Businesses at Channelside like to promote the entertainment and retail center at Tampa's port as a quieter alternative to raucous Ybor City. But a debate over the direction of Channelside is heating up, with some merchants arguing the addition of rowdy bars threatens to disturb the family atmosphere.

"The second level of Channelside has become increasingly nightclub-oriented,'' said Guy Revelle, a partner in restaurants and clubs at the complex. "It might push the family crowd in another direction.''

He found an ally Tuesday in the Tampa Port Authority, which leases the land under Channelside to Ben Ashkenazy, a New Yorker who bought the complex last year.

The public agency says that Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp.'s leasing of space to two country music bars, Sling Shots and McGraw's, violates the company's land lease, which does not permit standalone nightclubs.

Port director Richard Wainio said Tuesday that the agency told the company its concerns that the clubs might change the character of Channelside, a popular destination for cruise passengers and convention visitors.

Worries about the new nightclubs are overblown, said Barry Lustig, senior vice president of leasing for Ashkenazy.

"Every tenant we go after is consistent with the direction Channelside is going: a pleasant experience for everyone - old, young and families,'' he said.

Sling Shots, a ''country pop saloon,'' has opened next to the restaurant Margarita Mamas and an attached bar, Banana Joe's, said Michael Dennis, who owns the three businesses on the second level of Channelside. McGraw's Country Club Saloon will open by the end of summer, he said. A Web site shows women in bikini tops and cowboys hats. It advertises free shots, amateur boxing and bar-top dancing.

Dennis suspects the issue came up because Ashkenazy's management company sued Revelle in a rent dispute involving two Channelside properties, Howl at the Moon and Stumps Supper Club.

Dennis noted that Howl at the Moon's Web site advertises bachelorette parties with an 86-ounce Bucket 'O of Booze and Jell-O shots. "I think the crowd he's worried about coming in are already at his place,'' Dennis said.