TAMPA — In a promotional video shown to the City Council on Thursday, pro wrestler Hulk Hogan said of his namesake nightclub, "Outside, it's party time all the time at Hogan's Beach!"
Not for us, said homeowners from Dana Shores and managers from a nearby hotel and several apartment complexes along the Courtney Campbell Causeway.
"People cannot sleep in their own homes," said Pamela Adkins, one of about a dozen Dana Shores residents who took their complaints to the council.
Over the past two years, neighbors said, the club has boasted of drawing up to 5,000 people on a single night. It has hosted about 50 concerts over the past year — more than the MidFlorida Credit Union Amphitheatre — with thumping, bass-heavy electronic dance music going on until 3 a.m.
Dana Shores residents said double-paned windows don't keep out the noise, which the Hillsborough County Environmental Protection Commission has measured at levels exceeding limits in the county's noise ordinance.
Neighbors said club patrons bring traffic that has made that part of the causeway one of Tampa's most crash-prone sections of road. They park anywhere and everywhere, including access points for emergency vehicles. They tailgate before going to the club, dash across the causeway and fight with residents who complain.
"Since this place has opened, our property has been invaded," said Christine Ruekberg, a resident and the property manager at the Island Club at Rocky Point. Customers of Hogan's Beach have taken apart the Island Club's gates to get inside and park there, she said. "They strip off their clothes and urinate on our property. It's completely disgusting."
Valet parking attendants using a neighboring parking garage find the cars they're looking for by using key remotes to honk car horns.
"We have people moving out of the community because of this situation," she said.
Mike Rose, general manager of the Doubletree Hotel due south of Hogan's Beach, said club patrons have tried to use his parking lot, leading to calls to police. He has given refunds to two or three guests because "when you travel, the last thing you want to hear is a concert going on at 3 o'clock in the morning."
Hogan's Beach had been scheduled for rezonings last week to update its site plan and city approval for alcohol sales, but withdrew those petitions. Still, the council asked police and other city staffers to report on the club's operations.
Given the number of concerts, a city official said it appears that Hogan's Beach is operating as a place of assembly, a use not permitted by its site plan.
"I feel that it is a violation of their current zoning on their property," city land development coordination manager Gloria Moreda said. The club had not been cited, but "they will be."
It wasn't clear what impact that enforcement could have on the third annual New Year's Eve bash, with DJs, bands and fireworks, at Hogan's Beach. (New Year's is one night of the year exempt from the county's noise ordinance.)
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Explore all your options"We'll be out there," said Sal Ruggiero, who heads code enforcement and said he would work with police.
Stephen Michelini, a planning consultant who has worked with Hogan's Beach and the Best Western Bay Harbour Hotel on the rezonings, said both have tried to cooperate.
"They have taken corrective measures, and it's cost them a lot of money to do it," he said. That included hiring a sound consultant to reconfigure the loudspeakers to point away from Dana Shores. And he said the club does not encourage patrons to park illegally or break the law.
As to being a place of assembly, Michelini said, "that issue just surfaced recently" during the city's rezoning review.
"Now it's an issue, so we'll have to deal with it," he said.
Dana Shores Civic Association president Allison Roberts said residents showed that Hogan's Beach operates outside city rules.
"The veil has been lifted," she said. "If the chaos goes away — when the chaos goes away — we'll be very happy."