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Vote may settle land use debate
By KATHY SAUNDERS TREASURE ISLAND -- What happens along the city's beachfront probably will depend on what happens during the next election. With enough valid signatures from voters, city commissioners Tuesday will be faced with the options of scheduling a referendum or adopting an ordinance requiring that future controversial land use decisions be made at the polls. The latter is not likely to happen. "To me, there is no choice," said Mayor Leon Atkinson. "We'll go ahead and set up the election." A majority of commissioners had the same reaction. "I'm just going to wait for the election," said Commissioner Butch Ellsworth. "That's the law, and that's what we'll do." The petitions state simply that any proposed height or density increases on Treasure Island are to be approved by a majority of the city's voters. City Attorney Jim Denhardt confirmed Friday that the 1,200 signatures verified by Pinellas County's supervisor of elections were sufficient to require a city referendum. The Concerned Citizens of Treasure Island had to gather at least 1,149 signatures from registered voters to initiate an ordinance. The group of about 23 residents spent several weekends canvassing neighborhoods and staging petition-signing events. Under their charter, commissioners now can enact an ordinance exactly like the petition. Or they can submit the proposal to the voters not less than 60 days or more than 120 days from Aug. 23 -- the date the petitions were determined to be sufficient. The city would be required to hold a referendum between Oct. 22 and Dec. 21. That could be a problem, unless commissioners agree soon to put the question on the ballot for the Nov. 5 general election. The county elections supervisor, Deborah Clark, said she can't support a separate city referendum until after Jan. 21, 2003, because of the general election and the conversion to new computerized voting equipment. City Manager Chuck Coward said the Nov. 5 ballot would be the cheapest option for the city as well. He said it would cost the city a couple hundred dollars to put the question on the Nov. 5 ballot, compared with $5,000 to $6,000 for a special election. If the commissioners agree to piggyback the city initiative on the general election ballot, they have a Sept. 6 deadline from the county to do so. Walter Herring, the Sunset Beach resident who began the ordinance initiative, said scheduling the ballot issue with the general election suits him fine. "If we go to a ballot it's a win for everybody, for democracy," he said. "For the residents of Treasure Island, it's a great victory." At least three of the city's five elected commissioners don't see the ballot initiative as a victory for the city. Atkinson, the mayor, said he doesn't want to enact any ordinance that would tie the hands of future commissioners. He'll take his chances with the city's 5,743 registered voters. Requiring an election every time a developer wants to put a taller or bigger building on the island "will pretty much stymie any future growth," said Ellsworth. "If this passes, Treasure Island is done." Commissioner Barbara Blush, whose Sunset Beach constituents began the petition campaign, said she had hoped that residents and local business owners would come together on land use issues before it got to this point. The residents began the campaign when city planners proposed changes this spring to the city's land development regulations. Planners suggested allowing hotels and motels to be up to 100 feet tall along the beach if the developers gave some concessions to the city, such as open space, landscaping and pedestrian access to the beach. Another idea called density averaging would have allowed developers to take their alloted units from the east side of Gulf Boulevard and use them to build across the street on gulf-front land if they owned enough property. The residents were concerned that developers would pack the beachfront with tall hotels and turn the east side of Gulf Boulevard into a parking lot. In a passionate plea for community consensus, Commissioner Mary Maloof last week suggested that the two sides on the land use debate might need a mediator. "When we set out to do this, staff and the commission developed a plan that we felt was open, inclusive and, above all, a plan we were proud of, since no other commission had ever included the community in the process," she said. "This process should have worked, but it did not."
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From the Times South Pinellas desks Letters |
