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Tampa to fine landlords, renters for illegal house parties

 
Published Sept. 19, 2014

TAMPA — Landlords and their tenants will soon face $450 city fines when their rental houses host parties with under-aged drinking or illegal drug use.

The penalties can't start too soon for homeowners like Gary Smith.

Smith lives on N Ola Avenue in northern Seminole Heights across from a 4,000-square-foot house that he said has been used as a "frat house" for a couple of years.

One night three weeks ago, Smith said, a party there attracted more than 400 young people from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m.

"I have gone to the city, to the legal department, to the zoning department, to the planing department, to the Police Department — every department I could find — to shut down this frat house with no luck," he told the City Council on Thursday.

"High school kids know that this is a party house," Smith said. So even when minors are stopped at the gate, "they just hang out in front of my house for hours, yelling and screaming and partying.

"The worst part is I stood out on my front porch, and I had kids coming up into my yard and urinating on the side of my house because they're drinking," he said. "It's just terrible. I just wish that more could be done."

Stories like that are why the City Council on Thursday approved an ordinance to allow city officials to fine the property owner, the renter or an occupant of a party house that allows under-aged drinking or illegal drug use.

If the owner or person leasing the house is not present for the illegal house party, the city will send them one written warning. After that, they can be hit with a $450 fine for each illegal house party that follows.

While Smith said his problem was with University of South Florida students, council member Frank Reddick proposed the ordinance after two years of complaints from residents in West Riverfront and North Hyde Park about house parties at homes rented by University of Tampa students.

Administrators at the University of Tampa supported the fines, as did the Tampa Alcohol Coalition.

"House parties are a huge issue in our community and are linked with under-aged drinking and drug abuse," coalition co-chairwoman Ellen Snelling said.

While UT has taken steps to address the problem, "the piece of the puzzle that is missing is the landlord, and the beauty of this ordinance is that it addresses the landlord," Snelling said. "This is just the community setting a new standard that we're not going to accept this."

Ferg's Tampa wins final approval

In a separate vote, the council gave its final approval to proposed alcohol sales at Ferg's Tampa, which will be modeled on the popular sports bar near Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg.

Ferg's Tampa plans to open with room for 800 patrons near Amalie Arena at a spot on the 400 block of Channelside Drive.