YBOR CITY, Fla. — On Tuesday, the Ybor City Development Corporation (YCDC) and the Ybor City Community Redevelopment Area (CRA) Community Action Committee (CAC) got an earful.
"I don't feel like right now the residents trust you guys," said Joe Cayon.
People are fired up after learning about a proposal by the YCDC to create a special district in Ybor City and the Gary community.
"We want no part of a YCSSD, special services district, in any way, shape, or form," said Lourdes Vinas.
Related Story: Plans for 'Ybor City Special Services District' met with community pushback
If passed, the special district would take over for the CRA, which is scheduled to be dissolved in 2034.
Ultimately, property owners in the district would be expected to pay yearly fees to help run the district itself and pay extra fees for certain community projects...
Those who've been speaking out against the plan also called for the YCDC Vice-Chair, Liz Welch, to lose her bid for a CRA-CAC position because they felt she wasn't honest with them about the district proposal.
"So I do not believe that Liz Welch should be in a position of leadership in an organization representing our community," said a Ybor City resident.
But in the end, Welch was still appointed to that position.
Tuesday, we also learned from the outgoing YCDC/CAC Chair, Stephen Barbas, that the plan itself will likely be on hold for "the next few years." It was temporarily "paused" earlier in September because of public outcry.
"We listened to their complaints, some of the people I've spoken to personally on the phone. Those are things that we're going to consider, either removing them or eliminating them completely in terms of if there will even be an SDS. But that's not something we're going to say is dead in the water," said Barbas.
ABC Action News also contacted Welch for comment after calls for her to be blocked from that committee position, but she didn't respond.
