Gateway Redevelopment District

Neighbors Push Back on Helm at Hawkshaw as Planning Board Prepares for Rehearing

A legal challenge from a downtown couple forces the city to redo its review of a 227-unit apartment project at 50 S. Ninth Avenue. This time with the neighborhood watching closely.

Downtown residents are being asked to show up Tuesday, July 7, at 2 p.m. for a Special Planning Board meeting that exists only because two of their neighbors sued the City of Pensacola.

• Paul and Claudia Tamburro took legal action against the city over its handling of the Helm at Hawkshaw development at 50 S. Ninth Avenue, and the result is a rare do-over: a rehearing of the project’s Final Aesthetic Review in front of the Planning Board, in the Hagler-Mason Conference Room on the 2nd Floor of City Hall.

What’s being reheard: Per the city’s own memo on the meeting, an appeal was filed after the Planning Board’s April 2026 approval, and City Council responded by remanding the aesthetic review back to the board. The memo notes that minor changes have been made to address the board’s earlier discussions, but the overall design and materials remain consistent with what was approved in April. Read Helm_Memorandum.

How We Got Here

Paul Tamburro laid out the timeline in a letter to neighbors: He and three neighbors attended the April 14 Planning Board meeting, where they argued the project doesn’t follow at least four Gateway Redevelopment District ordinances. According to Tamburro, city staff dismissed the concern by characterizing the ordinances as guidelines rather than requirements—and the board approved the plans with a couple of caveats anyway. Read Hello Neighbors.

“Our city’s staff justified any noncompliance as ‘the city ordinances are just guidelines.'”

The bigger issue, in Tamburro’s telling, is math: He contends the development doesn’t meet the mandatory 75% lot coverage limitation in the Land Development Code, a claim he says an independent engineering review later confirmed. In a flood-prone downtown neighborhood, he argues, preserving green space and permeable ground isn’t a technicality—it’s stormwater management.

• Retained attorney Meredith Bush to challenge the process
• City subsequently acknowledged the April 14 Planning Board process was faulty
• City Council remanded the aesthetic review for rehearing
• Tuesday’s meeting is the result

What the City Says the Project Actually Is

According to the Planning Board memo, the project’s Land Development Agreement—approved by the CRA on December 8, 2025, with a conceptual review from the Planning Board the following day—calls for a five-story main residential structure above two levels of structured podium parking, putting it in the range of 200 to 228 residential apartments, plus a separate building for a leasing office, common areas, and other amenities along 9th Avenue.

The design details, per the city:

• A resort-style pool set within a third-floor courtyard
• Views overlooking Admiral Mason Veterans Memorial Park and Pensacola Bay
• Colorful facades, balconies, deep roof overhangs, and decorative shutters blending coastal and contemporary styles

That’s a considerable departure from what the city originally selected for the site when it was sold in 2018—a low-rise mixed residential-retail condominium development, according to Tamburro’s letter.

Not Trying to Stop It, Tamburro Says

Tamburro is careful to frame his fight as one about process and rules, not blocking the project outright.

“I am not trying to halt this development. I simply believe the developers should follow the same rules as you and I.”

He’s asking neighbors to attend Tuesday and speak during public comment, arguing that broader turnout is what will keep pressure on the city to apply its own code consistently on the property.