By Richard Danielson, Times Staff Writer
Thursday, December 2, 2010
TAMPA — The Tampa City Council Thursday gave initial approval to a controversial wet-zoning that pitted an award-winning local brewery against neighbors who opposed the business' beer-tasting room.
Council members voted 4-3 in favor of Cigar City Brewing's request to make the temporary approval for its tasting room on W Spruce Street permanent.
Council members Joseph Caetano, Yvonne Yolie Capin, Charlie Miranda, and Mary Mulhern supported the request. Opposing it were Thomas Scott, Gwen Miller, and Curtis Stokes.
The council is scheduled to take a final vote on the issue 9:30 a.m. Dec. 16.
In November, the council tied 3-3 on the request, with Miranda absent.
Thursday's vote came after more than two dozen people, most of them supporting the brewery, said the council should allow the tasting room to stay. They said the tasting room was an integral part of how the brewery markets its beers. Taking the tasting room away, they said, would hurt the business.
"I'm asking the City Council to let me keep my job," Cigar City production manager Doug Dozark said.
The line of supporters also included patrons, other business owners and even competitors who said Cigar City's ability to thrive in the recession, going from two to 23 employees, is something the city should support.
"That growth and development of jobs is unheard of in this economy," said Natalie Mealey, employee relations and community development manager at Pepin Distributing, which competes with Cigar City.
Prior to Thursday, Miranda, who voted for the brewery's temporary wet zoning, had not said whether he would vote to make it permanent. He did say he wanted to protect the neighborhood and is always concerned about another business serving alcohol.
But after brewery owner Joey Redner posted an appeal on his company's website, fans of the brewery from all over the country swamped Miranda's office with hundreds of calls and e-mails.
With that kind of broad base of support, Miranda suggested that denying the wet-zoning would likely lead to a lawsuit where Cigar City could make a strong case that it lost business because of the council's vote.
"I'm not afraid of a lawsuit," Miranda said. "I just don't like to lose them."
Opposing the tasting room were residents of Lincoln Gardens, which shares a neighborhood association with nearby Carver City.
Lincoln Gardens was developed for black Korean War and World War II veterans who had been turned away from another neighborhood for white veterans. It is just north of Interstate 275 and west of N Dale Mabry Highway's busy commercial strip. One home is just 97 feet from the brewery.
Neighborhood leaders say the tasting room has increased traffic and crime, though police report few calls to the business.
"I'm against the brewery," said lifelong Carver City resident Altheria Wright, 47. "We're trying to get alcohol and drugs out of our black community."
The brewery's tasting room draws about 30 customers on a good night, Redner said. The brewery is in a building owned by Redner's father, Mons Venus nude dance club owner Joe Redner.
Neighborhood leaders tried unsuccessfully to challenge the wet zoning in court. After Thursday's council vote, Maurice Harvey, president of the Lincoln Gardens-Carver City Neighborhood Association, said another legal challenge is possible, but not certain.
Richard Danielson can be reached at Danielson@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3403.