History of the Neighborhood

Palm River is located just south and east of the City of Tampa boundaries. For most of the last century, the area was known for its dairy farms. Today, the Greater Palm River Area is a community that is part independent and part suburb of Tampa, with a population of about 18,000 people. It has a varied landscape with a combination of single and multi-family residences, open fields and tracts of land where small farms still remain.

There are three neighborhood parks, three elementary schools, a charter school and a middle school that serves children from throughout the County. It is a strong community with a long history of community involvement. Residents have banded together to call for improvements to their community and advocating for basic municipal services like the establishment of a community library, building of local fire station, improving water ways and reducing crime and vandalism. Palm River is one of the most diverse communities in the Hillsborough County. There is a great mix of people - some have been in Palm River since the days of the dairy farms, while others are just moving in from places like Miami.

Palm River is a vibrant community with many opportunities for economic development that can serve to provide jobs to many of its residents. There are hundreds of businesses large and small, like Tampa Electric, Verizon, Home Depot and other important and recognized companies. The area offers many opportunities for a variety of land development options from single family residential, to small neighborhood grocery stores and to heavy or light industrial. In recent years, due to the growth of Hillsborough County, ranked number #4 among Florida's 67 Counties is said to be one of the fastest growing Counties in the State. Development has been growing at a record pace all around Palm River, but not within because of the lack of infrastructure that to support commercial and residential development.

However, the rising land costs in other parts of the County and the proximity of Palm River to important economic centers, like Tampa's Downtown, new Channelside District and redeveloping Ybor City, and access to major regional and state highway systems, make Palm River a very attractive place to invest and develop. Today, the pressure to develop and the evidence of major development is evident everywhere you travel in Palm River.

Residents of the area, however, want to ensure that the development that occurs in Palm River is both consistent with their vision for their neighborhood and helps to improve the area's basic infrastructure needs; namely public water, sewer and roads. In 2006, after a public campaign; Palm River 1st to create a vision for the revitalization of Palm River, Greater Palm River POINT, CDC in partnership local neighborhood organizations called for Hillsborough County to conduct a neighborhood planning process. Hundreds of residents have joined together to create a new vision and plan for the redevelopment of their neighborhood.