Thursday’s decision from the Tampa City Council to allow the transformation of the historic Stovall House along Bayshore Boulevard into a social club was a disappointment for those who had opposed a club in their neighbornood.
In other parts of South Tampa where country clubs and similar venues exist, neighbors gave us a glimpse at what they can expect.
“To me, it’s a Trojan horse,” said Jenny Nichols, who opposed the idea. “It is something that sneaks up at night and destroys your city from the inside.”
Nichols is worried about noise, traffic, and other issues associated with a club. Developers have promised to tackle those issues before the first memberships are sold.
But for some, that promise is not very comforting.
“This has 300-plus patrons, potentially, coming to events. Can you imagine if you would put yourself in the role of the neighbors?” asked neighbor Louis Conti.
The Stovall House would not be South Tampa’s first social club in a residential neighborhood, but its proposed hours of operation could be more of a concern than its size.
A couple of years ago, Monica La Puente and neighbors living near the Tampa Yacht Club in Ballast Point successfully defeated an expansion of its size and alcohol use.
“Somehow, we were able to fight it,” she said.
The traffic, she says, is managed. Parties and events are kept under control. But she lives up the street.
“If I lived in this house,” she said, gesturing toward the one right next door to the club, “I might have a different feeling about the noise as well.
It was a similar situation farther north along Bayshore Boulevard.
That’s where you’d find the Tampa Garden Club and Woman’s Club. Both host events like weddings, mostly on weekends and holidays.
Traffic. Music. Crowds.
“A couple of times a month minimum, I guess,” said Harry Torgersen. Both venues sit right next to Torgersen‘s home. But he says they’ve worked at getting along.
“I mean they clean their place up nice. The noise level is tolerable,” he said, “And, we are good neighbors.”
And that, says Torgersen, is the formula for success.
Developers, he says, don’t want a club surrounded by angry neighbors. And neighbors don’t want a club that makes them angry.
Choose to be friends instead of foes, says Torgersen, and those rifts will get resolved.
“I mean, you can make your life miserable all the time. Or, you can choose to get along,” said Torgersen. “And, I choose the latter.”
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