TEMPLE TERRACE CITY COUNCIL MEETING

I had the recent privilege of attending the City of Temple Terrace’s city council meeting.


The meeting began with a declaration of November being proclaimed as “National Hospice and Palliative Care Month.”

The first true order of business was a continuation from a previous meeting on October 19, 2010. It involved amending the text for the public school student generation rate rule. Commission member Joe Bell stood and gave a basic overview of the situation before handing over the floor to Lorraine Duffy-Suarez, Hillsborough County School Growth Management Manager. She stressed that fact that if the council did not vote in favor of the changes she proposed, changes the three other forms of government in Hillsborough County had already approved, they would not be in compliance with Florida law. Duffy-Suarez explained her role as liaison between each level of government on behalf of the school board. The issue, as she addressed it, is that every two years the generation rate is reviewed, and the four governments each convene four times a year to meet an examine these numbers. But with the recent United States census information, the generation rate will change so she would like to bump up the date in which they review the generation rate to now, rather than wait another two years. The city council members simply chose to pass a motion to pass the amendment on to the Department of Community Affairs.

The second order of business was a very detailed and incredibly boring presentation on a Temple Terrace “downtown community redevelopment”. Imagine my surprise discovering 56th Street to Bullard Parkway was considered “downtown” Temple Terrace. I’ve always just known it as “that place you don’t go to alone at night.” But I honestly felt for the poor guy who had to explain a PowerPoint on the redevelopment. The new plan would involve resident buildings and retail buildings and the Temple Terrace codes are so ridiculously strict that the man had to ask for at least fifteen exemptions to allow the buildings to be built. Even Council member Mark A. Connolly addressed that fact that rather than make builders ask for numerous exceptions and possibly lose their business, the council should look at changing the ordinances. He also took issue with the light posts for the new development because they weren’t EXACTLY like others on 56th Street. It really helped me to understand why Temple Terrace is…well…Temple Terrace. The council members seem to be really out of touch with topics that matter.

Temple Terrace city council meeting agenda can be found here