TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

24-Hour Gym To Flex Muscles For Hours

ADVERTISEMENT

By STEPHEN HAMMILL The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 7, 2008

KEYSTONE - A soon-to-open gym at 17765 Gunn Highway wants to operate 24 hours a day.

Anytime Fitness will occupy space in a new strip mall just north of Van Dyke Road, adjacent to Fifth Third Bank and Keystone Carwash.

But existing conditions of the planning development, adopted in 2000, limit operating hours for any business in that area from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.

Representatives for the gym will appear before Hillsborough County commissioners Tuesday in an attempt to change those conditions.

Some residents, backed by the Keystone Civic Association, will urge the county not to grant the change, saying they are perplexed how a 24-hour-a-day business could miss the language in the planning development.

"Either they didn't bother to read any of the conditions or they just totally ignored it," said Barbara Dowling with the association.

"Certainly, if the owner knew that there was a zoning ordinance, we would appreciate knowing about it," said Mark Daly, national media director for Anytime Fitness, the country's largest chain of 24-hour, coed fitness franchises.

Daly said of the more than 800 Anytime Fitness locations across the country, fewer than a dozen ever close during the night.

"However, if a franchise owner is powerless to do anything, then we look at things on a case-by-case basis," he said.

Keystone resident and association board member Steve Morris first noticed the 24-hour gym's signs in March.

"I went up to a supervisor with Whole Development Construction of Clearwater and told him we have no operational hours after 11 p.m.," Morris said.

Morris contacted Brian Grady with the county's Planning and Growth Management Department, who told him that indeed, property owners allowing a 24-hour gym would "place the project in zoning violation and subject it to code enforcement action."

"So, rather than be a good neighbor ... they decided to change all the work the Keystone people had done," Morris contended.

The gym's owner, James Magliulo, did not return calls for comment. Todd Pressman, a colleague, plans to argue Magliulo's case in front of the commissioners.

He said that since the gym will not be open to the public after business hours (members will use a key-card entry system to access the facility at night), the zoning language can and should be amended in this specific circumstance.

Changes to the planning development would affect all businesses on the northeast corner of Gunn and Van Dyke. Of those in support of the change, Morris said he fears they believe it would only apply to the gym.

"This would go for anything that goes there in the future - a burger joint, a bar. It's why we adopted these conditions in the first place," Morris said.

"This will absolutely not be precedent-setting," Pressman countered.

The hearing will take place on the second floor of the County Center, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd., after 1:30 p.m.

Reporter Stephen Hammill can be reached at (813) 865-1523 or at shammill@tampatrib.com.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT