While awaiting the release of final documents on building a Tampa Bay Rays stadium, Tampa City Council members — in their role as the board overseeing the community redevelopment areas — have scheduled a special meeting for Aug. 27.
“Just holding a space just in case,” said Alan Clendenin, who made the motion.
Bill Carlson followed with a motion for the CRA board’s Sept. 10 meeting to include amendments he proposed that were expected to be in stadium documents.
CRAs are designated blighted districts that use growth in property tax revenue within their boundaries to fund redevelopment and infrastructure projects within the district
Carlson‘s motion called for the CRA attorney to draft documents necessary “to implement the CRA promises made in the Rays contract and to present them to the CRA board.”
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They include:
- Moving a portion of the tax-increment revenue from the now-thriving Downtown CRA to a citywide trust fund for needed infrastructure projects.
- Extending the CRAs for Drew Park and East Tampa for 30 years, until 2064.
“Instead of addressing those individually, those have to move forward parallel,” Carlson said. “As I understand it, the contract's going to have some covenants in it that will require those things to happen, but we need those things to move forward on a parallel basis, and we only meet once a month.”
The $2.3 billion ballpark would go up on land now used by Hillsborough College’s Dale Mabry campus in the Drew Park neighborhood. The Rays have committed more than $1.2 billion to stadium construction, with the city and Hillsborough County asked to contribute nearly $1 billion — most of that from the county.
In addition, the Rays plan to spend at least $8 billion to build a multi-use development surrounding the stadium. It would include a modernized Hillsborough College campus and space for businesses, residences, retail, recreation and a major hotel.
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After the CRA meeting, Clendenin told Florida Politics the draft of the documents may not be released until Friday, but that will still allow council members time for review before next week's meetings.
The final documents are expected to spell out the financing structure, public and private contributions, community benefits and commitments, development obligations and timelines, ownership and lease terms, and conditions and protections tied to the public funding.
The plans is expected to include tax-increment financing (TIF) that would collect property taxes from the private development that would be used as a revenue stream for the city, county and a community development district for public projects.
The city council, which meets later Thursday, is expected to schedule a vote on the stadium deal for next week.
If the agreement is approved by the city, Hillsborough County Commission Chair Ken Hagan has said he will schedule a vote on the county’s portion of the financing.
