Tampa City Council denies land‑use change for historic Mirasol after hours of public testimony

Tampa City Council voted 5–2 to deny a proposed comprehensive‑plan amendment that would have allowed hotel and broader commercial uses for the historic Mirasol/Marisol building on Davis Islands, after a packed hearing that stretched into the early morning.

Planning staff had recommended denial, and the Planning Commission unanimously found the privately initiated amendment (TACPA 24‑18) inconsistent with the Tampa Comprehensive Plan. City planning staff told the council the site sits inside the Coastal High Hazard Area and that the proposed Community Mixed Use‑35 designation could materially increase building mass and the potential residential intensity using a floor‑area‑ratio method.

The amendment’s proponent, attorney Tyler Hudson, and owners Frank and Lindsey Carriero told council the building was purpose‑built as a hotel in 1926 and that converting it back to hotel use is the only financially viable path to preserve the century‑old structure. “The hotel use is what gives this building a chance to have a 200‑year anniversary,” Hudson said during his presentation, describing a history of deferred maintenance and storm damage. Owner Frank Carriero said he and his family consider themselves neighborhood residents and urged the council to allow the option that would make restoration financially feasible.

Neighbors, planning consultants and engineers offered sharply different accounts. Traffic engineer Drew Rourke and planner Charles Gauthier presented studies and analyses concluding the CMU‑35 designation could allow substantially larger development, drive significant trip increases, and introduce commercial general uses — including event facilities — that are incompatible with adjacent single‑family areas. Resident speakers pressed similar concerns, citing potential parking overflow onto narrow island streets, amplified noise at waterfront events, and risks to evacuation routes in storm conditions. “Introducing hundreds of transient guests into a quiet residential neighborhood every single day fundamentally changes the nature of these streets,” resident Elizabeth Murray said.

Supporters argued the amendment merely allows consideration of hotel use and does not itself approve a specific project, and they pointed to precedent and existing mixed‑use designations elsewhere on Davis Islands. Several business owners and residents said a neighborhood‑scale hotel would help village businesses and provide lodging for hospital visitors.

On the council floor, members asked detailed questions of staff and the applicant about the differences between land‑use designation and zoning, whether landmark/historic designation should be pursued first, and what enforceable preservation commitments would be possible at rezoning. The applicant said he would withdraw the comprehensive‑plan amendment prior to a second reading if an implementing rezoning were denied.

Councilmember [Hertezk] (moved) and Councilmember Maniscalco (second) brought a motion to deny based on “competent and substantial evidence” in the staff and Planning Commission reports. The roll‑call vote recorded five votes in favor of denial and two opposed.

What’s next: the denial also caused a related rezoning application tied to the amendment to be treated as withdrawn under the city code. The owners and their team said they will continue community outreach and explore alternate preservation strategies, including historic‑preservation options, but argued those would be economically difficult unless hotel use became viable.

The council’s action does not, by itself, prevent future applications; applicants may return with different proposals that address the compatibility, buffering, and traffic concerns raised at the hearing.

Quotes that capture the hearing’s tenor:

- “Introducing potentially hundreds of transient guests into a quiet residential neighborhood every single day fundamentally changes the nature of these streets,” Elizabeth Murray, Davis Islands resident.

- “The hotel use is what gives this building a chance to have a 200‑year anniversary,” Tyler Hudson, applicant representative.

- “This is 10 pounds of sugar in a 5‑pound bag,” Todd Pressman, neighborhood representative, on density and parking impacts.

Next steps: the council recorded instructions to staff about revision sheets, and follow‑up items on the agenda included several unrelated rezoning cases that the council considered and advanced during the same meeting.