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Proposal Calls For Apartments

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By KENNETH KNIGHT

The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 21, 2008

TEMPLE CREST - A developer with roots in the neighborhood is hoping to build a small apartment complex on Tangerine Place south of Busch Boulevard, but the local civic association questions whether it's the right fit.

Casper Johnson of Temple Terrace is seeking permission to build a single-story, three-unit building on a 0.19-acre site he owns at 8743 Tangerine Place.

He has petitioned Tampa for a zoning change that would permit the construction of a 3,300-square-foot structure. Johnson wants the residential property zoned for planned development use.

"We are still in the planning stage," builder Christopher Curran said. "The owner wants to definitely meet all of the city requirements."

Curran, general manager at Scott W. Hines General Contractor of Tampa, said his client was out of town and unavailable for comment Tuesday.

Each apartment would be a 1,100-square-foot unit with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. Three parking spaces would be available at each end of the building.
Curran said that Johnson, who was born and raised in Temple Crest, owns rental properties throughout the area. The apartments proposed for the southeast corner of Tangerine Place and Citrus Circle will be second to none, he added.

"We don't want it to be a cookie-cutter complex," Curran said. "We would like it to be more like bungalows."
Curran and Johnson met with Terry Neal, president of the Temple Crest Civic Association, before a June 9 civic association meeting.

Residents who attended the meeting agreed to oppose the project. They cited the rental units as a deal-breaker.

Neal and other residents said rental units were incompatible with the neighborhood dominated by older, single-family houses.

"The whole idea is we don't want anymore awful," resident Joyce Formica said.

Neal said some of the multifamily rentals in the neighborhood have attracted crime. He doesn't want to invite new problems.

Abby Feeley, city planning and development coordinator, said the developer was asked to consider site plan changes.

"There were concerns on behalf of the staff," she said. "The developer appeared receptive and would work on the site plan."

The goal, she said, was to make the units more compatible with the neighborhood, she added.

Neal said he doesn't think that will make much of a difference.

"That is still high density," he said. "I don't think the civic association will go for that."

Neal said he is willing to take a look at the reworked plan.

"We will take another vote if he comes back with something different," he said.

Johnson is expected to present his revised plan to the city's development review committee in July. A public hearing on the rezoning request is scheduled for Aug. 28.

Reporter Kenneth Knight can be reached at (813) 865-4842 or kknight@tampatrib.com.

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