Your Opinion: Was City Council Wrong to Deny Tower Site Plans

In 2004, Tampa's City Council listened to the voices of Hyde Park residents who didn't want to see a 24-story condominium tower erected in their neighborhood. Today's City Council will now have to pay the price for their reaction.

A judge found the City of Tampa guilty of unlawfully denying developer Citivest's plans and after the decision was help up through an appeal. The city is now faced with paying the company $3.75 million in damages, a fraction of the $16 million it could have been liable for had the city completely lost the case instead of settling.

Local residents at the time felt that the tower, originally drawn up to be 31 floors, would be out of scale with the rest of the surrounding historic district. The plan was scaled down to 24 stories but was denied again.

The neighborhood's sentiment was backed up by the Architectural Review Commission who along with City Council later approved plans for a 19-story tower that has yet to be built.

The eight year court case between Citivest and the city is now over and it looks like the taxpayer who is going to have to flip the bill. The project may still go ahead, proving to be an meaningless and expensive battle for the city.

So we ask: Do you think the city did the right thing in denying the plans for the tower in the first place? What would you like to see on the corner of Bayshore Blvd and DeSoto Avenue if you had your choice? Tell us in the comments section below.