TAMPA, Fla. — The Tampa City Council will take a final vote on the South Howard Flood Relief Project in two weeks.
On Thursday night, residents got to share their thoughts with city leaders about those plans during public comments.
The city is considering spending $92.7 million on a culvert to redirect stormwater and relieve floodwaters that plague parts of South Tampa.
The project would install a 6,000-foot box culvert along Howard Avenue from Bayshore Boulevard to Swann Avenue before turning west to an AMI pond (located in the Palma Ceia Pines neighborhood near the HCA Florida South Tampa Hospital parking deck).
There’s been a big back and forth here because businesses worry about the construction impact on their locations and their bottom lines.
But some residents feel the project is necessary and would fix flooding issues.
“Our neighborhood’s flooded four times in the last 34 days,” said South Tampa resident David Adams. “And when I say flooded, I’m not talking about just a couple of inches on the road. I’m talking about one to two feet of water.”
Opponents of the plan continue to point to how the project would impact businesses along Howard Avenue.
“Though I don’t agree that this is a good project, that it is well designed, we think it has a lot of flaws,” said Edward P. de la Parte, Attorney for the SoHo Business Alliance. “But even assuming it is a good project, it’s becoming unaffordable.”
There were also some concerns about how water would flow down Howard Avenue.
City leaders were told by staff that the natural flow of water created by the project will help eliminate flooding issues.
The vote is scheduled for Sept. 17.