Gazebo Declared Unsafe, Tampa Parks Dept. Plans Demolition

Port Tampa City Women's Club President Chris Malzone sent out an e-mail earlier today with info about the imminent demolition of the Gazebo in the Spanish American War Memorial Park. Here is the e-mail response from Cathie Schanze of Tampa's Parks and Rec. Department.


"Staff met onsite with Ms. Malzone to discuss options for improving the Gazebo. They were very concerned about the condition of the structure and forwarded their concerns to me.

I met with our Building Services Superintendent to look at the structure on Monday. We found the structure to be unsound. The Pilings are inadequate. The base is not properly attached to the pilings. The deck boards are in need of replacement. The support posts are sitting onto of the deck boards and are not attached to the base or pilings in any way. The support posts and roof appear to be leaning.

Accounting for all the repairs it would take to remedy these situations, we felt it would be more cost effective to replace the structure in it's entirety.

I contacted Ms. Malzone with our findings and asked her to bring the information to your groups for discussion. I also offered to do some research on replacement structures to present to your groups as soon as possible.

At this time we have not determined any dates for the proposed demolition nor have we determined a source for the proposed replacement.

I apologize for not having more definite information but really wanted to let your group know what we found as soon as possible so we can work together to find a solution.

Please feel free to contact me, I would be meet with you and/or discuss alternatives.

Sincerely,



Cathie Schanz, CPRP
Operations Chief
City of Tampa
Parks and Recreation
1420 N Tampa St
Tampa, FL 33602
(813) 274-7731 office
(813) 274-7744 fax
cathie.schanz@tampagov.net
www.tampagov.net/dept_Parks