Decisions seen as beginning, not end

City officials say commissioners were looking to the future when they voted to build a library and end the Renaissance Festival.

By MICHAEL SANDLER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 5, 2002

LARGO -- The Renaissance may have ended this week in Largo, but city officials say another is about to begin inside the walls of a new library.

The City Commission decided Tuesday to terminate the Bay Area Renaissance Festival's lease after 23 years. The commission followed the 5-2 vote by rallying for a unanimous decision to build a 93,000-square-foot library.

That decision ended months of disagreement over the size and cost of the proposed $22-million library. Charlie Harper told his colleagues the votes marked the "beginning of a renaissance for the city, not the end," and others agreed.

City Manager Steve Stanton said the library and the festival were "incompatible." They are on adjacent property, and both have parking demands.

"So many people in the past said without the Renaissance Festival, Largo is nothing," said Stanton, who called the back-to-back decisions "symbolic."

"I think the commission realized it had been accused of being indecisive. The decision to go forward with the library and say the Renaissance Festival is a thing of the past showed the library would be the vision of the future."

It was just three weeks ago that the commission split over the library's size when applying for a $500,000 grant.

Marty Shelby suggested in March that commissioners wait until a scheduled briefing on the city's capital improvement projects budget and persuaded three other commissioners to approve an 80,000-square-foot library, at least for the grant application.

At the briefing nine days later, they learned the city plans to raise $1.5-million for the project from private donors. Another $3.5-million would come from state and federal grants. But the city would borrow the bulk of the money, some $14-million, and pay it back over six years, the same length of time the city expects to receive Penny for Pinellas funds.

Shelby, Harriet Crozier, Pat Burke and Pat Gerard all voted for the smaller library in terms of the grant application. But Tuesday, they agreed to go with the larger one.

"I've always been concerned about the cost," said Shelby. "I still question whether we have the money. . . . I've had no assurance. (But) to vote against it would miss the point: We are going to be building a new library."

The structure will be inside Largo Central Park, next to land rented by the Renaissance Festival. Harper said the city has outgrown the festival, just like it outgrew the county fair when it built the park and cultural center.

Mayor Bob Jackson and Commissioner Jean Halvorsen said the city should have been more tactful with a longtime partner. They voted against terminating the contract. Instead, they proposed giving the festival one more year. But the others said the time had come.

"To me, it was a bad statement for the city to make after 23 years," Jackson said. "I think it damages our credibility in the community."

-- Michael Sandler can be reached at 445-4174 or sandler@sptimes.com.

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