Tampa

Tampa-Area Woman Wages 11-Year Battle to Build Carport

Don't tell Pamella Settlegood you can't fight city hall. She's been waging a battle to build a carport outside her St. Petersburg home for the past 11 years.

While her vehicles have baked in the heat, Settlegood has spent thousands of dollars, hired an architect and lawyer and met with officials from three different mayoral administrations.

The Tampa Bay Times reports Settlegood finally installed a canopy that exactly matches the color of her Spanish-style home.

Now she needs proper variances. But the city's top zoning official says the carport doesn't keep with the historic flavor of the neighborhood. Her department is asking the city's Development Review Commission to deny the variances on Wednesday.

Settlegood calls her battle a classic case of city bureaucracy throwing obstacles at every turn.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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