Rays Community Benefits Agreement Approved by Tampa City Council on 4-3 Vote
The resolution approving the Rays Community Benefits Agreement, revised the morning of the vote, and exempting the stadium from the city’s own community benefits ordinance passed 4-3, the same split as the funding agreement and the $80 million bond resolution.
In a special call meeting Thursday, Tampa City Council voted 4-3 to approve the Community Benefits Agreement with the Rays’ stadium company (StadCo) and to exempt the project from the city’s own community benefits ordinance. Council Members Bill Carlson, Luis Viera, Naya Young and Chair Alan Clendenin voted yes. Council Members Charlie Miranda, Guido Maniscalco and Lynn Hurtak voted no. It’s the same split as the Aug. 27 funding agreement and the Oct. 15 $80 million bond resolution.
Council called the meeting on its week off so the vote could happen before Viera resigns Nov. 2. Monday’s piece covers the agreement as posted, with a blank project list, and how the special call came about.
The agreement council approved isn’t the one posted with the agenda. The Friday version had a blank Exhibit A. A second file with the same name, added Monday, filled in the project list. The version presented Thursday, which Tampa Monitor obtained by email from the City Clerk’s office, has not been added to OnBase yet. The PDF was created at 6:52 a.m. that morning. Senior Assistant City Attorney Rebecca Johns told council she got a new version at 7 a.m. to “address some council member concerns and a meeting yesterday.” It doesn’t include Young’s amendment, below.
Former City of Tampa Administrator of Development and Economic Opportunity Nicole Travis, now a consultant for the Rays, presented the changes as “based on conversations with you and the community,” on a slide headed “Five Clear Messages”: “Put real dollars on the table,” “Protect the neighborhoods closest to the ballpark,” “Give the community a seat,” “Make the jobs promise measurable” and “Report back to Council.”
On Wednesday morning, the Rays met with neighborhood leaders. According to an attendee, about 15 people were at that meeting, including neighborhood associations, the TPO and Plan Hillsborough. The Rays sent Travis and their Southern Group lobbyist, Stephanie Cardozo. Young, Carlson and Maniscalco attended, along with aides to Young, Maniscalco and Miranda. Per the attendee, the council members listened without commenting, citing the Sunshine Law, and the Rays representatives didn’t agree to anything during the meeting.
Tampa Monitor was included on an email to City Council with the neighborhood’s proposed changes: a marked-up copy of the agreement from West Tampa Heights that, as Tampa Monitor understands it, was also shared with the Rays representatives. Its conditions were structural: at least 90% of the $4.2 million delivered as cash into an escrow account managed by the city, a council-appointed board and an independent manager to choose the projects, and keeping the stadium under the city’s own community benefits ordinance. The version council approved sets the cash floor at 70%, creates an advisory-only committee with final authority left to the Rays, and keeps the exemption.
Changes in the agreement include:
- During the initial five-year ($4.2 million) period, at least 70% of the commitment must be delivered as cash. In later periods that drops to 50%.
- “Best efforts” to have apprentices enrolled in State of Florida registered apprenticeship programs perform at least 8% of the ballpark’s construction labor hours, with priority to Tampa residents. Missing the goal “will not be a default under this Agreement if the Annual Report documents StadCo’s best efforts.”
- In addition to the written annual report, the Rays will present each report in person to council at a public hearing within 30 days of delivering it.
- A “Tampa Bay Rays Legacy Plan Committee” that “may identify community priorities and provide recommendations” but is “advisory only and shall have no authority to approve or direct any expenditure or initiative by StadCo.” As presented Thursday, the committee is “one representative from each of the Drew Park community, the West Tampa Heights community, the City of Tampa administration, and StadCo, and one member of the City Council as designated by the City Council and approved by StadCo.” Emphasis added. StadCo also “may establish reasonable procedures for the designation and replacement of representatives.” Young moved to add representatives from MacFarlane Park and Carver City, and the amendment was approved as part of the resolution.
- A new line on the agreement’s term: it will be “subject to any automatic termination provisions in the County CBA.” The County CBA has yet to be presented to or approved by the County Commission.
Changes from Monday’s project list:
| Category / line | Monday | Thursday | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jobs, Workforce & Local Business | |||
| Skilled Trades Apprenticeship Support | $250,000 | $250,000 | — |
| Returning Citizens Workforce Reentry | $150,000 | $100,000 | −$50,000 |
| Small and Local Business Capacity Building | $250,000 | $200,000 | −$50,000 |
| Category total | $650,000 | $550,000 | |
| Housing & Neighborhood Stability | |||
| Housing Stability and Anti-Displacement | $1,250,000 | $1,250,000 | — |
| Neighborhood Investment | $100,000 | $100,000 | — |
| Neighborhood Impact and Connectivity Fund | — | $600,000 | +$600,000 |
| Al Lopez Park Improvement | $1,000,000 | $625,000 | −$375,000 |
| Category total | $2,350,000 | $2,575,000 | |
| Youth, Education & Literacy | |||
| Yellow Jackets operating | $100,000 | $100,000 | — |
| Yellow Jackets concession | $200,000 | $200,000 | — |
| Youth Sports Field and Program Grants | $200,000 | $250,000 | +$50,000 |
| Reading with the Rays Expansion | $40,000 | no value | −$40,000 |
| Category total | $540,000 | $550,000 | |
| Public Safety | |||
| TPD New Tampa Community Safety Investment | $200,000 | $200,000 | rewritten |
| Community, Culture & Inclusion | |||
| Veterans Advisory Board | $20,000 | no value | −$20,000 |
| All Abilities Advisory Board | $20,000 | no value | −$20,000 |
| Bilingual Community Outreach Advisory Board | $20,000 | no value | −$20,000 |
| Community Engagement Programming | $50,000 | $75,000 | +$25,000 |
| Category total | $110,000 | $75,000 | |
| Family & Fan Access | |||
| Community Ticket Access Program | $100,000 | no value | −$100,000 |
| Mobility (Intermodal Stations, $250,000) | — | ||
| Grand total | $4,200,000 | $4,200,000 |
The biggest change is the new $600,000 Neighborhood Impact and Connectivity Fund for neighborhood improvements in Drew Park and West Tampa “that address impacts of ballpark district activity”: sidewalks, drainage, traffic calming, landscaping and related studies, prioritized “with input from neighborhood leaders.” The total didn’t change. Most of the $600,000 came from cutting the Al Lopez Park improvements by $375,000 and from four items that no longer carry a dollar value. The neighborhood’s markup had named sidewalk and drainage projects on specific streets and asked that the Al Lopez Park money come out entirely; the Rays’ version is a general fund with no streets named, and cuts the park money to $625,000.
The rest of the deal is still in motion. Council will appoint Viera’s replacement Nov. 17. On Dec. 10, council holds public hearings on three future land use amendments requested by the Rays’ land use attorneys and added to the calendar Oct. 1, after council declined in July to send the first land use change for the stadium site to the state. A week later, Dec. 17 is the funding agreement’s target for council to consider the ordinances creating the stadium district’s CDD and its tax increment financing.
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