The date on the schedule that matters most to Parkland Estates is May 2030. That's when city engineers expect the South Howard stormwater project to reach the neighborhood with a 72-inch line. Every phase before it starts somewhere else, beginning at the bay end of South Howard Avenue and moving north one block-length section at a time.
Tampa City Council approved the $100.4 million South Howard Flood Relief and Streetscape Project on September 17 by a 4-3 vote. Chairman Alan Clendenin and council members Lynn Hurtak, Charlie Miranda and Luis Viera voted yes. Guido Maniscalco, Bill Carlson and Naya Young voted no. The total includes $7.73 million in design work already authorized and a $92.71 million guaranteed maximum construction price from Kimmins Contracting Corp. Coverage since the vote has focused on the businesses along South Howard. For anyone living in Golfview or Parkland Estates, the more useful question is about order, and on the city's schedule their streets come last.
Built From the Bay Up
The core of the system is a box culvert about 10 feet wide and 10 feet tall. It starts near Bayshore Boulevard, runs north under South Howard to Swann Avenue, turns west toward Audubon Avenue, and then heads north toward Parkland Estates and Palma Ceia Pines. In total, Kimmins would install about 7,000 feet of stormwater conveyance. It would also replace or upgrade about 11,800 feet of water mains and relocate about 3,200 feet of gravity sewer. City staff told council the downstream outlet has to be built first, so work starts at the bay end and moves upstream.
Here is the sequence staff gave council on September 17:
- October 2026: notice to proceed, if the measure passed.
- November 2026: utility relocation begins.
- March through May 2027: box culvert construction starts, "after Gasparilla."
- May 2028: crews reach the CSX railroad crossing.
- February 2029: the West Morrison Avenue intersection.
- October 2029: Swann Avenue.
- May 2030: Parkland Estates.
- September 2030: expected substantial completion.
The gap from step two to step seven is three and a half years. For most of that time, the active work zone sits south of Swann, on the stretch of South Howard that Golfview and Parkland Estates residents pass on the way to the bay, to dinner, or toward downtown. The city's own project page still lists the project at the design stage with a March 2027 start. That's older than the council schedule above.
The Early Years Are Felt at the Dinner Table
Since the neighborhood's streets come last, the first phases reach residents through the corridor itself. Before the vote, South Howard business owners described to council what multi-year construction could mean for them.
Bern's Steak House connects nearly 300 employees to the corridor, some with 20, 30 or 40 years at the family business, according to tbbwmag's coverage of the meeting. The restaurant's owner estimated that tipped and hourly staff could lose 25% to 50% of their income during three to four years of construction. The article notes that figure is his estimate, not the city's. He also argued the bigger risk comes later, when diners who changed habits during construction don't return.
The restaurateur behind AVA and the newly opened Landon focused on traffic. He pointed out that the Selmon Expressway, the rail line, one-way roads and dead-end streets already limit the options for getting through the area. tbbwmag reported him telling council, "I've seen Swann close for four hours one day, and I was backed up all the way to Henderson." Parkland Estates residents who use Swann to get east will know the route he means.
The general manager of the Epicurean Hotel told council the hotel was already losing prospective weddings and airline-contract business because it couldn't guarantee access during construction.
These are the places the corridor is known for, and they are also the places closest to the earliest work zones.
One Short Section at a Time
The city's answer to those concerns is how the work is divided. In the staff presentation recorded in the September 17 City Council transcript, city staff described 24 phases of roughly 400 to 600 feet each, with completed sections restored and reopened as crews move north. "This has never been done on a city project before," the presenter told council.
Other commitments presented at the September 17 meeting:
- A four-person business support team working directly with merchants, including on deliveries
- Clear signage and detours
- Vibration and crack monitoring, with pre- and post-construction surveys of each structure on Howard and a work stoppage if readings change
- Pedestrian access maintained throughout
- Construction noise reduction, marketing support and a "SoHo open" campaign for smaller businesses
The longest planned disruption in the published discussion is at the Selmon Expressway. Council discussion identified phases 9 and 10 there as a combined closure of about 180 days. Morrison Avenue was expected to stay open, and staff said delivery vehicles could use Morrison. Going by the schedule above, that stretch falls between the CSX crossing in May 2028 and Morrison in February 2029.
No block-by-block closure calendar or mapped detour plan had been published as of mid-October. The city's project hub points residents to an Alerts section for road closures, detours and utility disruptions. The project's own site, shstormwater.com, last posted on September 1, a response to the SoHo Business Alliance's proposed alternate route. Its most recent public event listed was the August 11 open house.
Three Things Could Still Move the Calendar
The schedule depends on a few decisions that were still open in October.
The lawsuits. WTSP reported that Bern's Steak House and five other business owners filed class-action suits against the city. One claims the city redirected $13.4 million from a stormwater fee to other work, such as streetscaping, without a required public hearing, and that the Kimmins contract was awarded without following proper selection guidelines. The other claims the city holds an easement for the surface of South Howard but lacks the property rights needed to dig under privately owned land. These are allegations, not findings. Both suits ask a judge to block construction, and WTSP reported that no hearing date had been set for either injunction. FOX 13 reported that construction was still planned for spring 2027, subject to any court order, and that the city would not comment on pending litigation.
The CSX permit. The new 60-inch pipe has to cross under CSX's tracks inside a 72-inch casing. At the time of the vote, CSX had responded with four requirements. It indicated the design would meet its technical standards if those were satisfied, but it hadn't issued a final permit. The Kimmins price assumes that trenchless crossing.
The price. WTSP noted the project roughly doubled from $45 million to more than $90 million. It also reported the plaintiffs' attorney saying Kimmins is already obtaining permits to start construction.
As this post goes up on the last Thursday of October, the next milestone on the council schedule is November's utility relocation. No confirmed first block or start day had been announced publicly by then. The street-level schedule for Parkland Estates itself is still three and a half years out, and the city's Alerts page is where it will be posted first.
If you own in Golfview or Parkland Estates and want to talk through what a 2030 completion date means for your own timing, Louis Enrique Acevedo follows this project milestone by milestone and is glad to walk through it with you. Schedule a Call.
