ALSO READ: Rays\u2019 latest renderings focus on mixed-use district surrounding planned stadium<\/a><\/p>\nCouncil member Lynn Hurtak opposed the idea, noting the changes would permanently change what could be developed should the stadium plan fall through.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m not even transmitting this because I don\u2019t believe it\u2019s the correct. I just, I don\u2019t think it\u2019s the right thing to do,\u201d said Hurtak. \u201cSo I mean, I think it\u2019s a waste of time to send it to the state if I\u2019m just going to vote against it.\u201d<\/p>\n
She was joined by Charles Miranda, Bill Carlson and Guido Maniscalco in voting against sending the land-use plan.<\/p>\n
A primary concern by Hurtak and Carlson has been the council\u2019s lack of involvement in the negotiations. The city has been represented at the table by officials from the mayor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n
The council in May also barely approved a nonbinding memorandum of understanding that would provide $80 million from the Community Investment Tax for the stadium project. However, there has been no assurance there will be enough votes on the council for formal approval.<\/p>\n
Hillsborough County has approved the nonbinding agreement to contribute $796 million to the proposal. The Rays said they will pay more than $1.2 billion. Negotiation are continuing over final definitive agreements not covered in the MOU.<\/p>\n
The Rays have said they need a decision on financing by August so they could move when their lease at Tropicana Field expires at the end of the 2028 season.<\/p>\n
Without it, the team has warned it would need to find another stadium options, although Rays CEO Ken Babby has confirmed there have been discussions on proceeding without the city.<\/p>\n
Hurtak said their team\u2019s timeline shouldn\u2019t impact the city\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust because it\u2019s your emergency doesn\u2019t make it mine. And if you aren\u2019t coming to me and negotiating with me and working with me and showing me reasonable progress for reasonable things,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re making all these plans for something they don\u2019t even have plans for yet, so I really do believe they\u2019re putting the cart before the horse and they\u2019re just hoping that we take the bait, and I\u2019m just not going to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carlson said the team has not discussed their plans with some council members.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt should be a robust community-oriented negotiation to get our votes,\u201d he said. \u201cThey need to do things for the CRA board that help us get our supporters in line.\u201d<\/p>\n
Clendenin, who supports the stadium project, argued the item should stay on their calendar in case the Rays make changes to their proposal before Aug. 20.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t get it because it\u2019s just a placeholder. Why take the placeholder off?\u201d he said. \u201cIt doesn\u2019t cost us anything leaving it there. There are things happening, I believe [the Rays] have been briefing some council members on this and working with council, at least a couple of council persons including myself. I know they\u2019ve talked to other council persons about things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Carlson said the CRA proposal could always be brought back at a future meeting.<\/p>\n
The proposed stadium would anchor a mixed-use development, a key part in overall financing plan. The Rays have said the estimated $8 billion private investment would create enough new taxable value over 30 years to support investing the CRA money.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The City of Tampa\u2019s role in helping to build a $2.3 billion stadium for the Tampa Bay Rays…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":351115,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[135,137,136],"class_list":["post-351114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tampa","tag-tampa","tag-tampa-headlines","tag-tampa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=351114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351114\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351115"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=351114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=351114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=351114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}