Riverside Heights Civic Association & Crime Watch

Whats with the two HUGE for sale signs on the north and south west corner of Ohio and N. Blvd?

A realtor has erected these two huge and illegal signs which not only looks ugly in our neighborhood but obstructs view of traffic.

I understand that the owners of these two homes are trying to sell their homes, but surely this realtor could mount a standard real estate sign instead of these.

Looks to me she is simply wanting to get personal publicity by plastering her name, web site and phone number all over the place. Its terrible.

I welcome feedback of other neighbors about this, and especially Rene, the president of our neighborhood association.

Surely something can be done about this.

Sign issue

I agree that the signs are too close to the corners and obstruct the view of traffic. I would logically think that a call to the realtor may get them moved. I am sure that the last thing she would want is to come across negatively to our neighborhood residents. Also, the signs allude to using the properties for business purposes. Didn't this go before city council and was denied?

Sign issue

Was it indeed denied? How is it possible we have other commercial properties on N. Blvd then? I think the fewer the better in our neighborhood because commercial is the VERY THING that DISTROYS a neighborhood. We have one of the best kept secrets in the city.

She is also advertising on www.craigslist.com and in her ad' posted on January 20 she claims the seller has already started the process of re-zoning for commercial use.

Desiree, would you be kind enough to look into this and let us know if indeed these two homes on the corner of Ohio and N. Blvd are allowed to be used for commercial zoning?

To preserve our neighborhood, it's better these homes are sold as residential than commercial.

What the??

Many years ago the City of Tampa proposed that all of North Boulevard be rezoned to allow commercial and multi-family development. Over the years, a few properties had already been zoned as such. This proposal faced overwhelming opposition in the neighborhood and led to the formation of our neighborhood association.
At about the same time, the Fire and Police Pension Board had purchased a property on this street wishing to build an office conforming to the architectural style of the neighborhood. The city claimed that this could only be accomplished by rezoning this property for commercial use. Although the association believed that this building would be a positive addition to this corridor, we opposed commercial zoning, because there was no guarantee that the board would not sell this property in the future to someone else who would then decide to use this zoning for a project that would not benefit the neighborhood.
After several meetings with city planners, we agreed that we would seek a text amendment from the state to allow suburban mixed use zoning (residential-office development only). After this rezoning, other properties (ex. Castillo, Cuesta, and Firefighter's Union office) along this corridor were converted to this use by the same process with the association's approval.
Why did the association support these rezonings? At the time, many of the homes on North Boulevard were being sold and converted to rental properties leading to blight and decay. This small office use seemed to be a compromise to avert this decay and bolster this area of the neighborhood.
The question you need to ask yourself is the following: Do you feel that people will now purchase these homes for private residential use and maintain them well, or will they instead be used as rental properties when the owners have no hope of converting to office use. Would you buy a home on this highly traveled corridor?
This subject probably needs to be revisited by the association and discussed again. It would most likely be beneficial to all of you if a committee could be formed to establish a neighborhood plan that the general membership could vote on. To complete this plan, you would have to work with the Tampa Heights Neighborhood Association, because half of the boulevard is in their neighborhood. If you had a neighborhood plan, as Seminole Heights and Tampa Heights presently have, the city would always have a copy of what your wishes are for this area. I hope I have given you something to think about.

Sharon Keene