TARPON SPRINGS — The Planning and Zoning Board has recommended releasing COhatch, the coworking and event space at 123 E. Tarpon Ave., from a requirement to provide 18 off-site parking spaces downtown, rejecting its acting chairman’s bid to deny the request and use it as leverage to force the City Commission to address downtown parking problems.
The board, which makes recommendations to the City Commission for final action, sided with city staff over the objection of Justin Vessey, its acting chairman, who voted no.
Vessey accused staff of presenting “a shell game” and “flawed information,” and he questioned the impartiality of colleagues. “It appears to me there was some personal bias by board members that admitted they use COhatch services,” he said — even after the city’s legal counsel advised those members that they had no conflict of interest after they disclosed that nonprofit groups they belong to meet at COhatch.
Patricia McNeese, the city’s senior planner, said that as a condition of its site plan approval, COhatch was required to provide 18 off-site spaces for a 6,750-square-foot addition.
“The provision stated parking had to be provided until the city-sponsored solution was developed, or until a parking study showed that there was no need for the additional parking,” she said.
The City Commission then moved to hire a consultant for a parking study but rejected four proposals and took no further action, McNeese said. In the meantime, she said, the city expanded downtown parking, and the area where COhatch sits does not require parking to be addressed if spaces are available within a five-minute walk.
Vessey pressed McNeese on the timing. “What precipitated the request at this time? This was a very important and a highly discussed, and debated, portion of the site plan. ... Of course parking is at a premium, and at that point there was great concern about that.”
He asked, “Has the city sponsored a parking solution?”
McNeese answered, “The city has added parking spaces under lease. We’ve initiated two-hour parking in the 100 block of East Tarpon, so that provides for turnover and greater availability of parking. We’ve installed banners at all downtown lots that note free parking. We’ve installed directional signs and developed a walking map that shows where the parking is.”
In the staff’s backup report, she said, 325 public parking spaces are owned or leased by the city.
“Banners aside and crosswalks aside ... I think it’s really important at this time that the city feels it has implemented a parking solution to the lack of parking that COhatch was required to supply, but has not,” Vessey said.
He added, “We haven’t created any new parking spaces. Those were existing prior to COhatch.”
McNeese pushed back. “The city has created additional parking spaces; we’ve added leases. ... COhatch was required to add 18 spaces; we’ve added more than 18 spaces leased by the city. We have created some new parking spaces on Tarpon Avenue through modification of the bump-outs.”
Vessey held his ground. “It was very important at that time; I think it’s still very important this time. I’m kind of putting my flag in the sand, because ... I drive that road every single day, and it’s full all the time. ... This is a get-out-of-jail-free card that we’re about to give away, and it’s a very important one, because that was part of the condition then, and now it seems that maybe something has changed.”
“I personally didn’t see that change,” he added. “I didn’t see any new parking spaces created. I feel like there’s a little bit of a shell game going on. But if staff and the city feels that way — okay, no more questions.”
CoHatch community manager Cody Bracey said that when the company first sought site plan approval and a building expansion in 2023, “one of the things we found was the issue wasn’t about COhatch, it was about parking and the lack thereof.” He said COhatch leased 18 additional spaces for $500 a month on the east side of South Levis “that have never been used.”
Board member Robert Rockelein said he has not seen any negative impact on parking from COhatch.
Vasile Faklis said that while COhatch has been a good neighbor, downtown parking remains a problem, “especially for service-oriented businesses, and we have a service-oriented business. ... Things have changed in the downtown area; more people are working remotely. People will come to COhatch, or to the new coffee shops, which I think are great, but that means more people are staying all day long. A lot of your closer parking is being taken up. ... Yes, they added two-hour parking, but it’s not enforced.”
Longtime downtown property owner and developer John Tarapani told the board, “No one is against COhatch. It’s strictly parking.”
Cyndi Tarapani said the city initially rejected the idea of hiring a parking consultant after downtown businesspeople offered to produce a study themselves. “The idea was to get rid of the consultant and use the talent and experience that we had downtown, along with the staff. ... For a variety of reasons, it’s never been done.” A study is still needed and could be done with local talent, she said, and property owners would be happy to work with city staff.
In closing comments, Vessey sharply criticized staff. “Perhaps unintentionally, staff did not provide enough background for the seriousness of this issue, and I’m going to take liberty to do that whether it’s appropriate or not. ... I feel the backup data in regard to the parking is misleading and disingenuous. The dates are flawed, they don’t apply specifically to this, and I frankly would disregard any of that background data as disingenuous.”
“In addition, I think this application hides a greater issue that you’ve heard from the public comment, and that it’s much more serious than comes across,” he added.
Vessey urged the board to deny COhatch’s request and use it “as a lever to make the commission do the more important thing, which is to address this issue.”
Other board members said it was not appropriate to put the city’s parking problem on COhatch.
McNeese told the board that staff believed the condition had been met and recommended approving the request to remove the 18-space requirement.
With Vessey objecting, the board voted to recommend that the City Commission release COhatch from the requirement to provide 18 additional off-site parking spaces. The commission is scheduled to take up the request at its July 14 meeting.