BY LEON B. CREWS
Sentinel Staff Writer
On Thursday, the Tampa City Council voted 4-3 to approve the permanent Special Use Permit request for the sale of alcoholic beverages at the Cigar City Micro Brewery.
Voting no on the request were Council members Thomas Scott, Gwen Miller, and Curtis Stokes. Mary Mulhern, Charlie Miranda, Yvonne Capin, and Joe Caetano voted yes.
On November 4th, a vote was taken on the request, and the result was 3 for and 3 against. The deciding vote would have been Councilman Charlie Miranda, who was absent during that session and is also the representative for that district.
The brewery is located on Spruce Street in the Carver City/Lincoln Gardens community.
In 2008, residents came before the Council to request they deny the request made by property owner Joe Redner to grant permission for the consumption of alcohol on the premises. At that time, Council approved the request.
Residents from Carver City/Lincoln Gardens came before the Council again in 2009 and asked them to deny the request, but again it was granted with Scott and Miller voting no.
[private]On Thursday, Redner addressed the Council and told them it would be wrong for them to deny his request based on made up evidence.
Carver City/Lincoln Gardens Resident Association President, Dr. Maurice Harvey, told the Council they’ve done exactly what was asked of them in bringing them evidence of police activity at the brewery.
Attorney Miriam Sumpter-Richard, who represents the association, said a key issue is whether the applicant is qualified and if the applicant has felony convictions and should not be allowed to operate a brewery in the first place.
One resident said they don’t want their community turned into Ybor City, and another said they aren’t opposed to the brewery, just where it’s located.
Councilman Scott said on the issue of economic development and job creation, none of them are opposed to that.
“We have requests coming to us all the time for these permits based on employment opportunities. We have due diligence to hear from the public.
“We’ve voted down requests before based on waiver requests, so what’s different about this one.”
The request will come before Council again on December 16th for a second reading.[/private]
