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Rowdies Owners To Seek Rezoning For New Stadium

Tribune file photo (2008)

Rowdies owners, from left, Hinds Howard, David Laxer, and Andrew Nestor announce the return of the United Soccer League franchise in June.

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By MIKE SALINERO

msalinero@tampatrib.com

Published: January 13, 2009

TAMPA - Owners of the Rowdies professional soccer team will seek a rezoning from the Hillsborough County Commission today for construction of a 5,000-seat stadium in Town 'N Country.

The proposed stadium site near the southwest corner of Waters Avenue and Benjamin Road includes six parcels totaling about 8 acres now zoned for manufacturing and agriculture-manufacturing. The owners are asking to rezone the land to the planned development category.

The board will consider the rezoning at a land-use meeting starting at 9 a.m. at the Fred B. Karl County Center, 601 E. Kennedy Blvd.

The Rowdies ownership hopes to have the stadium built in time for the team to start exhibition play late this year and join the United Soccer Leagues' First Division in 2010. Plans are for the stadium to expand to 10,000 seats.

Dozens of residents of the Twelve Oaks subdivision, about a half-mile from the site, plan to attend the meeting to oppose the project. They say concerts at the stadium will disturb their neighborhood's tranquility and that soccer fans looking for shortcuts will increase traffic through Twelve Oaks.

The Rowdies say they will comply with county noise rules and will end all amplified concerts by 11 p.m.

The Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission has warned that concerts at venues the size of the planned stadium usually draw complaints from neighbors.

A special zoning hearing master and the county's planning and growth management departments have recommended approval of the rezoning, but with conditions. Both the hearing master and the planning department have expressed concerns that the stadium does not have enough parking.

The planning department recently agreed to a request by the developers to loosen parking requirements from one parking space per three stadium seats to one space per seven seats.

Executive planner Brian Grady said that when the owners seek approval for the stadium expansion, they will have to show that there will be enough off-site parking to keep vehicles from parking in rights of way or blocking driveways.

Reporter Mike Salinero can be reached at (813) 259-8303.

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