Director's Update Jan. 6

Jan. 6, 2026

Hello NEXT members and friends,

First and foremost, Happy New Year! 🎉 Tierra Verde is stronger than ever, and 2026 is shaping up to be an even better year for progress. If nothing else, the Boat Storage Warehouse issue has brought us closer together. We showed up, stood strong, and will continue to grow as a community—and that matters.

Here are a few important updates:

1️⃣ DRC Meeting – Tentatively March

We anticipate a new DRC date sometime in March. Before then, we’ll host an Open House to help everyone understand what to expect that day. Attendance will be critical at the DRC. City officials and attorneys have all emphasized that the outcome will largely depend on our numbers. Please remember—we are “the numbers.” 

2️⃣ Recent DRC Discussions

Some members of our team recently met with the DRC and were given a great deal of information about what to expect moving forward. Greenleaf withdrew their original development plan in November. Once NEXT receives the revised plan details, we will share them with you.

The DRC stated that we should continue to address the negative impacts in our communications and public comments. These include building height, parking, traffic, stormwater runoff, impacts to the canal, and hurricane vulnerability. These points should be emphasized in letters to city commissioners and in your 1- to 3-minute public comments at the March DRC meeting.

Retail use was not considered relevant by the DRC as part of their formal review; however, we believe it impacts our residential quality of life and should remain part of the broader community discussion. The recent Tampa Bay Times article should bring better attention to governing officials.

We Need Your Email addresses!

Currently, we only have about a fourth of the community in our database. This information is used only for NEXT business and community updates. Please help us keep everyone informed by sending your email and address to: tierraverdenext@gmail.com

Thank you for continuing to stand with NEXT and with our community.

Sincerely,

Tierra Verde Next,  Melanie Coleman Simon Director