Beaches notebook

By AMY WIMMER, SANDEE DAVIES and KATHY SAUNDERS
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 21, 2002

The Florida Department of Transportation will host a public meeting April 30 to accept comments about the replacement for John's Pass Bridge.

The meeting will be from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Treasure Island Community Center, 1 Park Place.

The DOT is proposing a 21-foot drawbridge to replace the existing bridge, which is the same height. The Treasure Island and Madeira Beach city commissions, which want a bridge with higher clearance so it doesn't have to open as often, are pushing for a 29-foot bridge.

Gulfport

The city will hold two public meetings to get input on its 49th Street Corridor Community Redevelopment Plan.

City officials and an architectural firm will receive input into a planned redesign of the area bounded by 49th Street on the east, from the northern city boundary at the Pinellas Trail south to Gulfport Boulevard, 52nd Street to the west, and Tangerine Avenue between 54th and 49th streets, including city property at 117 49th St. S.

The meetings will be at 5:15 p.m. May 15 and 8:30 a.m. May 18 in the cafeteria of Hamilton Disston School, 5125 11th Ave. S. For more details, call Susanne Hicks in the city public services department at 893-1086.

The annual "A Brighter Day" golf tournament will be held at 1 p.m. May 11 at Pasadena Yacht and Country Club, 6300 Pasadena Point Blvd. The format is a four-person best-ball scramble. Entry fee is $100 per person and includes cart fee and an awards banquet with refreshments and prizes. Sponsorships are available from $250 to $2,500. Proceeds will benefit A Brighter Day, a nonprofit organization that provides services to homeless families with children. For information, call 381-5103.

Treasure Island

City commissioners recently passed two rules aimed at making their meetings more accessible to the public.

For starters, they extended the time limit from three to five minutes for anyone addressing commissioners during public hearings. In addition, beginning in June, all commission meetings and workshops will be scheduled at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at City Hall.

Workshops currently are held at 7 p.m. on the first and third Tuesdays of the month while commission meetings -- at which votes are cast -- are held at 3:30 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays.

Commissioners made the changes in their official rules and procedures following two recent public hearings. All commission meetings are held at City Hall, 120 108th Ave.

The American Master Cup Competition for sand sculptors will be held May 17-19 at the County Park, 104th Avenue and Gulf Boulevard. The times are 5-9 p.m. Friday; noon-9 p.m. Saturday; and noon-5 p.m. Sunday.

The event will be hosted by Dan Doubleday and Meredith Corson, current world doubles champions and owners of Sanding Ovations, a local sand sculpting company.

St. Pete Beach

City residents are invited to participate in a two-day visioning session.

The meetings will be 6-8 p.m. May 3 and 9 a.m.-4 p.m. May 4 in the city's gymnasium at 7701 Boca Ciega Drive. The discussion sessions will be led by James A. Moore, a design principal with Tampa based HDR, who recently helped Madeira Beach in a similar process.

The Friday session will focus on community design and its applications in other cities nationwide. The Saturday session will be an interactive discussion that tries to build a consensus on establishing a vision for St. Pete Beach.

The city will provide a light lunch and refreshments on Saturday, so anyone planning to attend that session is asked to call 367-2735 so the city knows how many people to expect.

The meetings will be the first step in a year-long process of developing a master plan for the city.

St. Pete Beach will dedicate its new City Hall at 6:30 p.m. Friday at the new building, 155 Corey Ave.

Self-guided tours will be permitted after the ceremony. Refreshments will be served. For information, call City Hall at 367-2735.

St. Pete Beach will hold its annual Hurricane Forum on May 1.

Scheduled are a discussion on hurricane safety, fire and police department displays, hurricane-related vendors demonstrating hurricane safety products, disaster preparedness and home safety information, as well as evacuation maps and information on sand bag locations.

There will be door prizes and free hot dogs and sodas. The forum will be 6-9 p.m. in the city gymnasium, 7701 Boca Ciega Drive. For information, call the St. Pete Beach Fire Department at 363-9206.

Indian Rocks Beach

The city is planning a Memorial Day ceremony that will include an opportunity for people to properly dispose of American flags.

Because so many people have been flying flags since Sept. 11, Mayor Bob DiNicola said, many flags are tattered and need to be replaced. The city plans to work with Veterans of Foreign Wars to properly dispose of flags on Memorial Day.

Anyone who has an old flag can bring it to City Hall from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday between now and May 24. Nonresidents are invited to drop off flags and participate, City Manager Tom Brobeil said.

The city is working out details of the Memorial Day ceremony.

The city will host a dedication ceremony and ribbon cutting for the Indian Rocks Beach Nature Preserve at 1 p.m. April 21.

A cookout will follow the ceremony. The park is at 903 Gulf Blvd.

The Indian Rocks Beach citywide garage sale will continue from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. today. Residents throughout the city will have items for sale. Call 517-0404 or 595-2517 for information.

-- Compiled by Times staff writers Amy Wimmer, Sandee Davies and Kathy Saunders. To submit items to the beaches notebook, e-mail wimmer@sptimes.com.

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