa incorporated in 1895 with nearly 3,000 people, mostly Italian, Cuban and Spanish immigrants who worked in the area's cigar factories. The factories thrived from 1900 to about 1920, and dozens of businesses cropped up in the town's commercial core centered around Main Street and Howard Avenue. The city of Tampa annexed West Tampa in 1925.
The area declined as the cigar industry modernized and workers left for other jobs and places to live. During the 1970s, Interstate 275 moved through West Tampa contributing to its downward turn.
Hope didn't leave, though. The Centro Espanol building is one of several structures being refurbished as well as the West Tampa Branch Library, built in 1913.
The city's Historic Preservation Commission would like to make West Tampa a local historic district and will host a series of neighborhood meetings to gauge residents' interest.
The commission recently completed a survey of 1,200 neighborhood structures and more than 60 percent have the historic flavor and character of West Tampa, said Annie Hart, the Historic Preservation Commission administrator. If the area receives the designation, any new building, demolition or renovation project in West Tampa must receive approval from the Architectural Review Commission.
The neighborhood meetings have not been scheduled yet.
