Tampa Planning Board Backs Homebuilding Near Showmen's Rest Cemetery, City Council Has Final Say Sept. 24

The Hillsborough County City Planning Commission voted 6-2 on Sept. 15 to recommend a land-use change that would let a homeowner build on a parcel tied to Showmen's Rest Cemetery in Tampa, setting up a final decision by Tampa City Council on Sept. 24 that residents can still weigh in on.

The property sits off North Boulevard, wedged between Beth Israel Cemetery and Woodlawn Cemetery, in an area some historians believe once served as a potter's field, a burial ground for people whose families could not afford marked graves. The owner wants to build a home on roughly 1.2 to 1.5 acres of the site. If the City Council approves the change next week, it clears the way for construction to move forward.

Planning Commission staff recommended approval after the applicant submitted a ground-penetrating radar study, commissioned through the University of South Florida, that concluded graves are unlikely on the parcel itself. Senior planner Quinn Steele told commissioners the site "was historically plotted as a cemetery," but said the new study changed staff's recommendation.

A fight that has surfaced before

This is not the first time an owner has tried to build here. Cemetery Society founder Aileen Henderson told commissioners this marks the second attempt, and said a similar rezoning request was denied by Tampa leaders in 2022 over the same unresolved questions about what lies beneath the land.

Henderson has pointed to a 2019 University of South Florida study that identified possible burial sites throughout the surrounding area, along with a 2005 survey she says found evidence of hundreds of potential graves nearby. She has also argued that Showmen's Rest bought the disputed acreage in 1971 as part of a larger parcel that had been part of a potter's field, and that the land has been treated as cemetery property in the past, including being exempted from property taxes.

Previous ground-penetrating radar work submitted by Showmen's Rest found burials in the areas surrounding the specific parcel now up for the land-use change, but not directly on it, according to earlier filings. The newer USF-commissioned study reached the same broad conclusion for the site itself.

Henderson made that case directly to commissioners before the Sept. 15 vote, arguing the city needs to slow down development near sites with any documented burial history. "You can't start developing on whatever patch of grass that you find," she told the commission, "most especially one that for decades has been connected to a historic cemetery."

What the City Council decides next

The Planning Commission's 6-2 recommendation is not the final word. Tampa City Council holds that authority, and a vote is expected Sept. 24. Council members can approve the land-use change as recommended, deny it as they did with a similar request in 2022, or ask for more information before acting.

The debate over Showmen's Rest fits into a broader pattern in Tampa, where researchers with USF have identified dozens of unmarked or long-forgotten cemeteries across the region in recent years, several of them tied to historically Black and working-class communities whose burial grounds were paved over or built on decades ago without record or memorial. That history is part of why advocates like Henderson argue any parcel with a documented cemetery connection deserves more scrutiny than a standard rezoning request, even when a radar survey comes back clean.

The City Council has not said whether it will hear additional public comment beyond the standard meeting format, or whether commissioners will request further study before voting. Residents who want to weigh in before Sept. 24 can track the meeting agenda through the city's public meetings calendar.

Stay with Tampa Community Website for updates on the City Council's decision, and follow us on Facebook for real-time coverage as the Sept. 24 vote approaches. Join the conversation in our Community Forum to share your take on the fight over Showmen's Rest, and read more local government and politics stories or browse our community coverage for more on Tampa's ongoing preservation debates.