Oldsmar elevator rule takes step forward

The final vote comes in February on the requirement for elevators in apartments three stories and higher.

By ED QUIOCO, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published January 18, 2002

OLDSMAR -- The city is a step closer to requiring elevators in apartment buildings with three or more floors, a move some say is an attempt to stymie the controversial Westminster apartment complex.

City Council members who gave the elevator requirement preliminary approval Tuesday night said they were doing so because they wanted to make multistory apartments more accessible to people with disabilities.

Others said the proposed requirement could threaten a tenuous truce between the city and Westminster developer Wilson Co. of Tampa.

"It is apparent to me that this is an effort by the part of the city to try once again to put road blocks in the way of the project, and the Wilson Co. won't stand for it," said Wilson Co. attorney Tim Johnson. "We will do what we need to do, and the city will hopefully act prudently. We just hope that cooler heads will prevail."

The city and the Wilson Co. seemingly ended their bitter fight in November when the city agreed to a settlement agreement. The agreement stipulated that Oldsmar would drop its opposition to the complex in return for the company not filing a federal housing discrimination lawsuit against the city.

City Attorney Tom Trask advised council members Tuesday that adopting the elevator requirement without exempting the Westminster complex could, "in effect, rescind the settlement agreement."

"At this point, I'm warning you that this could be in violation of that settlement agreement," Trask said.

Despite the warning, council members voted 3-2 to add the elevator rule to the city's land development code. Council members David Tilki and Brian Michaels voted against the proposed elevator requirement, which is scheduled for a final vote in February.

"I can only assume that it was a coincidence that this whole issue came up after we started debating the Westminster project," Tilki said. "But I know the Wilson Co. doesn't see it that way, and I don't think it's right to impose regulations that are being changed with the developer in the process of getting his building permits."

Mayor Jerry Beverland denied that the elevator requirement was another stab at the Westminster complex. He said Wilson Co. could pull the building permits for the project at any time and begin construction on the 270-unit complex for low-income tenants.

"We are not out there trying to fight the Wilson Co. again," Beverland said. "We cannot sit here for the rest of . . . Oldsmar's life and wait for them to tell us when to breathe. I'm not going to sit here and let them keep telling me what to do."

Beverland said that Wilson Co. applied for a building permit in July and has 180 days to pull the permit. That 180-day window will expire Jan. 25, before the final adoption of the proposed elevator requirement.

Tilki and Michaels tried unsuccessfully to change the proposed requirement to grandfather the Westminster project.

"If we don't exempt the Wilson Co. from this thing . . . we will be right where we were eight months ago," Tilki said.

Beverland said he supported the rule because his son Robyn, who died in 1998, was handicapped because of a rare genetic disease. He said the proposed elevator requirement would help handicapped people get to the top floors of a multistory apartment building.

Council member Don Bohr agreed.

"I have great feelings for the handicapped," Bohr said. "I know what it's like where I've had a hard time walking from a parking lot into a store or an office. I understand where they are coming from, and that's why I'm so much for this."

Tilki said if the reason for the proposed requirement was to help the handicapped, then why stop at three-story buildings?

"If we are going to bring it down to three stories for the exact reasons I'm hearing, why not bring it down to anything multistory?" Tilki said. "Why not bring it down to a two-story building?"

Generally, building rules require apartment buildings with four or more floors to have elevators, said Rodney S. Fischer, executive director of the Pinellas County Construction Licensing Board. He said he does not know of any other municipality in the county that requires elevators in three-story apartment buildings.

The four-story requirement was developed after countless hours of debate and research, he said. That's probably a lot more time and effort than Oldsmar is going to spend on its decision to change that requirement.

"I'm not trying to be critical of the city, but I question if they are doing it for the right reasons," Fischer said.

-- Staff writer Ed Quioco can be reached at (727) 445-4183 or at quioco@sptimes.com.

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