The Tampa City Council voted in January to move forward with a stormwater drainage project in South Tampa’s flood-prone “SoHo” district.
City staff and some SoHo residents have championed the estimated $100 million South Howard Flood Relief Project, which they argue is essential to mitigate catastrophic property damage during hurricane season.
The flood-prone corridor of South Howard Avenue is shaped like a bowl, which traps water runoff, and the existing drain pipes are inadequate.
During Hurricane Milton, between 150 and 250 homes in the area's Parkland Estates and Palma Ceia Pines neighborhoods flooded for a dozen hours.
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In April, Mayor Jane Castor wrote an editorial in the Tampa Bay Times advocating for the project.
“Are we to ignore the residents and businesses literally crying for help?” she asked.
Some community members disagree with Castor’s assessment, saying future road closures and excavation work may damage their livelihoods. They wonder, too, whether the return on a $100 million public works investment is enough to justify all that disruption.
Now, with the council’s final vote on the design expected this summer, a SoHo business group is suing the city, seeking the release of cost-benefit analyses, contractor communications and modeling studies.
The SoHo Business Alliance is concerned excavating and closing corridors of South Howard Avenue could ruin the livelihoods of the member restaurateurs, bar owners and retailers.
On June 5, the alliance filed a lawsuit against Tampa, accusing officials of violating Florida's Sunshine Law by withholding documents to “prevent public scrutiny” ahead of the vote.
The group said it paid $27,000 to access financial reports, modeling studies and internal communications between Kimmins Contracting, the project lead, and city staff about how a gravity storm drain became the chosen design.
A gravity system uses slight elevation changes without relying on pumps. The SoHo project is being designed with about 1.5 miles of underground 10-by-10-foot box culverts, which act like large concrete tunnels to carry stormwater to retention ponds.
A spokesman for the business group, Steve Michelini, said it would be better to refurbish the existing system, which the city has neglected for years.
“It will be devastating to the entire length of South Howard,” Michelini said. “We’ve asked [city staff] to focus on maintenance and cleaning out the retention ponds, which we’ve shown them evidence of being full of debris.”
The city’s Department of Mobility told WUSF in a statement that maintenance alone will not fix structural and street flooding.
“This problem requires surgery, not a Band-Aid,” said Joshua Cascio, spokesman for the Infrastructure and Mobility Administration. “The project would reduce street flooding by approximately 95% during a strong summer storm.”
The best solution?
Several residents and critics have proposed alternatives to the gravity system, including converting low portions of Parkland Estates and Palma Ceia Pines into retention ponds and building pump stations they say would be less disruptive and costly.
South Tampa resident and geotechnical engineer Martin Millburg wrote an independent report warning the project could damage existing structures, contaminate groundwater and may not be all that effective at reducing flooding during a major storm event.
Millburg proposed a pump station under the HCA Florida South Tampa Hospital, which has enough emergency power generators to support that alternative.
"The report points out that pump systems would require maintenance," Millburg wrote. "The city already maintains 225 sanitary pump stations."
A preliminary report by the city's engineer said the system would have reduced Hurricane Milton flooding by 1.4 feet in the Palma Ceia Pines area, a figure Millburg said is not enough to justify digging up South Howard Avenue.
Project documents show substantial flooding reduction in Palma Ceia Pines will not occur until a future phase. That neighborhood includes the HCA hospital, and city documents show the retention ponds there have not been inspected in 16 years.
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In May 2025, a geotechnical expert contracted by the city said other solutions “may be possible,” acknowledging there is potential for damaging surrounding infrastructure and properties.
However, city staff maintain the gravity drain system is the best and least disruptive option.
“No critic of the project has been willing to put their professional license on the line and present a more feasible alternative,” Cascio said.
The alliance’s attorney, Edward de la Parte, said the group is still missing requested records about environmental concerns related to disturbing groundwater and the communications with Kimmins Contracting.
“My house catches on fire, the fire truck comes. But when my house floods, nobody comes, and they haven't come for 12 years.”David Adams, Parkland Estates resident
“They have done storm surge analysis to show that during high tide, this wouldn’t back it up,” de la Parte added. “They haven’t produced those records.”
City spokesman Adam Smith declined to comment on pending litigation but noted there are already “thousands” of records available to answer questions about the project.
The SoHo group is also raising concerns about funding.
The city council agreed to issue $21 million in stormwater bonds, and city staff anticipates receiving $11 million from the Tampa-Hillsborough Expressway Authority along with grants from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection.
However, deposed city staff told the SoHo Business Alliance’s attorney the expressway authority's money was not fully secured.
Cascio said the city is “confident” it will secure funding by the time construction begins after this January's Gasparilla festival. Phase 1 is expected to take three years to complete.
It includes a “streetscape makeover,” involving sidewalk widening and improved street lighting.
Resident opinions vary
Natalie Maddox is a South Tampa resident, acupuncturist and owner of Palm Wellness. She’s concerned construction will disrupt traffic, drive away customers and disturb her clients during treatment.
"People come in that are in severe, chronic pain,” Maddox said. “They come to me once a week, so it's not like I can say, come back in a few months when the construction's over."
Maddox said project proponents have questioned why business owners couldn’t find another space during construction, which will take place in stages over three years.
This isn’t an option for Maddox — she runs her practice in a 1927 bungalow on South Howard. The building already requires significant maintenance and could suffer from jackhammer vibrations when the city starts drilling, she said.
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“What type of structural damage could I have to my foundation? There must be other solutions,” she said.
Parkland Estates resident David Adams has been lobbying the city's stormwater staff for a solution since his home flooded in 2015. He’s personally pulled people’s cars out of floodwaters during hurricane season.
“My house catches on fire, the fire truck comes,” Adams said. “But when my house floods, nobody comes, and they haven't come for 12 years.”
Adams suggested business owners accept the inconvenience of construction.
“The benefit for the many is going to affect a few, and that’s just the way life is,” he said.
Another resident, William Kolega, stressed the economic impact of structural and street flooding.
“My family was out of the house for six months and experienced six-figure losses,” he said. “Small businesses across Palma Ceia Pines and Parkland Estates closed for months, and some never came back.”
Tampa will host an open house on Aug. 11 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Bayshore Baptist Church, 3111 W. Morrison Ave. City representatives are expected to present a preliminary design of the project that is 60% complete.
