In a quiet pocket of West Tampa, a vacant lot next to historic Marti-Colon Cemetery has suddenly become the neighborhood’s most haunted question mark. A fresh ground-penetrating radar report is fueling long-held fears that unmarked graves may lie beneath the grass, even as utility trenching for new homes is scheduled to kick off March 1. Neighbors and preservation advocates say the clock is ticking to stop the project before shovels hit anything that should never be disturbed.
A newly obtained report shows 16 anomalies scattered across the roughly one-acre parcel at 3203 W. Saint John Street, according to 10 Tampa Bay. The scans were completed in March 2024, and the report is careful to note that radar data by itself cannot say exactly what those blips represent.
Neighbors are not reassured. They point to an earlier survey, commissioned by a Jewish congregation that briefly considered buying the lot, which flagged more than 75 anomalies and ultimately led the group to walk away from the deal, FOX 13 reported. Around the same time, city records show a zoning manager signed off on splitting the parcel late last year, a bureaucratic step critics say quietly cleared a path for development.
How confident can radar be?
Ground-penetrating radar is a solid first step when you are trying to see the unseen underground, but experts are quick to stress its limits. It is good at spotting disturbances in the soil, not so good at declaring what those disturbances are…